Celtics star Jayson Tatum adds to Achilles return noise with dunking video

Recently, reports surfaced from ESPN NBA insider Shams Charania that the Boston Celtics were cautiously optimistic that superstar Jayson Tatum could return from his torn Achilles injury at some point during the upcoming 2025-26 season. Tatum suffered the injury in the 2025 playoffs against the New York Knicks in Game 4, leaving in the final minutes of the contest.

Tatum himself has made it clear that he's putting no limitations on when he will be able to return to the court, and he recently added to the noise by posting a video of himself dunking on X, formerly Twitter.

This follows up a recent video that Tatum posted on his YouTube channel showing himself running through some basketball drills on the court at a decent speed.

While Tatum by no means wants to rush back from arguably the most devastating injury a basketball player can suffer, it's great to see how much progress he's made in such a short amount of time.

How good can the Celtics be this year?

In addition to losing Tatum indefinitely, the Boston Celtics also had to part ways with both Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis this summer in order to get themselves under the dreaded second apron restriction.

With this being the case, the Celtics figure to have a hard ceiling on just how competitive they can be this year. Jaylen Brown seems destined for a career year scoring-wise, and he'll also have some help in the form of shooting guard Derrick White.

Beyond those two, however, there are a lot of unknowns for head coach Joe Mazzulla and company, including several young players the team will likely try to get more minutes, as well as Anfernee Simons, whom the team acquired in the Holiday trade and is a bit of a wild card at this point.

Still, in a weakened Eastern Conference, it's not outside the realm of possibility that the Celtics could still secure a top six seed and become a scary playoff opponent if Tatum were to return by that point in time.