Boston Celtics superstar Jayson Tatum had surgery Tuesday to repair his torn, right Achilles tendon, a report by ESPN NBA insider Shams Charania said on Tuesday afternoon. The 27-year-old was injured in Monday night’s playoff game against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
BREAKING: Boston Celtics All-NBA star Jayson Tatum underwent surgery to repair a torn right Achilles tendon. Catastrophic season-ending injury for one of the NBA’s young faces and the Celtics, with a long rehab awaiting.
The injury obviously rules Tatum out for the remainder of the Celtics playoffs, which would end on Wednesday if they lose that game to the Knicks. But more importantly, the three-time All-NBA first-teamer could miss the entirety of next season as well.
According to Charania’s report, Tatum now faces “a long rehab.”
“Boston Celtics All-NBA star Jayson Tatum underwent surgery to repair a torn right Achilles tendon. Catastrophic season-ending injury for one of the NBA’s young faces and the Celtics, with a long rehab awaiting,” the ESPN insider reported at 4:43 p.m. Eastern Time, just 17 minutes before the Celtics were required to issue their injury report for Wednesday’s game.
One minute after Charania posted his report, the Celtics issued their own post confirming the details of the earlier information.
“Jayson Tatum today underwent successful surgery to repair a ruptured right Achilles tendon,” the Celtics wrote on their official social media channels. “No timetable is currently available for his return, but he is expected to make a full recovery. Further updates will be provided when appropriate.”
Jayson Tatum today underwent successful surgery to repair a ruptured right Achilles tendon. No timetable is currently available for his return, but he is expected to make a full recovery. Further updates will be provided when appropriate.
With the Celtics trailing two games to one in the second-round series against the Knicks, Tatum played 40 minutes before his injury, scoring 42 points with eight rebounds, four assists, four steals and two blocked shots.
Until that fateful moment, Tatum was playing one of the best playoff games of his career. It was his 31st playoff game with at least 40 points. That tied Celtics legends Larry Bird and John Havlicek for most 40-point playoff performances in franchise history.
But with 3:04 remaining the game and the Celtics trailing by seven points, Tatum’s longest-standing teammate Jaylen Brown lost the dribble around mid-court, and the ball came loose.
As Tatum dove to recover the loose ball, his right leg appeared to give out and he collapsed face first to the floor, clutching the back of his right ankle area.
Jayson Tatum was helped off the court late in Game 4 after an apparent leg injury on this play.
Writhing in obvious pain, Tatum signaled for a time-out, his team’s final available time-out at that point in the game. He had to be helped off the court, and was later seen being taken to the Celtics’ locker room in a wheelchair.
Since being drafted by the Celtics with the No. 3 overall pick in 2017, Tatum has played in 585 games with 392 wins. That is more games won than any other NBA player over that same time span.
Tatum and the Celtics got to the Eastern Conference Finals in his rookie season, where they faced the Cleveland Cavaliers led by Lebron James. The Celtics took a 3-2 lead in that series but ultimately fell in seven games.
Tatum’s Celtics also reached the conference Finals in 2020, then again in 2022 when they defeated the Miami Heat to advance to the NBA Finals. But there, they lost to the Golden State Warriors in six games.
After another her seven-game conference Finals loss in 2023, to the Miami Heat, Tatum finally led the Celtics to an NBA championship, the record 18th in franchise history, in 2024.
