Jayson Tatum Rumors

Taylor Snow: Jaylen Brown has been named Eastern Conference Player of the Month after averaging 29.2 PPG, 7.9 RPG and 4.6 APG in January. He’s the 6th Celtic to earn the award, joining Larry Bird (7X), Jayson Tatum (5X), Paul Pierce (4X), Isaiah Thomas, and Antoine Walker.

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MrBuckBuck: Jayson Tatum on thinking his career might be over after tearing his Achilles: "It was a few weeks where I thought… did I make enough money, did I accomplish enough... There was some moments where I thought I might be done"

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Bobby Manning: Jayson Tatum is on track to make an appearance around March Bobby Manning on Jayson Tatum’s potential return: He has said that he wants his first game back to be at TD Garden. And so, I am looking at late February, early March, that period for him to be back in contact five on five type activity, ramp up toward a return to play. And if he does have that month-long window or so before the playoffs, I think it is feasible to see him back in the lineup mid-March and have a month to ramp up, play unlimited minutes and be 10 months removed from that surgery, and be fully ramped up for the playoffs where he'll be 11 months removed. And from doctors I've talked to, the greatest risk period of re-tearing it is four to six months. So, he's past that. And every month that you take up to 12 months is going to bring you closer to a 0% chance. But he is in a strong position right now. I think just from where he's could make an appearance around March this season. But it'll be interesting to watch because over the next three, four weeks here, I think we're going to learn a lot about where he's at. This period, I still have no idea about whether that's going to happen.

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Bobby Manning on Celtics’ untouchables: Everybody else beyond Brown and Tatum is under discussion at this point Cyro Asseo: If you had to say somebody that if people were buying a jersey, whose jersey would you be fine buying knowing that they're going to be around for the next foreseeable future? Bobby Manning: I feel pretty good about Jaylen Brown after the season that he's had here where he's shown signs of being one of the best players in the league. And so with his contract situation, with he and Jayson Tatum having the amicable relationship that they do here, being willing to make it work with each other for the sake of winning and their commitment to him ultimately, they've had a lot of opportunities to break that duo up in more dire circumstances than this and they've held firm. And I know Brad Stevens obviously in a different cap environment, but throughout his tenure and even his coaching days leading both of those guys into the players that they become here, his vision for this team has been that if we have those two guys, we can figure it out around them and make this roster work. And that's why they signed them to the contracts that they did. It's why that they've accepted that they're going to have a balance when it comes to the top of this roster and this two stars. And then beyond that, like they're going to try to compliment them as best as they can. And Derrick White's been a big part of that. I don't think White's untouchable into the future. I think he's a guy that you do have discussions about given how valuable he is and where he's at in his career pushing 30. Same deal with Payton Pritchard and Sam Hauser and others down the line. I think everybody else beyond Jaylen and Jayson is under discussion at this point as you try to reshape this core into the future here.

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Despite Jayson Tatum’s candid musings about joining a Celtics team that is already sitting near the top of the Eastern Conference, Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla said on 98.5 The Sports Hub’s “Zolak & Bertrand” Thursday that his star player’s approach hasn’t changed in recent weeks. “The mindset has been relatively consistent (and) where it has been the entire season,” Mazzulla said of Tatum’s approach. “We don’t know yet. It was never a yes, it was never a no. It was, ‘Let’s work as hard as you can, trusting the sports science team, trusting his development, whether it’s in the weight room, on the training table, and then put yourself in the best possible position to be as healthy as you can be, and then reevaluate it.'”

Boston Globe

Tatum’s potential second guess isn’t due to any physical issue with the 27-year-old forward, according to Mazzulla. “There’s been zero setback,” Mazzulla said of Tatum. “He’s progressing naturally.”

