Blake Griffin Casts Doubt On Whether Celtics’ Jayson Tatum Should Return This Season

The Boston Celtics have been without Jayson Tatum to begin the 2025-26 NBA season. The superstar forward is currently sidelined with an Achilles tendon injury. There’s no timeline for his return to Joe Mazzulla’s rotation.

However, over the past two months, Tatum has begun releasing footage of his workouts to social media. The videos started with him dunking from a stationary position and working on his dribbling. They’ve slowly progressed to playing one-on-one without contact and working on step-back jump shots off the leg he previously injured.

As expected, Celtics fans are now hopeful that Tatum could return to Boston’s rotation before the end of the season. Interestingly, former Celtics forward Blake Griffin, speaking with Daniel Donabedian of ClutchPoints, isn’t sure an in-season return would be best for the All-NBA forward.

“There’s a lot of information on Achilles and all other sorts of injuries, but especially Achilles injuries, where, the longer you wait — like, yes, you may be able to play within, call it 10 months,” Griffin said. “But does 16 months give you a much better chance at not re-injuring and not injuring something else? And I think the data on that is very clear. As good and as much fun as the Celtics are to watch this season, as good as they’ve been, I don’t know that if I was advising him — I don’t know that I would be like, ‘Yeah, you got to get back this year.’”

By sitting out until the 2026-27 season, Tatum would have the opportunity to ramp himself back up to NBA fitness without the added risk of re-injuring himself during a game. He would also be starting a new season fresh, where there’s less pressure to perform from the outset.

Of course, Tatum and Boston’s medical staff will make the final call on when he returns. And, judging by the way he’s currently attacking his rehab, he may have this season in mind. Still, it’s worth remembering that being medically cleared is only the first step for Tatum to get back to his best. It could take months before he’s anywhere near the All-NBA talent we became accustomed to seeing on the court.

Sooner or later, Tatum will be back on the court for the Celtics. Hopefully, that return isn’t rushed, and when he is reinserted into the lineup, the risk of reaggravating his injury will be minimal.