Jayson Tatum Thread

[Parliament10]

JT, as a true competitor, wants to set the record for fastest coming back from ACL tear in NBA history

No thanks.

The faster you come back from injury, the higher the chances are for re-injury.

Not so sure about that. -- I mean, he obviously has a very capable recovery team.
I don't think that all those professionals would get him back, only to have a setback.

Time is in fact a factor. I wouldn't say come back in 5 months. But, I wouldn't say come back in 5 times that, either.
So, Time being a variable. Tatum did have a very early surgery, to minimize Recovery Time.

It seems to be working.

[cl2117]

Tatum's recovery timetable is going to dictate itself.

There is zero chance that either Tatum or Celtics Front Office unnecessarily pushes JT to come back early at the risk of his long-term health. Especially not in a year where you've intentionally taken a step-back for cap conscious reasons. The risk/reward on the whole situation is just so skewed in the direction of being overcautious that it's almost not worth discussing.

If he's healthy and cleared by the doctors he should play. If he needs to be on a minutes restriction or skip games, of course they're going to follow that directive. If the season is a lost cause and we're playing for lottery position, keep him on ice as much as reasonable and just accept it. If we're miraculously in playoff contention and he's cleared to play, let him up to the point that the medical team are comfortable with and then pull the plug no-matter what (I don't care if he's an out away from a perfect game, I'm taking him out type situation).

Love seeing the progress and the hustle, but we should all just honestly put JT to the back of our minds and focus on the interesting cadre of guys who are ready to see the court and come back to the conversation in 2026.

[ThePigeon]

Very encouraging video. He will be back during the season. He just loves the game too much and he is a real competitor. Team markup etc. are non factors in this decision

He looks bigger to me, at least the upper body/shoulders

[Joshyjess]

For those who are involved in a Fantasy League, is Tatum available to pick up at this point for this season? And if so, how soon do you think it will be before someone would take him for this years league? (unless he's already been picked in your league).
I guess, in other words, with the speed at which he seems to be pushing himself to come back, would he make a good choice to pick up for someone's league for this year? Would it be worth taking him in the hope that he comes back sooner than expected at the cost of another player who could be active right now on your team? Just kind of wondering how his recovery news will affect Fantasy Leagues. (sorry if it's not a great question, I just don't really know a whole lot about fantasy leagues).

[The_Ghost_of_JB]

Pretty amazing progress but still don't think he plays this upcoming season.

[bisme37]

Dr. Martin O’Malley performed the surgery and he was the only physician on a newly released cutting edge paper regarding Achilles rehabilitation.

If we look at the ‘Return to Sport’ in this paper, it lists 24+ weeks, assuming he hits all of his benchmarks of recovery (isokinetic/isometric strength >90% LSI)

That would put the date as October 28, 2025.

Assuming no setbacks I think November/December is possible, but January is probably more realistic.

The future of Achilles reconstructions and returns in (elite) athletes is here!!!

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

[TommyPointGawd]

I tore my Achilles last May. So around the same time table as Tatum. I'm just started to feel somewhAt normal now.
Saying that and not hating at all. That video is not as impressive as you might think. I hope he doesn't play this year and comeback 1000%

Edit - Obviously Tatum has way better rehab and is a professional athlete. He probably can come back this calendar year. A football player did it in 7 months. But I highly doubt it would be worth it.

[Hal14]

I tore my Achilles last May. So around the same time table as Tatum. I'm just started to feel somewhAt normal now.
Saying that and not hating at all. That video is not as impressive as you might think. I hope he doesn't play this year and comeback 1000%

Edit - Obviously Tatum has way better rehab and is a professional athlete. He probably can come back this calendar year. A football player did it in 7 months. But I highly doubt it would be worth it.

Yup. Better to just take it easy..don't rush it and come back opening night for the 26-27 season.

Imagine the backlash for the organization if he comes back any sooner than that, re-injures it and is out for even longer

[Fierce1]

I tore my Achilles last May. So around the same time table as Tatum. I'm just started to feel somewhAt normal now.
Saying that and not hating at all. That video is not as impressive as you might think. I hope he doesn't play this year and comeback 1000%

Edit - Obviously Tatum has way better rehab and is a professional athlete. He probably can come back this calendar year. A football player did it in 7 months. But I highly doubt it would be worth it.

