With the NBA All-Star Weekend in full effect, players and coaches involved in the various events throughout the weekend are sitting down for interviews across all mediums over the next few days.

One of those mediums is SiriusXM NBA Radio, and one of those participants is Ron Harper Jr.

Harper, a member of the Boston Celtics (35-19) who has spent time with both the G League and NBA clubs this season, is partaking in both the Shooting Stars and Rising Stars competitions this weekend.

With his ties to the Maine Celtics, Harper was a participant in Monday’s practice at the Auerbach Center in which the Celtics’ G League affiliate added a rehabbing Jayson Tatum into the fold. After being figuratively “sent down” to practice with Maine, Tatum was immediately recalled back to the big league club, where he spoke on Tuesday about feeling good about where his progress was at, while also not revealing any sort of notions about potential return timelines.

During his sitdown with SiriusXM, Harper was asked by longtime radio host Justin Termine what he thought of Tatum after running through a practice with him earlier this week.

“How did he look?” asked Termine.

“He looked like Jayson Tatum, I’ll say that much,” said Harper with a grin.

“How excited are you guys about the potential, maybe, that he does come back and adds to what you have?” Termine followed up.

“We're really excited,” said Harper. “You know, we're really excited for the potential of him coming back. We don't know for sure if-or-not he's gonna come back, but, you know, we're just really excited to be able to see him progress during his rehab.”

The clip then came to an end, and I don’t have a SiriusXM subscription. So that’s all I got for you.

With that said, there’s a lot to be gleaned from that short clip.

Harper’s affect while answering the question was super positive. There was no hesitation when he said his teammate and mentor “looked like Jayson Tatum.” In similar situations across sports, there’s been answers that leave you feeling less-than-positive about what star players are at during their rehab process. This was not one of them.

You combine these comments with what Tatum had to say on Tuesday while meeting with the media, and you can see a return coming sooner rather than later. Whether Tatum wants to pour water on the idea or not through reporters, the tea leaves are there for us to read.

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Tom Carroll is a contributor for Roundtable, with boots-on-the-ground coverage of all things Boston sports. He's a senior digital content producer for WEEI.com, and a native of Lincoln, RI.