Many have been keeping close tabs on Jayson Tatum's return to the Boston Celtics. Well, it sounds like his return is around the corner, but as exciting as his return will be, many should keep in mind that he's coming back from a traumatizing injury, just like former Utah Jazz star Gordon Hayward, back when the two were teammates, and the infamous Jazz alum needed some time to get back to his normal self.
The Celtics announced that Tatum would practice with their G-League affiliate, the Maine Celtics, all but confirming that Tatum's return isn't weeks away but days away.
Jayson Tatum will be assigned to participate in portions of the @MaineCeltics practice at the Auerbach Center this afternoon.
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) February 9, 2026
Following this practice, Tatum will be immediately recalled to the Boston Celtics, where he will continue his rehab process.
Teams typically do this when they know their guys are on the verge of coming back. It won't be tomorrow, but it's a pretty revealing indication that Tatum will be back before the month's end. Boston has done impressively well without him, eliminating a tanking threat for the Jazz, but his addition on paper raises Boston's ceiling dramatically.
The only problem is that this sounds familiar.
Let's take it back to 2018. After Hayward suffered a season-ending and career-altering injury five minutes into his Celtics debut, rookie Tatum and the Celtics came within inches of making the NBA Finals without Hayward (or Kyrie Irving), so the prevailing theory at the time was that once they were back, the Celtics' return to the NBA Finals felt inevitable, but then it didn't.
Hayward wasn't primarily to blame for that, but anyone who paid attention knew that he wasn't quite himself upon returning. The physical aspect was tough, but the mental aspect was even tougher. Hayward's impact dwindled because he had to overcome the mental hurdle of his injury. In a nutshell, what took the longest to come back was his confidence.
Hayward needed plenty of reps to return to normal
The Jazz alum returned to his normal self down the line more or less, but it took two years for him to do it, and even then, he got most of his form back, but not all of it. Making it worse was that somehow, after being an iron man for years in Utah, Hayward kept getting snakebitten by the injury bug.
Even if he was physically ready in a year's time, Hayward needed two to be Hayward again. In all fairness, he and Tatum suffered different career-altering injuries, as the Jazz alum suffered a broken leg and dislocated ankle in one fell swoop while Tatum tore his Achilles, but still. Both of those injuries are among the hardest to get past.
It won't be long before it's nine months since Tatum suffered his injury. Achilles tears are notorious for opening the door for other injuries down the line, but there have been exceptions. Tatum may very well look like Tatum again once he steps on the floor, but we have enough quantitative data not to be surprised if he needs the same time Hayward (or close to it) to return to normal.