BOSTON — The last time the Celtics fought and clawed for their playoff lives, they were without their face of the franchise in Jayson Tatum. The C’s star was still going through return-to-play protocols, so after a left knee issue popped up, he was shut down ahead of Game 7 against the 76ers.
Tatum now gets a full offseason to recover after playing in 22 combined games between the regular season and playoffs. While he wasn’t at 100% coming back from his Achilles injury, Tatum still played at a high level in his return. Celtics president Brad Stevens, speaking after the first round of the NBA Draft on Tuesday, gave a health update on the Celtics star.
“He’s been good,” Stevens said. “A lot of the younger guys have been here because they are ramping up to play in Summer League. We haven’t been done as early as we’ve been done in a long time. They actually went away for awhile and came back for a couple weeks so they have spent a lot of time together. Jayson joined them last week to start to ramp up. He’s good some travels coming up. He’s got his camp coming up and I think he’s excited about getting on the court with some of those young pups a little bit.”
The Celtics have been in the thick of trade rumors in the past few weeks in their failed attempt to land Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo. Where the front office goes from here is the big question mark ahead of the offseason. There’s also the Jaylen Brown factor after he was the main piece going to Milwaukee in a potential trade.
But regardless of what the Celtics do this summer, Tatum’s health is one of the most important pieces. Tatum remarked how, at the end of the season, his right calf was still smaller than his left one coming back from his Achilles injury. It was one of those realities that, yes, despite his great play, he wasn’t close to 100% yet. He’ll have a chance to get back to full strength now that he has a full offseason ahead of him.
“I‘m very happy that I came back to be a part of his team,” Tatum said back in May. “To get back to doing what I love, to help us, give us a chance to compete for a championship, to prove to myself that I can get back to being the guy who I was, and hopefully better. And just to kind of defy what this injury kind of means.”
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