Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum took a major step in his potential return from injury as he practiced with the team’s G League affiliate, the Maine Celtics this week. While practicing with G League squads often signal a pending return to the court for some players, Tatum was non-committal when asked about what his practice session indicated, as per Noa Dalzel of Celtics Blog.
“It doesn’t mean I’m coming back or not,” Tatum said after speaking to the media for the first time this season.
And in an interesting piece of news, it wasn’t just G League players whom Tatum practiced against on Monday, as per Shams Charania of ESPN. The Celtics’ two-way contract players took part in the practice session as did some of the team’s standard contract players as well.
Jayson Tatum has been sidelined after suffering an Achilles injury last season during the Celtics’ Eastern Conference Semifinal series against the New York Knicks. While he drew speculation about a potential return following a workout video that circulated last month, as well his recent G League practice assignment, it appears as if Celtics fans are going to have wonder a little while longer.
“Still trying to figure it out. Still just going through the progressions of rehab,” Tatum said. “Not saying that I’m coming back or not. It’s all about being healthy and going through the plan.”
“I feel a little bit better today than I did yesterday – the physical, conditioning, trusting it, every day I feel a little bit better,” Tatum continued. “More conditioning, more live things. Getting acclimated to playing 5-on-5 and contact.”
During last season’s playoff run, Tatum was averaging 28.1 points, 11.5 rebounds, 5.4 assists and 2.1 steals with splits of 42.3 percent shooting from the field, 37.2 percent shooting from the 3-point line and 88.9 percent shooting from the free-throw line.
In Tatum’s absence, the Celtics have actually surprised many as one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference. Jaylen Brown is having an MVP-caliber season, and the Celtics recently addressed their big man concerns in trading for Nikola Vucevic. The team is currently 34-19 and in the No. 3 spot in the East standings.