Boston Globe

“I look at disruption as a positive,” Mazzulla said. “He’ll come back and just make us better. I think it’s two things. One, I think as you go through an injury and a process like this, a thousand things are going to come up. And I think one of the greatest things about a guy like Jayson is his openness and his vulnerability and his honesty about where he’s at as a player and a person. So, I think you have to reward that, and those are just natural things. But the second piece is, he knows that if we get him back, we’re just going to be a better team, and there’s just no ifs, ands or buts about that.“

Boston Globe

Boston Celtics All-Star forward Jayson Tatum told ESPN on Wednesday night that he hasn't made a decision about whether he will return from a torn Achilles tendon this season because he "wants to get it right the first time, so it's just a lot to think about." Tatum, injured during the playoffs in May, said he has been progressing well in his rehabilitation and is feeling stronger every week, but he's waiting to make a decision because of the severity of the injury.

ESPN

Bobby Krivitsky: “Welcome him with open arms.” Sam Hauser discusses Jayson Tatum’s comments about fitting back in with the Celtics. Of course, he would be thrilled to have Tatum back this season.

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Jayson Tatum: People was expecting that from us at—at 20, 21, 22 years old. Like first time we got to the finals, I was 20—I just turned 24. And that was our third time being in the conference finals. And we just got to the finals when a—like a lot of our peers maybe had been to the playoffs one time. So, we were held to a much higher standard than everyone else, you know, which is part of being in Boston, playing for the Celtics. You know, you're expected to win championships. But, you know, we're just thankful that we had an organization that believed that we, you know, could be the cornerstones of, you know, bringing the championship with the right pieces around us. And I think it just—as we got older, like we both got paid, we both had individual success and All-Stars. Like, now let's figure out how do we put it all together? And—you know, we've been in two finals and won one and hopefully we got much more to accomplish together."

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Tatum: "Now that Kobe isn’t here, we want to bring up the times he wasn’t as efficient, or he shot long 2s... 3 most influential basketball players of all time like everybody loved and respected even from different sports admired who he was. Now that he’s not here you want to try and erase history?”

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Jayson Tatum: "I was done with basketball when I got hurt. Like I—I felt like betrayed in a sense. Like I felt betrayed by the game. Like I never—like I was never one of those guys that like—I never cheated the game. I never took it for granted. I used to—I used to wake up at 5:30 in the morning when I was in high school and work out, like before school. Like I felt that growing up in St. Louis, in a single-parent household, like I felt like I was behind already. Like I didn’t come from a New York or a Florida or a California. Like so I felt—I already was behind other players like around the country. So I did everything possible to like maximize my God-given ability. You know, I never wanted to miss games. I never missed a playoff game. I—you know, I didn’t do load management. Like—I led the league in minutes since I came into the league. So it just didn’t feel fair that—that happened to me. So I remember like—I didn’t—I couldn’t watch the rest of the playoffs. I didn’t want to talk about basketball. Like I really thought—like I felt betrayed. And I needed some time. Like I needed some time away from the game."

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In The Pivot Podcast, the All-NBA forward admitted that it was challenging to embrace the entire process of spending the tournament on the sidelines as the United States went on to clinch the Olympic gold. “To be honest, that was tough because this is my second time in the Olympics, and you know, we went in 2021, we were in Tokyo, and my experience was totally different," he said. "I was the second leading scorer behind KD, and we beat France; we ended up winning a gold medal. So, you know, in 2024, I was first-team All-NBA. Came off a championship. I was on the cover of 2K. Like, I was on top of the world. I just signed the largest contract in NBA history. "So, I was riding this cloud. And then I get to the Olympics, and it didn’t go how I wanted it.”

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"My mom did such a good job of raising me that I always keep it cool," he said. "I’m not going to rock the boat. I’m always going to be a professional, show up, and do my part because we’re here to win a gold medal. If we come up short, all this was for nothing, so I still kept my composure. "Even if I disagreed with the coach or kept my distance, I had the wherewithal to do what I could with the time I was given, and we still found a way to win."

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