Jayson Tatum Tells Chris Haynes He’s ‘Coming Back This Season’

On Thursday, Senior NBA Insider for Amazon Prime Chris Haynes was on SiriusXM NBA Radio, where the veteran reporter said on his “Deals and Dunks” show that Celtics superstar Jayson Tatum told him he’s coming back this season.

Unfortunately, this audio is protected behind a paywall. If you’re a SiriusXM subscriber, you can find it here.

Tatum, 27, is currently out as he continues to rehab his surgically repaired Achilles’ tendon, which he ruptured in the fourth quarter of Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Knicks at Madison Square Garden in May.

After undergoing surgery in New York City within 12 hours of the injury, rumors and speculation began surrounding how long it would take the five-time All-NBA forward to return to the court. There were some schools of thought that said Tatum should sit out the entirety of the 2025-26 season, with others clinging to the idea of Tatum returning to a roster that could be one piece away from making a playoff run.

With the Celtics at 15-11 through 26 games, they currently sit as the No. 4 seed in an Eastern Conference that many believe is as wide open as it has been in years. The latter school of thought calling for Tatum to get back on the court as quickly as possible has never been louder, especially as Boston enters into a weak stretch of their schedule after completing a tough back-to-back this weekend against the Heat (14-12) and Raptors (16-11).

Here’s what it looks like starting Monday

- December 22 vs. Pacers (6-20)
- December 26 @ Pacers
- December 28 @ Portland (10-16)
- December 30 @ Utah (10-15)
- January 1 @ Sacramento (6-20)
- January 3 @ Clippers (6-20)
- January 5 vs. Bulls (11-15)

Even if the Celtics split their next two, that seven-game stretch should be a 7-0 run, barring injury. That would put Boston at 23-12 heading into a home game against the Nuggets (19-6) on January 7. Even if they go 5-2 over that run (again, assuming they split this weekend), that’s 21-13 heading into a game against Jokic.

If all goes according to plan, that should be the best game on the NBA calendar that night. And while Tatum is likely not close enough for that game to be his return, you have to imagine the buzz in the lead-up to that one for Tatum’s eventual return in early 2026 will be at an all-time high, regardless of the outcome of that game.

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If they win that game, the conversation becomes, “Imagine what this team’s ceiling could be if they add a healthy Tatum?”

If they get blown out, the conversation becomes, “Man, this team REALLY needs Tatum to have a chance at a title!”

You get that point.

It should be noted that the Celtics have given themselves the contractual flexibility to add Tatum if-and-when he’s ready to return.

“One of the things that everybody can see is we didn’t apply for a [displayed player exception] this year, which was a conscious decision for a lot of reasons,” Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens said at the Auerbach Center in Brighton, MA on Wednesday. “But the reality is, he’s not going to be back until he’s 110% healthy and he feels good about it, and that’s a big part of it.

“There’s a strength threshold he has to meet. And then after that, several weeks of progressions from the standpoint of scripted against small groups, scripted against bigger groups, scripted in 5-on-5, unscripted random. All the way up through those.

“But it’s a long progression, and it’s almost like - once you hit the strength, then you do your thresholds of a progression of play, and then you’re also reconditioning to play real minutes. Whatever that looks like. He’s obviously made great strides. Right now, we’re still focused on the full-strength band.”

In the grand scheme of things, what does Haynes’ comment from his radio show mean?

At the moment? Nothing.

But it’s yet another signal from the St. Louis-native that he has no intentions of taking the year off, and sees himself having an impact on the court in some capacity during the 2025-26 season.

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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.