{"id":505737,"date":"2026-03-05T19:05:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T19:05:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/505737\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T19:05:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T19:05:07","slug":"celtics-jayson-tatum-set-to-return-listed-as-questionable-for-friday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/505737\/","title":{"rendered":"Celtics’ Jayson Tatum set to return, listed as questionable for Friday"},"content":{"rendered":"

BOSTON \u2014 Boston Celtics<\/a> star Jayson Tatum<\/a> is on the verge of making a return to NBA action nine months after\u00a0rupturing his right Achilles tendon injury\u00a0during last season\u2019s playoffs.<\/p>\n

Tatum was listed as questionable on the Celtics\u2019 injury report on Thursday ahead of the team\u2019s home matchup with the Dallas Mavericks on Friday night.<\/p>\n

It is the first time this season he hasn\u2019t been listed as sidelined and undergoing rehabilitation for the injury he suffered during Game 4 of Boston\u2019s Eastern Conference semifinal loss to the New York Knicks last May.<\/p>\n

Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens has said that Tatum wouldn\u2019t be cleared to return until he was ready to play both physically and mentally. That time may have arrived.<\/p>\n

Tatum also has previously indicated that his return to the court would be a home game. The Celtics (41-21) have 20 games remaining in the regular season, including 11 at TD Garden. Boston is currently in second place in the East standings.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t come back to be no role player, Doc,\u201d Tatum said weeks after the surgery to his physician during a checkup that was\u00a0chronicled\u00a0in the recently released\u00a0documentary\u00a0\u201cThe Quiet Work,\u201d which followed his rehab process.<\/p>\n

When Tatum was injured last season, his thoughts quickly pivoted away from the devastation he felt for himself and what would soon be the end of his team\u2019s bid to repeat as NBA champions.<\/p>\n

He made the decision quickly to begin the process of turning the page and opted to have surgery the very next day.<\/p>\n

The typical rehabilitation window to return to basketball action following Achilles tendon surgery is between 9 and 12 months.<\/p>\n

If he indeed plays on Friday, the 28-year-old Tatum, who had surgery on May 13, will make his return to the court after 298 days.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not far beyond the recovery time it took for Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer Dominique Wilkins to recover from his Achilles tendon rupture. Wilkins returned at age 33 after 283 days to play in the 1992-93 season. He went on to appear in 71 regular-season games that year, averaging 29.9 points per game and being named to the All-Star team.<\/p>\n

Tatum\u2019s childhood idol, Kobe Bryant, made it back to the court after about eight months, but was hampered by subsequent injuries.<\/p>\n

Tatum is in the first season of the five-year, $314 million extension he signed in 2024. He celebrated his 28th birthday on Tuesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BOSTON \u2014 Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum is on the verge of making a return to NBA action…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":505738,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[355,99],"class_list":["post-505737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505737","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=505737"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505737\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/505738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=505737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=505737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=505737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}