Jayson Tatum injury – what's next for the star, Boston and Celtics the future

Testing on Tuesday confirmed what everyone who Jayson Tatum fell on the floor against the New York Knicks that were already feared on Monday during the defeat of Boston Celtics: Tatum suffered a break in his right Achilles tendon late in the fourth quarter, and sent him not only for the rest of this off-season, but also for the later season.

In view of the importance of Tatum for the defending champions as the leading goal scorer and a three-time all-NBA team (with a fourth probably when this year's teams will be announced shortly), his injury is one of the consequences in NBA history.

The effects begin with Boston's ability to return from a 3-1 deficit against the Knicks, which are now preferred in this series, but far beyond how the Celtics will deal with the next season.

Let's take a look at how Boston could play without Tatum, as well as the history of the Achilles injuries in the NBA and their effects on the Celtics.

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Jayson Tatum helped in court

Celtics star Jayson Tatum leaves the game after an injury in the fourth quarter opposite the Knicks.

When can we see how Tatum returns?

No NBA player since Jose Juan Barea in 2019 has returned earlier than 10 ½ months after a Achilles break, which indicates that the Celtics should miss the entire regular 2025-26 season. A post -season return is more realistic, but there is basically no precedent.

The only NBA player I could find who returned from a seasonless injury to the playoffs was Larry Krystkowiak with the Milwaukee Bucks in 1991, when he came back from an ACL repair to play three games and a total of two points. Although Krystkowiak was a starter before the injury, the missions were not quite as with an all-NBA First Teamer.

The post -season returns were discussed when both Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson had suffered injuries in the 2019 NBA final, but also not. The season of the Golden State Warriors 2019-20 was up to the time when Thompson was cleared, he suffered a subsequent Achilles rupture in a pick-up game this off-season. In the meantime, Durant decided not to connect the Brooklyn Nets for the Bubble restart in the summer of 2020 and returned one and a half years after his Achilles break was broken at the beginning of the 2020-21 campaign.

Based on this story, Boston would like to approach maybe 2025-26 as if Tatum would not play in the playoffs at all. This changes thinking for a team that has won 15 Playoff series in the seven years since the output of Tatum No. 3 in 2018.

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Second apron squeez

As Brian Windhorst recently described from ESPN, the Celtics enter into a precarious financial situation. With the Supermax expansion of Tatum-Die largest in NBA history, which will replace teammates Jaylen Brown in the luxury tax line 2025-26 next summer more than $ 40 million more than $ 40 million. This does not count the veterans of Al Horford, who will be an unreserved free agent at the age of 39.

The impending tax burden for the Celtics and the restrictions for teams that override the second luxury tax apron always served to force difficult decisions. Tatum's injury accelerates. After all, it is one thing to pay for a potential championship team north of 200 million US dollars. To do this for a team whose progress is uncertain.

Age is another consideration. If Boston's next title window shifts from 2026 to 2027, thinking about experienced players, especially Jrue Holiday, has an impact. The vacation will be 36 years old in the 2026-27 season. The Celtics could be better off to send the vacation to another competitor, while his value in a step that reduces your salary statement and could make it younger on the area on the scope of the defensive level.

Conversely, Tatum's absence could prevent Boston from taking into account the nuclear option of trade with Brown. The long-term financial challenge for the Celtics is to have two players in Brown and Tatum, who together make more than 60% of the salary limit until 2028-29. Boston will not be possible to maintain the depth that was now a trademark, since his two most important players are paid for as the stars they are.

In Tatum's absence, Brown's ability to create his own shots is of the greatest importance. They were the only two Celtics rotation players who were supported in less than 59% of their field gates this season -Atum at 39% and Brown at 46%.

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Expectations of Tatum

Durant's return will undoubtedly be the comparison for Tatum. Despite his Achilles injury at the age of 30, three years older than Tatum, Durant returned as a dominant force, which he was and remains an all-star year-old year that was removed from him.

The example of Durant shows that it is possible to avoid a significant loss of performance after a breach of Achilles. The most likely influence on Tatum is to affect its durability. Including the playoffs, no one has played NBA games as Tatum since he was moved in, and the eight games of this season missed due to an injury – six of them in March and April, and Boston, which was set to No. 2 – were a career high.

Whenever Tatum is back on the pitch, he will probably be limited for a certain period by playing back-to-back games and will probably also monitor his minutes. This could make it difficult for Tatum to add more all-NBA first team appearances, even if its productivity does not suffer.

As a rule, Multiskilled Wings returned the best of Achilles injuries. Beyond Durant comprises this group of Thompson and Wesley Matthews, who were back on the square in 2015 for less than eight months after his injury and played in the NBA for up to 37 years.

There is no guarantee that Tatum will join this group instead of joining more warning examples such as Demarcus Cousins ​​and John Wall. But there is no reason to look at an Achilles rupture at the end of Tatum's ability to play at a high level.

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How can the Celtics come back to this series?

First, you have to overcome the shock that your star player helped in a wheelchair into the changing room. Tatum's injury was discouraging, but his Boston teammates will have a few days to process it when the team tries to stay alive at home on Wednesday evening.

Before Tatum's injury, the Celtics were in a huge hole after falling 3-1 in the series. Historically, 3-1 comebacks for the higher seed were much more feasible than Boston. Nevertheless, this means that the teams have won 8% of the time in the best-of-Seven series since 1984 (5-58) in the best-of-Seven series, compared to only 1% of the time in series where the lower seeds 3: 1 (2-141).

In addition, Tatum was the biggest reason why the Celtics were in game 4, even though they gave up 70 points in the second half. Tatum scored 42 points in 40 minutes and brought most of the career playoff games for every Boston player before going down.

In Tatum's absence, the Celtics have to rely on a defense that kept the Knicks in games 2 and 3 on 184 points. Jalen Brunson's attitude should be a top priority. Brunson's 18 points in color on Monday met almost 22 in the first three games in the series in the total number of 22.

As a team, New York in game had 4 64 points in the paintwork, according to NBA Advanced Statistics in every playoff game this season the third highest of a team in every playoff game. The Celtics could replace Tatum by putting more size on the pitch and protecting the edge at the expense of their own shootout. If Boston can bring the offensive of the Knicks back into the mud, there is enough gate for the Celtics to win three consecutive games and score an unlikely comeback.

Nevertheless, the combination of the loss of the game and Tatum on Monday Boston prevented the best chances of winning the Eastern Conference at ESPN Bet in order to reach the fourth game in order to reach the four remaining teams.