Yup. Better to just take it easy..don't rush it and come back opening night for the 26-27 season.

Imagine the backlash for the organization if he comes back any sooner than that, re-injures it and is out for even longer

There's no stopping Tatum if he wants to play when the doctors clear him.

The organization will also prefer the Cs having a shot at the ECF than playing it safe and the Cs just end up exiting in the 1st round.

Injuries can happen even when the player is just practicing.

Klay tore his achilles when he was working out in California.

So there's no guarantee JT will not get injured if he returns in 26-27.

We've seen it with our own eyes.
Tatum is shooting, jumping, and moving side to side.

He also said he's not working this hard for nothing.

It's very obvious.
His actions and words are consistent with a return in 2025-26.

[Hal14]

I tore my Achilles last May. So around the same time table as Tatum. I'm just started to feel somewhAt normal now.
Saying that and not hating at all. That video is not as impressive as you might think. I hope he doesn't play this year and comeback 1000%

Edit - Obviously Tatum has way better rehab and is a professional athlete. He probably can come back this calendar year. A football player did it in 7 months. But I highly doubt it would be worth it.

Yup. Better to just take it easy..don't rush it and come back opening night for the 26-27 season.

Imagine the backlash for the organization if he comes back any sooner than that, re-injures it and is out for even longer

The organization will also prefer the Cs having a shot at the ECF than playing it safe and the Cs just end up exiting in the 1st round.

If that's the case, then the organization is run by a bunch of morons if they would prioritize *maybe* going to the ECF but have a higher risk of Tatum getting hurt and suffering a career-ending injury, rather than prioritizing his long term health.

For pretty much every player ever who's torn their achilles, they missed a full season.

Yes, obviously players can get hurt at anytime. But everyone knows that the risk for re-injury is higher if you come back early.

Like for example, if the average recovery time for an injury is 4-6 weeks, then coming back any sooner than 6 weeks is coming back early. And having a higher risk for re-injury.

If pretty much every player who's ever torn their achilles missed a full season, then coming back at any point during the season is coming back early - and having a higher risk for re-injury.

Why would you want him to come back early and have a higher risk for re-injury? Would you really prefer the possibility of us *maybe* getting to the ECF (which is not going to happen with a team that has no bigs and a star player coming off a torn achilles with no training camp and will take awhile to get fully ramped up and back to being able to play at game speed, at playoff intensity, etc.) over a higher chance for us to have Tatum healthy long term?

He's 27 years old. We want him healthy till he's 36. For us to have the highest odds of that happening, he sits out the whole season.

Tatum is the franchise player, in his prime, on the richest contract in NBA history. Suffered one of the most serious injuries a basketball player can suffer (and still have a chance to have their career continue). The team is going to be more cautious and more careful than any team has ever been with a player coming back from injury.

Plus, we just won a title last year. So it's not like there's tons of pressure for us to win a ring, which might cause the team to possibly bring him back sooner. There's no pressure. No reason to bring him back early.

[Fierce1]

Yup. Better to just take it easy..don't rush it and come back opening night for the 26-27 season.

Imagine the backlash for the organization if he comes back any sooner than that, re-injures it and is out for even longer

The organization will also prefer the Cs having a shot at the ECF than playing it safe and the Cs just end up exiting in the 1st round.

If that's the case, then the organization is run by a bunch of morons if they would prioritize *maybe* going to the ECF but have a higher risk of Tatum getting hurt and suffering a career-ending injury, rather than prioritizing his long term health.

For pretty much every player ever who's torn their achilles, they missed a full season.

It's not just maybe getting to the ECF.
The revenue from a deep playoff run is a lot of money.

As for long term health, All-Star break is more than 4 months away.

Right now JT is doing basketball activities.
4 months is a very long time to prepare.

And JT is the only player who had surgery less than 12 hours after suffering the achilles tear.

That's what separates JT from the rest of the other players that tore their achilles.

[jmr07019]

Yup. Better to just take it easy..don't rush it and come back opening night for the 26-27 season.

Imagine the backlash for the organization if he comes back any sooner than that, re-injures it and is out for even longer

The organization will also prefer the Cs having a shot at the ECF than playing it safe and the Cs just end up exiting in the 1st round.

