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The Boston Celtics season unofficially ended when Jayson Tatum ruptured his Achilles in the team's Game 4 loss to the New York Knicks in their Eastern Conference semifinals series. Now, the future is murky for both Tatum and the Celtics, as the team will have to retool their roster without knowing whether or not their best player is even going to play next season.
Tatum quickly underwent surgery on Tuesday, less than 24 hours after he suffered the injury, with one of the world's top Achilles surgeons, Dr. Martin O'Malley, operating on the Celtics superstar. According to another high-level Achilles doctor, Dr. Lou Soslowsky, he believes that the fact that Tatum underwent surgery almost immediately, and that it was done by O'Malley, will help his recovery process from this series ailment.
“The fact that he did choose a surgeon — and there was availability to operate on him so quickly — gives him an excellent shot at an earlier-than-average, high-level athlete return,” Soslowsky said via Celtics Blog.
Celtics enter critical offseason after Jayson Tatum injury
Doctors recommend undergoing surgery on a ruptured Achilles almost immediately, as it will prevent swelling from becoming another issue to deal with. O'Malley also repaired Kevin Durant's ruptured Achilles back in 2019, and he hasn't skipped a beat since returning to action, so there's reason to believe that not only could Tatum's return be accelerated, but he could return to the level of play he was at prior to this injury.
For the time being, though, the Celtics need to figure out what the future will look like for them, as they have to make some changes to their roster given their unsuccessful playoff run, and the major penalties from the second apron of the NBA salary cap that they could be subjected to if they keep their roster intact as is. Tatum's injury has sped up the timeline for revamping this team, and Boston could end up having a busy offseason as a result.
