Die-hard Boston Celtics fans who have been following the team for at least 25 years will remember the Jason Kidd-led New Jersey Nets teams of the early 2000s. This Nets squad was a main rival of the Paul Pierce and Antoine Walker-led Celtics.
In fact, the closest Pierce and Walker ever came to the NBA Finals together was in 2002, when they lost to the Nets in the Eastern Conference Finals. Kidd’s fellow star on that team was athletic big man Kenyon Martin, a former No. 1 overall pick who had a very respectable career in the Association.
These days, Martin shares his insights about the league on different platforms, including on the Gil’s Arena pod. During a recent episode, Martin had an interesting take on Jayson Tatum and the 2025-26 Celtics.
Essentially, Martin argued that Tatum returning in the spring could disrupt things for a Celtics team that has found considerable success without him.
To be clear, this wasn’t Martin saying that the Celtics should move on from Tatum looking into the future (that would be outrageous). More so, Martin was suggesting that things would be better if Tatum just sat the season out and returned at the start of 2026-27.
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While it does feel inevitable that Tatum will return in March or April, Martin’s points here weren’t terrible. First and foremost, it would definitely be far less risky for Tatum to sit the entire season out and come back with minimal risk of re-injury at the start of next season.
It would also be very interesting to see how far this current Tatum-less squad can go, especially if Brad Stevens made a move for another big man at the deadline.
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The Eastern Conference is quite weak this season, and it’s not crazy to suggest that the current Celtics could reach the NBA Finals. Once there, anything could happen.
Featured image via Eric Canha/Imagn Images