If that's the case, then the organization is run by a bunch of morons if they would prioritize *maybe* going to the ECF but have a higher risk of Tatum getting hurt and suffering a career-ending injury, rather than prioritizing his long term health.

For pretty much every player ever who's torn their achilles, they missed a full season.

Yes, obviously players can get hurt at anytime. But everyone knows that the risk for re-injury is higher if you come back early.

Like for example, if the average recovery time for an injury is 4-6 weeks, then coming back any sooner than 6 weeks is coming back early. And having a higher risk for re-injury.

If pretty much every player who's ever torn their achilles missed a full season, then coming back at any point during the season is coming back early - and having a higher risk for re-injury.

Why would you want him to come back early and have a higher risk for re-injury? Would you really prefer the possibility of us *maybe* getting to the ECF (which is not going to happen with a team that has no bigs and a star player coming off a torn achilles with no training camp and will take awhile to get fully ramped up and back to being able to play at game speed, at playoff intensity, etc.) over a higher chance for us to have Tatum healthy long term?

He's 27 years old. We want him healthy till he's 36. For us to have the highest odds of that happening, he sits out the whole season.

Tatum is the franchise player, in his prime, on the richest contract in NBA history. Suffered one of the most serious injuries a basketball player can suffer (and still have a chance to have their career continue). The team is going to be more cautious and more careful than any team has ever been with a player coming back from injury.

Plus, we just won a title last year. So it's not like there's tons of pressure for us to win a ring, which might cause the team to possibly bring him back sooner. There's no pressure. No reason to bring him back early.

If he's healthy and 100% then there's no point holding him out longer because a different person in different circumstances took longer to get healthy and to 100%. We know the circumstances are different. Not only is Tatum younger than many of the guys who have torn achilles but he also got the surgery done quicker after injury than others.

I disagree with your general idea that the longer a person takes to recover from an injury the better. If an injury is supposed to take 4 weeks to recover from and it ends up taking 8 weeks, that's a cause for concern. Same thing with an achilles. If it's supposed to take 9 months and it takes 12+ how is that a good thing?

Ultimately the levels of strength, flexibility, inflammation, stamina, pain, etc is more important than the time it takes. Fans won't know that information.

[Fierce1]

Dame and Hali are missing the entire 25-26 season.

So it's not surprising that they are quiet when it comes to their rehab.

With the way JT is talking and how hard he's working out, it's very obvious where he's heading and that's in the playoffs of 2026.

[Hal14]

The organization will also prefer the Cs having a shot at the ECF than playing it safe and the Cs just end up exiting in the 1st round.

If that's the case, then the organization is run by a bunch of morons if they would prioritize *maybe* going to the ECF but have a higher risk of Tatum getting hurt and suffering a career-ending injury, rather than prioritizing his long term health.

For pretty much every player ever who's torn their achilles, they missed a full season.

Yes, obviously players can get hurt at anytime. But everyone knows that the risk for re-injury is higher if you come back early.

Like for example, if the average recovery time for an injury is 4-6 weeks, then coming back any sooner than 6 weeks is coming back early. And having a higher risk for re-injury.

If pretty much every player who's ever torn their achilles missed a full season, then coming back at any point during the season is coming back early - and having a higher risk for re-injury.

Why would you want him to come back early and have a higher risk for re-injury? Would you really prefer the possibility of us *maybe* getting to the ECF (which is not going to happen with a team that has no bigs and a star player coming off a torn achilles with no training camp and will take awhile to get fully ramped up and back to being able to play at game speed, at playoff intensity, etc.) over a higher chance for us to have Tatum healthy long term?

He's 27 years old. We want him healthy till he's 36. For us to have the highest odds of that happening, he sits out the whole season.

Tatum is the franchise player, in his prime, on the richest contract in NBA history. Suffered one of the most serious injuries a basketball player can suffer (and still have a chance to have their career continue). The team is going to be more cautious and more careful than any team has ever been with a player coming back from injury.

Plus, we just won a title last year. So it's not like there's tons of pressure for us to win a ring, which might cause the team to possibly bring him back sooner. There's no pressure. No reason to bring him back early.

