There were rumblings earlier this week that Tatum would make his anticipated return this Friday against the Mavericks, and those rumors appear to be coming true, as the six-time All-Star has officially been listed as questionable for Friday’s matchup against the Mavericks in Boston. This is the first time this season that Tatum has been listed as anything other than out by the Celtics, and ESPN’s Shams Charania is reporting that “there’s an expectation” Tatum will make his season debut on Friday.
Tatum hasn’t played since rupturing his Achilles tendon during the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals vs. the Knicks last May. With the injury occurring in New York, he was able to quickly undergo the surgery to repair his Achilles with renowned physician Dr. Martin O’Malley, and the procedure was done shortly after in hopes of helping Tatum rehab quicker.
The superstar has reportedly been exceeding expectations during his rehab and recently rejoined the Celtics for 5-on-5 activities a few weeks ago. Before going down with the major injury last May, Tatum averaged 26.8 points, 8.7 rebounds, and 6.0 assists per game in the regular season and finished fourth in MVP voting.
If the Duke product plays as expected on Friday, Tatum almost certainly will be under a minutes restriction. For reference, Dejounte Murray just returned from the same injury last week, and the guard was limited to 24 minutes in his season debut. Murray was sidelined for over a year, while Tatum is aiming to return in less than 10 months, so his minutes limit could be even lower than Murray’s.
While Charania is reporting Tatum will inform the Celtics over the next day if he will play Friday or not, note that he has expressed his desire to make his return at home in front of the Boston faithful, and after Friday, the Celtics head on the road for a three-game road trip, so Tatum being back on the floor Friday feels extremely likely.
While Tatum may come off the bench in his first few games, he will likely move back into the Celtics’ starting five shortly after, and with the forward back in the mix, all of Boston’s key players will see notable decreases to their roles. Jaylen Brown ranks second in the NBA in usage rate this season at 36.5%, but with Tatum healthy last season, Brown’s usage rate was much lower at 28.9%.
