The Boston Celtics finally can await the expected return of their star Jayson Tatum for the first time
Boston Celtics star forward Jayson Tatum hasn’t taken the court since Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals against the New York Knicks, when he tore his right Achilles tendon. Shortly less than 10 months after that injury, Tatum is expected to make his season debut against the Dallas Mavericks at TD Garden on Friday night, according to ESPN's Shams Charania. Tatum was listed as questionable on the team’s injury report for the first time in the 2025-26 NBA season ahead of the contest, and ESPN reports that he will make the final call and let the Celtics know ahead of Friday night.
The six-time All-Star, five-time All-NBA Tatum has fastidiously worked this season to get back to playing without setting himself back in the recovery process, and it’ll still be an ongoing process ramping him back up to game speed. If Tatum does return on Friday, it’s safe to say it probably won’t be much more than limited minutes while he works his conditioning back up. They haven’t rushed the process up to this point, and so the ramp up will follow that same trajectory, but it still marks a major moment for Boston as they pace towards yet another 50-win season sitting in second place in the Eastern Conference.
Here is the full story from Celtics Roundtable writer Tom Carroll on the significance of Tatum’s status on the injury report and what the potential for his return would look like.
His return comes at a solid time, as the Celtics don’t have any back-to-backs until March 29-30. As they contend for a playoff push, that’ll give Tatum some time to ramp back up to game speed and be ready to make an impact on the court once they’re in the thick of it.