I disagree with your general idea that the longer a person takes to recover from an injury the better. If an injury is supposed to take 4 weeks to recover from and it ends up taking 8 weeks, that's a cause for concern. Same thing with an achilles. If it's supposed to take 9 months and it takes 12+ how is that a good thing?

There's no injury where it's supposed to take 9 months to recover. You're using a fake, made up example.

Torn achilles pretty much always mean the player misses a full season. That's a fact.

If an injury is supposed to take 4 weeks and it takes 8, sure that might be cause for concern but that isn't anything I have mentioned here. You're making up scenarios to try and fit an agenda.

Tons of players have torn their achilles. Tatum is not the first one to get surgery very soon after the injury. And he's not the only one who was young (27 really isn't that young for an NBA player..average age of an NBA player is 26. Tatum is 27).

If anything, it's more common for younger players to take their time coming back from a really serious injury since they have more to lose if they come back too soon and re-injure it. Chet Holmgren, serious injury and sat out entire rookie year. Jamal Murray was only like 24, sat our entire season with torn ACL. Haliburton is out for this whole season with torn achilles at age 25. Embiid missed a full season early in his career. MJ missed pretty much a full season early in his career. Wemby? Spurs weren't taking any chances with their franchise player and shut him down for the season.

That early in the career, these guys don't take any chances. There's more to lose.

But with older guys, we have seen some of them come back sooner because they are pretty much all done anyways so they have less to lose, like Kobe coming back from torn achilles, Danny Green came back late in the season from torn ACL when he was like 35 yrs old, etc.

Helpful article:
https://www.boston.com/sports/boston-celtics/2025/05/17/jayson-tatum-celtics-achilles-rehab-kevin-durant-latest/?

Jayson Tatum has a long and uncertain road ahead of him as he recovers from his ruptured Achilles. However, he’s looking at one of the success stories of a star athlete’s rehab from an Achilles tear and hoping he can have a similar road to recovery.

The Celtics star is expected to use Kevin Durant’s rehab from his Achilles injury in 2019 as a template and will consult the NBA all-time great during the process, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported.

“One prime example of a tremendous rehab from an Achilles tear is Kevin Durant,” Charania said on ESPN’s “NBA Countdown.” “Both surgeries were quick. Kevin Durant had his two days after suffering the Achilles tear. Jayson Tatum had his one day after suffering his Achilles tear. Both happened at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City.

“The expectation around Tatum is that he’ll consult with Kevin Durant about that rehab that Kevin Durant had several years ago and that’s going to be used as a template because Durant made the best recovery of a player from this injury.”

As Charania noted, Durant’s return from his Achilles tear in 2019 has been viewed as the gold standard in the rehab of an injury that has a history of derailing careers. Durant’s continued to score at a high level in the five seasons since he returned from the Achilles tear, averaging 27.9 points per game over the last five years.

Durant missed the entire 2019-20 season after tearing his Achilles in the 2019 NBA Finals that June. There had been some hope that he could’ve returned when the NBA resumed play following the COVID-19 pause in the summer of 2020, but he ruled himself out as he felt he wasn’t “ready for that type of intensity.” Durant eventually returned to play when the 2020-21 season opened in December 2020, marking an 18-month absence.

Most NBA players who had the injury were sidelined for more than a calendar year, with Kobe Bryant being one of the few exceptions.

Of course, Kobe came back too soon, then got re-injured, missed even more time and then after that his effectiveness on the court plummeted.

Idk about you, but I'd rather see Tatum be a good player after he comes back. That means sitting out a season - like KD did..not coming back after 8-9 months, like Kobe.

[bisme37]

If that's the case, then the organization is run by a bunch of morons if they would prioritize *maybe* going to the ECF but have a higher risk of Tatum getting hurt and suffering a career-ending injury, rather than prioritizing his long term health.

For pretty much every player ever who's torn their achilles, they missed a full season.

Yes, obviously players can get hurt at anytime. But everyone knows that the risk for re-injury is higher if you come back early.

Like for example, if the average recovery time for an injury is 4-6 weeks, then coming back any sooner than 6 weeks is coming back early. And having a higher risk for re-injury.

If pretty much every player who's ever torn their achilles missed a full season, then coming back at any point during the season is coming back early - and having a higher risk for re-injury.

