Jayson Tatum has a clear plan to return for the Boston Celtics following his horrific Achilles injury.
The NBA returns in less than a month, and excitement is already building among basketball fans across the country. For the Celtics, pre-season kicks off with a game against the Memphis Grizzlies on 8 October.
They will then host the Philadelphia 76ers in their first regular season game on 22 October before taking on the New York Knicks just two days later. However, one player that will be missing from those fixtures will be the six-time NBA All-Star Tatum.
The 28-year-old ruptured his Achilles tendon in May during the Eastern Conference semi-finals, leaving many fans to fear that he will miss the entire 2025-26 season as he recovers. Speaking on ESPN's First Take on Tuesday, Tatum provided an update, revealing that he still has plans to return to the court this season.
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He said: "I haven't said I'm not playing this season. The most important thing is a full recovery, not rushing.
"But also, I don't go to rehab six days a week for nothing.
"With that being said, at the Celtics, there is a standard that we play to, that we uphold, regardless of who we have in the line-up, who's in the team, who's not.
"There's a sense of pride that we have when we put that uniform on and we are always competing to win a championship.
Tatum also revealed that he had been in regular contact with several NBA stars that also ruptured their Achilles last year, including Damian Lillard, Dejounte Murray and Tyrese Haliburton.
He added: "We've all been in communication, Dejounte, Dame, Tyrese.
"We're all at different points of our rehab and recovery.
"I text them all the time to ask what can you do, and what are you doing in your workouts.
"We're all in the same boat, just kind of checking in on each other. It's all been very helpful."
The Celtics entered last season as the reigning NBA champions, so there was disappointment when they lost 4-2 in the Conference Semi-finals to the New York Knicks.
Although, the Celtics are not considered one of the favourites this year, they will hope to surprise pundits and fans.
During the off-season they have made huge changes, saving more than $300 million, in large part by trading off Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis, who were on a huge contracts.
With Tatum set to miss the majority of the season, Boston embraced a transitional campaign until their star returns.
Topics: NBA, Basketball
James Taylor