Jayson Tatum’s Possible Return Makes Al Horford News Even Sadder For Celtics

Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum can’t be ruled out for the entire 2025-26 season, especially now that Tatum himself has hinted that he’s working hard to return to the court during the upcoming campaign.

If Tatum does ultimately come back in 2025-26 (without rushing things!), the Celtics’ outlook suddenly looks a lot different.

I've been saying Tatum can come back during this season from the beginning. People were just ruling him out without thinking about the actual situation and why it's different.

I still think JT can return, fully cleared, without rushing, this season. https://t.co/0DstgXdDNk

— John Karalis 🇬🇷 (@John_Karalis) September 23, 2025

The Tatum-less Celtics were expected to take a step back this season, not only due to JT’s absence, but due to the fact that Boston moved on from Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday this offseason to cut costs.

Another gigantic loss for the Celtics is expected to be veteran center Al Horford. While Horford is technically still a free agent, he’s reportedly set to sign with the Golden State Warriors (per The Stein Line) once GSW has sorted through the tiresome Jonathan Kuminga contract situation that we’re all sick of hearing about.

Boston’s president of basketball operations, Brad Stevens, reportedly made an offer to Horford at the start of the offseason. However, it can be presumed that, given Boston’s cap limitations, the Celtics didn’t have the means to compete with Golden State’s dollar figure for Horford. The same can be assumed about Luke Kornet and the San Antonio Spurs.

Losing Horford hurts all the more knowing that Tatum might actually return to the court for a postseason run. It means that, contrary to what Horford may have assumed a few months ago, Tatum and Horford could have had one more crack at a title run before Big Al retired.

Losing Horford also stinks for JT. Tatum has talked about Horford as one of the most important teammates of his entire career. Up until recently, Tatum — like most Celtics fans — likely assumed that Horford would finish out his playing days wearing green.

You have to believe that Horford is hearing the newest Tatum development and wishing that he could still be in Boston, but at the end of the day, there simply wasn’t enough money on the table.