Why would you want him to come back early and have a higher risk for re-injury? Would you really prefer the possibility of us *maybe* getting to the ECF (which is not going to happen with a team that has no bigs and a star player coming off a torn achilles with no training camp and will take awhile to get fully ramped up and back to being able to play at game speed, at playoff intensity, etc.) over a higher chance for us to have Tatum healthy long term?

He's 27 years old. We want him healthy till he's 36. For us to have the highest odds of that happening, he sits out the whole season.

Tatum is the franchise player, in his prime, on the richest contract in NBA history. Suffered one of the most serious injuries a basketball player can suffer (and still have a chance to have their career continue). The team is going to be more cautious and more careful than any team has ever been with a player coming back from injury.

Plus, we just won a title last year. So it's not like there's tons of pressure for us to win a ring, which might cause the team to possibly bring him back sooner. There's no pressure. No reason to bring him back early.

I disagree with your general idea that the longer a person takes to recover from an injury the better. If an injury is supposed to take 4 weeks to recover from and it ends up taking 8 weeks, that's a cause for concern. Same thing with an achilles. If it's supposed to take 9 months and it takes 12+ how is that a good thing?

There's no injury where it's supposed to take 9 months to recover. You're using a fake, made up example.

Torn achilles pretty much always mean the player misses a full season. That's a fact.

If an injury is supposed to take 4 weeks and it takes 8, sure that might be cause for concern but that isn't anything I have mentioned here. You're making up scenarios to try and fit an agenda.

Tons of players have torn their achilles. Tatum is not the first one to get surgery very soon after the injury. And he's not the only one who was young (27 really isn't that young for an NBA player..average age of an NBA player is 26. Tatum is 27).

If anything, it's more common for younger players to take their time coming back from a really serious injury since they have more to lose if they come back too soon and re-injure it. Chet Holmgren, serious injury and sat out entire rookie year. Jamal Murray was only like 24, sat our entire season with torn ACL. Haliburton is out for this whole season with torn achilles at age 25. Embiid missed a full season early in his career. MJ missed pretty much a full season early in his career. Wemby? Spurs weren't taking any chances with their franchise player and shut him down for the season.

That early in the career, these guys don't take any chances. There's more to lose.

But with older guys, we have seen some of them come back sooner because they are pretty much all done anyways so they have less to lose, like Kobe coming back from torn achilles, Danny Green came back late in the season from torn ACL when he was like 35 yrs old, etc.

Hal, I don't understand why you seem to be ignoring the info from actual experts. There's a post a few spots above this that says Dr O'Malley, who performed Tatum's cutting-edge surgery, published a paper saying the rehab time is 24+ weeks. Then it's just a matter of hitting his progressional benchmarks.

https://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?p=119685916#p119685916

Also, according to Achilles experts, there has in fact never been a 27 year old elite athlete who got surgery within 12 hours. The age and timing of the procedure makes a huge difference.

https://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?p=119681854#p119681854

Not to mention new stem cell and growth cells injections that promote healing and weren't available to a guy like Kobe 15 years ago.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11965899/

[Hal14]

I disagree with your general idea that the longer a person takes to recover from an injury the better. If an injury is supposed to take 4 weeks to recover from and it ends up taking 8 weeks, that's a cause for concern. Same thing with an achilles. If it's supposed to take 9 months and it takes 12+ how is that a good thing?

There's no injury where it's supposed to take 9 months to recover. You're using a fake, made up example.

Torn achilles pretty much always mean the player misses a full season. That's a fact.

If an injury is supposed to take 4 weeks and it takes 8, sure that might be cause for concern but that isn't anything I have mentioned here. You're making up scenarios to try and fit an agenda.

Tons of players have torn their achilles. Tatum is not the first one to get surgery very soon after the injury. And he's not the only one who was young (27 really isn't that young for an NBA player..average age of an NBA player is 26. Tatum is 27).

If anything, it's more common for younger players to take their time coming back from a really serious injury since they have more to lose if they come back too soon and re-injure it. Chet Holmgren, serious injury and sat out entire rookie year. Jamal Murray was only like 24, sat our entire season with torn ACL. Haliburton is out for this whole season with torn achilles at age 25. Embiid missed a full season early in his career. MJ missed pretty much a full season early in his career. Wemby? Spurs weren't taking any chances with their franchise player and shut him down for the season.

