The Boston Celtics have been rolling coming out of the All-Star break, picking up another blowout win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday as they continue their West Coast trip. The winning comes as the team awaits further updates on Jayson Tatum, the injured star whom many suspect could make a return as soon as this season.
However, one person who thinks that the Celtics can reach their goals this season regardless of whether Tatum is in the lineup is former Boston big man Kendrick Perkins of ESPN, who recently took to First Take to relay his thoughts.
“They can go to the NBA Finals without [Jayson] Tatum. … They are the most dangerous team in the NBA because they have zero expectations,” said Perkins, via First Take on X, formerly Twitter.
Perkins also opined that Boston has “the best two-way player in the game in Jaylen Brown, because no other player in the league is doing what he's doing as far as being top five in scoring, and top five defensively in opponent field goal percentage.”
Indeed, Brown has been getting it done on both ends of the floor this year, although fans of Kawhi Leonard, Victor Wembanyama, and several other players would likely strongly disagree with Perkins' assessment.
Still, at this juncture, the Celtics are starting to look like a real threat even without Tatum in the lineup. There is one school of thought that a rushed Tatum return this season could actually work against Boston's plans for 2025-26, considering the way that the team's rhythm would at least temporarily be disrupted, and the fact that the star would have a great deal of rust to shake off. Tatum has also not exactly distinguished himself as a good postseason performer in his career thus far, which continued last year vs the New York Knicks.
In any case, the Celtics' road trip will continue on Tuesday vs the Phoenix Suns.
