Jayson Tatum celebrates making a shot.
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Jayson Tatum of the Boston Celtics will return from injury on 2 weeks, according ta leak.
No NBA team has been more of a surprise this season than the Boston Celtics. After winning their 18th championship in 2025, then winning 61 games last year but exiting in the Eastern Conference semifinals, the team was forced by the new requirements of the league’s collective bargaining agreement to shed four key players from the team that won 125 regular season games over two seasons.
But losing center Kristaps Porzingis and point guard Jrue Holiday in salary-shaving trades, and allowing big men Al Horford and Luke Kornet to leave in free agency, seemed to pale in comparison to the injury suffered by four-time All-NBA first-teamer Jayson Tatum in a playoff game against the New York Knicks on May 12.
Tatum tore his right Achilles tendon in that game, and has not played in an NBA game since.
In Tatum’s absence, the Celtics led by five-time All-Star Jaylen Brown have seemingly not taken a step back. With a 41-20 record, the Celtics had the No. 2 seed in the East, and are on a pace to finish with 55 wins — which would make this season only the sixth since 2008-2009 in which Boston won at least 55.
The emergence of the Celtics as a legitimate contender has only accelerated speculation over when Tatum will return from his injury, with the assumption that adding the 2017 No. 3 overall draft pick to the Boston rotation will immediately turn the team into a legitimate championship threat. But when will Tatum’s return date actually happen?
Was Tatum’s Return Date Just Leaked?
When the NBC network flexed the March 1 Celtics game against the Philadelphia 76ers from an afternoon start into its Sunday Night Basketball time slot, rumors began to fly that somehow the network had inside knowledge that Tatum would make his return for that game. It didn’t happen.
Next, longtime pundit podcaster, sports documentary producer and, as he was once known, “Boston Sports Guy” Bill Simmons announced that he believed March 6 would mark Tatum’s return to the lineup.
“Tatum, it feels like it’s going to be Friday in Dallas. That’s what all signs are pointing to,” Simmons said on his “Bill Simmons Podcast” on Monday. “I was wondering if it would be this weekend, but by Friday. I think it was not going to be this weekend.”
But sharp-eyed Celtics fans checking the ESPN preview page for Wednesday’s game hosting the Charlotte Hornets at TD Garden noticed a detail that may finally reveal when Tatum will actually return to the court with Boston.
Is March 16 the Big Day for Tatum?
The ESPN.com page giving the vital statistics for Wednesday’s game contains the injury report, which was required to be finalized by 5 p.m. ET on Tuesday. The Celtics report contains only one injured player, Tatum, who is listed as “out” due to an Achilles injury, as he has been for all 62 games, including Wednesday’s game, so far.
But next to Tatum’s name and status is an “Estimated Return” column. Under that heading, ESPN.com lists Tatum’s “estimated” return date at March 16.
There has been no confirmation of that date from any other readily available source. On that date, the Celtics host the Phoenix Suns. The game will air only on local TV, and stream only on the subscription NBA League Pass service, which would make sense if Tatum prefers to make his return as far out of the national spotlight as possible, giving himself room to shake off 10 months’ rust and test his repaired Achilles.