BOSTON — Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum was flying high in June of 2024 and feeling heroic, as he helped save the Green Team from a 16-year title drought and celebrated with a championship parade, which he described as one of the greatest experiences of his life. Almost a year later, everything came crashing down. The six-time All-Star suffered a ruptured Achilles in May during the 2025 NBA Playoffs and was stripped of his super power: excelling in the game he loves.

An advertisement for director James Gunn's Superman film eerily captured this tragic fall. Tatum starred in the promotional piece that aired during the 2025 postseason and donned the iconic “S” on his chest for it, tying him to feelings of hope and invincibility that Superman is famously known for. In fact, the main takeaway from the commercial asked if Tatum could eventually fill in and become Superman:

Unfortunately, Tatum's untimely injury showed that he wasn't super-human after all, and Warner Brothers ended up pulling the ad following his Achilles tear.

Jayson Tatum's journey from hero to human and back again

Unlike the aforementioned caped hero, Tatum doesn't have the luxury of being invincible. He may have tricked fans for a bit given the fact that he had never missed more than 18 games in a single season until this year, however, his injury and the grueling rehab process that came with it reminded him that he's vulnerable.

“I didn't know how this sh*t was going to be,” Tatum said on Sunday night of his recent return to play. “You just want to be Jayson Tatum and feel like yourself again. I’m not Superman, so it’s obviously going to take some time.”

Since running out of the tunnel at TD Garden on March 6 in heroic fashion to confirm his comeback from injury, Tatum has been brilliant in spots. He's scored in double figures in all eight of his outings this season and the Celtics have gone 6-2 when he's in the starting lineup.

That doesn't mean his return has been seamless, though. The 2024 NBA champion shot under 40% from the field during a 102-92 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday and struggled in the first half before looking more like himself in the final 24 minutes of action.

“This is the first time I've went through something like this,” he said in the locker room. “I mean, it's just been a long time. It was a long time before I could shoot a basketball, before I could walk. So, just trying to knock the rust off, game by game. I find great spurts and moments from game to game and I'm just trying to put more of them together.”

When he's in true “Superman” form, Tatum is dicing up defenses with his passing, leaping for rebounds, and blowing by opponents like a speeding bullet. He's had moments like that in March — including his 24-point performance against the Golden State Warriors or his clutch bucket in transition versus the Phoenix Suns — when it's appeared as if he was never even injured at all.

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But, despite his gifts, Tatum has still experienced stretches where he's seemed more like Clark Kent, the human alter ego of Superman who can't fly around in the public eye. He missed 12 of his 15 shots from the floor in a tight win over the Memphis Grizzlies and, most recently, couldn't find the bottom of the net in the first two quarters against the T-Wolves.

“It's only my eighth game, so still just trying to get a feel for it,” Tatum said.

Why Jayson Tatum deserves patience

While Tatum's occasional struggles may be disheartening for Celtics fans, it's worth remembering one detail of Superman's lore: Clark Kent is still Superman. The mild-mannered, bespectacled side of Superman isn't as fun as when puts on his blue, red, and yellow suit and is soaring through the sky, yet he's the same person — and he's still heroic.

This applies to Tatum because although the 4-time All-NBA First Teamer hasn't always been at his best since suiting up again, it took an almost super-human amount of strength to see the floor once more less than 300 days removed from a traumatic injury.

“I had probably the worst injury you could have and I came back in 10 months and [I'm] getting just a better feel each game,” he revealed.

So, even when Tatum looks more similar to Kent than Kal-El, remember what he went through to get to this point and that playing like a superstar following an Achilles rupture isn't as easy as transforming in a phone booth.

“I wanted to be perfect and First Team All-NBA Jayson Tatum like that,” Tatum said accompanied by a quick snap of his fingers. “But it's going to take time. I didn't rush the rehab process, so I can't rush this.”

Tatum could put his cape on soon when the Celtics host the reigning champion Oklahoma City Thunder, who've won 12 games in a row, on Wednesday night. But even if the 28-year-old has trouble against arguably the best team in the league, it's worth noting that progress in the NBA is rarely linear. It often includes a lot of ups and downs, and Tatum may have to stumble again before he can truly fly.

“It's all going to work out,” he said.