Celtics Star Jayson Tatum’s Return Comes With Risks, Doctor Warns

The Boston Celtics have upgraded Jayson Tatum to ‘questionable’ ahead of their March 6 matchup against the Dallas Mavericks. According to ESPN’s Shams Charania, Tatum will play this season, with Friday a possibility for the superstar forward.

Tatum’s return to the court will be the next step in what has been a rapid recovery from a torn Achilles he suffered when facing the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference Semifinals last season.

Of course, returning from such a major injury so quickly comes with risks.

Recently, Dr. Abhinav Gautam of Nuoro Wellness, which cites Todd Boehly (part owner of the owners of Chelsea Football Club, LA Lakers and the LA Dodgers) as a primary investor, spoke with The Celtics Chronicle newsletter about the risks of Tatum returning too soon.

“There could be persistent tendinopathy,” Dr. Gautam of Nuoro Wellness said. “That basically means inflammation or irritation of the tendon from underprepared load tolerance, meaning you kind of come back too soon, and now you’re overexerting yourself, and now the tendon is like inflamed, and now you’ve taken several steps backwards.”

Dr. Gautam continued.

“You can have secondary injuries. So that could be from a hamstring, a hip, a knee, or that could be the other leg. And then also there’s like a potential performance ceiling that’s been reduced, meaning he doesn’t return to the same level that he was because the elasticity hasn’t fully been restored. So basically, like the biggest risk to coming back too early isn’t just the Achilles, but it’s the compensation injuries that happen if the system isn’t ready.”

Celtics Medical Staff Will Likely Be Cautious

Given Tatum’s importance to the Celtics organization and the future success of the franchise, it’s unlikely that the medical team would allow him to rush back if he wasn’t ready.

“Look, he’s in Boston,” Dr. Guatam said. “There are a lot of great doctors around there in the Harvard system. I’m sure he’s getting the best care he can. I think they’re second in the East. You can say that they’re doing pretty well without him. Obviously, they’d be much better with him. But like if you’re both the organization and the player, like why would you risk returning too soon?”

Tatum undoubtedly has a talented medical team around him. He’s slowly been ramping up toward a full return in recent weeks. That ramp-up has included five-on-five work behind the scenes.

Tatum Must Overcome The Mental Hurdle

When a player suffers a significant injury, such as to the Achilles, they often face a mental hurdle once returning to the court. Getting medically cleared is the first step on that journey.

However, Tatum must now re-learn to trust his body.

“It’s very difficult to play free if you’re massively concerned about injuring your leg in basketball,” Dr. Gautam said. “Your mind is not going to get in that flow state. And flow state for any of us is when you just zone out, you know, like nothing else matters, and you just kind of become completely 1000 % present in whatever it is you’re doing. And it’s hard to be present in anything that you’re doing when you’re in pain, or you have doubts about your health.”

With roughly 20 games left in the Celtics’ season, Tatum will have plenty of time to clear that mental hurdle. It’s fair to assume that he’ll begin his on-court comeback on a minutes restriction. The hope is that he gets closer to his former self by the time the playoffs roll around.

After all, if you can add an All-NBA talent back to a rotation ahead of the postseason, your chances of success receive a sizeable boost.

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