That early in the career, these guys don't take any chances. There's more to lose.

But with older guys, we have seen some of them come back sooner because they are pretty much all done anyways so they have less to lose, like Kobe coming back from torn achilles, Danny Green came back late in the season from torn ACL when he was like 35 yrs old, etc.

Hal, I don't understand why you seem to be ignoring the info from actual experts. There's a post a few spots above this that says Dr O'Malley, who performed Tatum's cutting-edge surgery, published a paper saying the rehab time is 24+ weeks. Then it's just a matter of hitting his progressional benchmarks.

https://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?p=119685916#p119685916

Also, according to Achilles experts, there has in fact never been a 27 year old elite athlete who got surgery within 12 hours. The age and timing of the procedure makes a huge difference.

https://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?p=119681854#p119681854

Not to mention new stem cell and growth cells injections that promote healing and weren't available to a guy like Kobe 15 years ago.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11965899/

The celtics blog article you're pointing me to says this:

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. 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.

“At some point in some months, we’ll get a much better idea of whether they’re going to try and get back next season or not,” he said. “If you want to be conservative, one would say, well, it’s probably a 12-month rehab anyway. Therefore, let’s let him sit out and give him the best shot during the following season. On the other hand, if in a handful of months he’s doing well, then there’ll be the push and pull to say, we can get him back next season.”

ESPN’s Marc Spears reported that Jayson Tatum’s father, Justin Tatum, expects his son to return to the floor in 8-9 months — which means there’s hope he would be available to lace up in February. But the Celtics offered no official recovery.

“I think the likelihood of coming back next season is pretty low, honestly,” Soslowsky said. “We have seen when people come back early, there certainly is a risk of relapsing. That would be catastrophic, that would be awful. And so that’s not something that one would want to risk. On the other hand, we’ll know in a few months how he’s progressing.”

The TL/DR for that passage in the Celticsblog article is that Dr. Soslowsky says:

-There's a chance he comes back this season
-But the likelihood of him coming back this season is "pretty low"
-Coming back too early carries increased risk for re-injury which would be "catastrophic, awful and not something one would want to risk"

[TommyPointGawd]

I tore my Achilles last May. So around the same time table as Tatum. I'm just started to feel somewhAt normal now.
Saying that and not hating at all. That video is not as impressive as you might think. I hope he doesn't play this year and comeback 1000%

Edit - Obviously Tatum has way better rehab and is a professional athlete. He probably can come back this calendar year. A football player did it in 7 months. But I highly doubt it would be worth it.

Yup. Better to just take it easy..don't rush it and come back opening night for the 26-27 season.

Imagine the backlash for the organization if he comes back any sooner than that, re-injures it and is out for even longer

There's no stopping Tatum if he wants to play when the doctors clear him.

The organization will also prefer the Cs having a shot at the ECF than playing it safe and the Cs just end up exiting in the 1st round.

Injuries can happen even when the player is just practicing.

Klay tore his achilles when he was working out in California.

So there's no guarantee JT will not get injured if he returns in 26-27.

We've seen it with our own eyes.
Tatum is shooting, jumping, and moving side to side.

He also said he's not working this hard for nothing.

It's very obvious.
His actions and words are consistent with a return in 2025-26.

My only point is that I could do that as well 5-6 months after surgery(maybe a lot more clunky). And I was no where close to 100%. Side to side is not the problem at all.Jumping off of one foot. Pushing off of the leg. Are things that would be hard.
The surgeon saying he hasn't lost a lot of strength on his calf is the most encouraging

[bisme37]

There's no injury where it's supposed to take 9 months to recover. You're using a fake, made up example.

Torn achilles pretty much always mean the player misses a full season. That's a fact.

If an injury is supposed to take 4 weeks and it takes 8, sure that might be cause for concern but that isn't anything I have mentioned here. You're making up scenarios to try and fit an agenda.

Tons of players have torn their achilles. Tatum is not the first one to get surgery very soon after the injury. And he's not the only one who was young (27 really isn't that young for an NBA player..average age of an NBA player is 26. Tatum is 27).

