Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum just posted a small injury update to his Twitter timeline: “Day 25… days starting to get a little easier,” he wrote. In Game 4 of the Celtics’ second-round series against the New York Knicks, Tatum ruptured his Achilles. The next morning he had successful surgery to repair the injury.
This is the first message Tatum has posted on Twitter since the injury, and he has seemingly been back at the Celtics facility rehabbing since. Torrey Craig, who is now a free agent but finished last season with the Celtics, posted an Instagram story the day after Tatum’s Twitter message.
All indicators seemingly point toward the reality that Tatum’s rehab is going well thus far.
How long will Jayson Tatum’s rehab take?
Shortly after the injury, Marc Spears spoke with Tatum’s dad. He stated that the hope is that Tatum will be back on the court eight to nine months after the incident, though that would be an extremely fast recovery timeline.
"Jayson actually had a surgery from the same guy that did [Kevin] Durant's surgery, and did Tiger Wood's surgery," Spears said on NBA Today. "He had it the next day. His dad says that he expects him to be out eight to nine months."
That said, a more realistic timeline for Tatum would likely be the entirety of next season. Based on past Achilles injuries, Tatum could be out for all of next year.
Noa Dalzell of CelticsBlog spoke with UPenn’s Dr. Lou Soslowsky, who noted that recovery could take anywhere from seven months to a year and a half.
“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.”
The Celtics have a bunch of other factors that will play into their offseason decision-making, but the injury to Tatum has definitely changed their outlook to a certain degree.
With the second apron looming large, Boston will have to carefully balance ensuring that they will have a competitive roster ready for Tatum when he returns from his injury and shedding enough salary to avoid breaking the bank.
But for now, Tatum’s small social media updates will have to suffice when it comes to keeping Celtics fans excited.