Former Duke Blue Devils star Jayson Tatum suffered the most devastating injury a basketball player could experience last spring, tearing his Achilles during the Boston Celtics' playoff run.

There is no definitive timetable for Tatum's return, although there has been plenty of chatter that the 27-year-old could return at some point this season.

For now, though, Tatum has been relegated to street clothes on the Celtics bench, and Boston wing Jaylen Brown has explained exactly what Tatum has meant to the C's thus far this year.

“He’s been super active. He’s been around. It’s been dope to see," Brown told reporters. "He’s been engaged. He’s been on the majority of every flight, almost every film session. So that level of dedication, you can tell he’s eager to get back."

Tatum has been making remarkable progress on the road to recovery, but the Celtics still need to take it easy with the six-time All-Star.

Hopefully, Tatum has the patience to wait.

"A lot of guys that know they got an extended amount of time, they're going to separate themselves mentally for a little bit or whatever," Brown added. "He's been there. He's been like an extra coach, in a sense. So it's been kind of cool to see any little.”

Tatum spent just one season at Duke in 2016-17, averaging 16.8 points and 7.3 rebounds per game before being selected by Boston with the third overall pick of the 2017 NBA Draft.

The St. Louis native has since gone on to become one of the best players in the league, having earned four straight First-Team All-NBA selections while leading the Celtics to a championship in 2024.

Last year, Tatum registered 26.8 points, 8.7 rebounds and six assists over 36.4 minutes per game on 45.2/34.3/81.4 shooting splits.

Prior to the Achilles injury, Tatum had been incredibly durable, playing in over 70 games for four straight campaigns and having only played in less than 70 contests twice in his career. In fact, the only two times that occurred were in 2019-20 and 2020-21, two seasons that were shortened due to the pandemic.

We'll see if Tatum can get himself right and return to being one of the NBA's top forwards — and players in general — once he gets back on the floor.