If anything, it's more common for younger players to take their time coming back from a really serious injury since they have more to lose if they come back too soon and re-injure it. Chet Holmgren, serious injury and sat out entire rookie year. Jamal Murray was only like 24, sat our entire season with torn ACL. Haliburton is out for this whole season with torn achilles at age 25. Embiid missed a full season early in his career. MJ missed pretty much a full season early in his career. Wemby? Spurs weren't taking any chances with their franchise player and shut him down for the season.

That early in the career, these guys don't take any chances. There's more to lose.

But with older guys, we have seen some of them come back sooner because they are pretty much all done anyways so they have less to lose, like Kobe coming back from torn achilles, Danny Green came back late in the season from torn ACL when he was like 35 yrs old, etc.

Hal, I don't understand why you seem to be ignoring the info from actual experts. There's a post a few spots above this that says Dr O'Malley, who performed Tatum's cutting-edge surgery, published a paper saying the rehab time is 24+ weeks. Then it's just a matter of hitting his progressional benchmarks.

https://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?p=119685916#p119685916

Also, according to Achilles experts, there has in fact never been a 27 year old elite athlete who got surgery within 12 hours. The age and timing of the procedure makes a huge difference.

https://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?p=119681854#p119681854

Not to mention new stem cell and growth cells injections that promote healing and weren't available to a guy like Kobe 15 years ago.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11965899/

The celtics blog article you're pointing me to says this:

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. 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.

“At some point in some months, we’ll get a much better idea of whether they’re going to try and get back next season or not,” he said. “If you want to be conservative, one would say, well, it’s probably a 12-month rehab anyway. Therefore, let’s let him sit out and give him the best shot during the following season. On the other hand, if in a handful of months he’s doing well, then there’ll be the push and pull to say, we can get him back next season.”

ESPN’s Marc Spears reported that Jayson Tatum’s father, Justin Tatum, expects his son to return to the floor in 8-9 months — which means there’s hope he would be available to lace up in February. But the Celtics offered no official recovery.

“I think the likelihood of coming back next season is pretty low, honestly,” Soslowsky said. “We have seen when people come back early, there certainly is a risk of relapsing. That would be catastrophic, that would be awful. And so that’s not something that one would want to risk. On the other hand, we’ll know in a few months how he’s progressing.”

The TL/DR for that passage in the Celticsblog article is that Dr. Soslowsky says:

-There's a chance he comes back this season
-But the likelihood of him coming back this season is "pretty low"
-Coming back too early carries increased risk for re-injury which would be "catastrophic, awful and not something one would want to risk"

You're again ignoring the info from his surgeon.

Anyway... my position is he should come back when he's healthy and cleared. I think that's going to be faster than our expectations going in, based on the info I've consumed since he went down and the progress he's already made, but when that happens it will be the right time.

I mean, the alternative is he what? He achieves all his benchmarks. His surgeon says he's cleared, the doctors and trainers say he's cleared, the team says he's cleared, JT himself says he's cleared... and then he's supposed to arbitrarily sit out a few more months until RGM posters think he should be ready? I'm obviously being facetious here, but should we make a poll so JT knows when he's allowed to come back?

[jmr07019]

There's no injury where it's supposed to take 9 months to recover. You're using a fake, made up example.

The celtics blog article you're pointing me to says this:

Dr. Soslowsky said that the return to injury spans from anywhere between 7 months to a year and a half

ESPN’s Marc Spears reported that Jayson Tatum’s father, Justin Tatum, expects his son to return to the floor in 8-9 months — which means there’s hope he would be available to lace up in February. But the Celtics offered no official recovery.

Fake and made up huh?

The team has provided no timeline, so all this talk is speculation.

[165bows]

Shut him down for the season - come to think of it, same for Brown, White, and maybe some PP. We have an unprecedented opportunity to return the following year with JT, JB, White, PP, a #1 pick, a borderline all-star Queta after his 18/11 campaign w/ 37% from 3, a bevy of young developing wings after breakout campaigns from Walsh, Scheierman, Minott et al, Horford's second return homecoming after being traded back from the over the hill Warriors and then a rounded out bench of Boucher on another vet min along with the return of RobWill. And of course KP's new contract to return as an injured player on the bench but hey can't have everything I guess.