The Boston Celtics are not rushing to lay out a return timeline for Jayson Tatum after the All-NBA forward suffered a torn right Achilles tendon during the second round of the playoffs in May. Tatum underwent surgery shortly after the injury and is expected to miss a significant portion — if not all — of the 2025–26 season. On Wednesday night, Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens addressed questions as to whether the team had any target in mind for Tatum’s comeback.
“We don’t and we won’t,” Stevens said. “We won’t put a projected timeline on him for a long, long time. … It’s baby steps right now. He’s actually progressed great, but I don’t know what that means in regard to projected timelines. But that will be in consultation with him … and everybody else to make sure when he hits the court he is fully ready, and fully healthy. And that will be the priority.”
That cautious outlook seemed to inform Boston’s recent moves, as the team traded away both Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porziņģis in separate deals this week — part of an effort to get under the second apron and recalibrate the roster with Tatum’s absence in mind. Even All-Star Jaylen Brown and Derrick White were names Boston reportedly fielded offers for, according to Shams Charania.
Stevens is not permitted to directly comment on the pending trades involving Holiday and Porziņģis, but acknowledged the broader context behind the team’s offseason approach.
“As far as whatever moves that those are a apart of, they’re all separate and hard and things that you’re going to have to do your best to make sure you put yourself in the right positions,” Stevens said. “We knew this was coming. This isn’t a huge surprise. … The biggest thing for us is making sure that we balance that, maximizing what we can with regard to what we bring back so we can continue to build and grow.”
Tatum isn’t the only Celtics star that underwent surgery early this offseason. Brown had a successful arthroscopic procedure on his right knee and is already back in the facility working out, per Stevens.
“We said be ready for training camp and I think he’ll probably be going full well ahead of that,” Stevens said.
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