BOSTON — When asked whether or not Jayson Tatum’s injury will affect how the Boston Celtics operate this summer, Brad Stevens said ‘yes’ in the most non-forward way possible. "Any time you're talking about an injury like that, it's another piece of information that you have to ingest and figure out how that affects you moving forward, both next year and in the future,” Stevens said at his end-of-season press conference on Monday.
Obviously, Stevens isn’t one to put any cards on the table when he doesn’t have to, especially in a public setting. But he could have just as easily said ‘no’ or ‘we’ll assess the situation once we get there.’ Instead, he admitted that Tatum’s absence affects decisions.
Because of course it does.
How does Jayson Tatum’s injury change things?
The Celtics were always going to have to make big changes to their roster this summer. They have been a second-apron team for the past two seasons, and staying in that range for a third year would come with severe penalties.
"You can't stay in the second apron," current Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck said on The Greg Hill Show. "Nobody will. I predict for the next 40 years of the CBA no one's gonna stay in the second apron more than two years."
"It's not the luxury-tax bill," Grousbeck, who will remain the Celtics' CEO and governor until the end of the 2027-28 season, said. "It's the basketball penalties, OK? The new CBA was designed by the league to stop teams from going crazy. And they decided that it's not just good enough to go after the wallets because then the fans are like, 'Hey, find someone who can afford to spend whatever, $500 million a year or whatever it is, like the English Premier League. I know seven guys that own Premier League teams in England with no spending caps and most of them are wondering what the hell's going on. Anyway, over here, it's basketball penalties now.”
But now, with Tatum injured, the Celtics may do more than just make trades to dip below the second-apron.
What do the Celtics do now?
Before Tatum went down, maybe the plan was to trade one of Kristaps Porzingis or Jrue Holiday. Those were the two names that had been brought up for months as potential trade candidates. They could trade one and wiggle their way to be just below the second apron, then maybe have to trade the other a year later.
Now, they could rip the band-aid off and trade both of them. And since Boston likely won’t be a title contender without Tatum, they could trade other pieces, too.
Maybe Sam Hauser’s contract will be worth ditching. Or maybe the Celtics want to explore the Jaylen Brown market (although that seems highly unlikely).
The point is that the Celtics’ championship hopes for next year took a significant hit when Tatum crumpled to the floor in Game 4 against the New York Knicks. And that did more than just ruin their on-court plans next year. It completely altered the way they may structure the roster this offseason.
The details of Jayson Tatum's Achilless injury
Tatum ruptured his Achilles in Game 4 against the Knicks. It was a non-contact injury and he was helped back to the locker room by Stevens and trainers.
The morning after the incident, Tatum underwent surgery to repair the ailment, which was successful, according to reports. It is unclear when Tatum will be back from the injury, but he will likely miss most of next season.
Marc J. Spears revealed that Tatum's dad said that the goal is for him to return to the floor after eight or nine months..
According to Dr. Lou Soslowsky, who spoke with Noa Dalzell of CelticsBlog, the timeline could be much different than that.
"Dr. Soslowsky said that the return to injury spans from anywhere between 7 months to a year and a half, and it’s nearly impossible at this point to determine which of those scenarios is most realistic," Dalzell wrote. "In a few months, Tatum and the Celtics will be able to assess where he’s at in his recovery and determine whether he’s in a position to make a push to return next season."