Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum is back on the court after suffering his devastating Achilles injury in May. He says the mental part is the toughest thing to deal with as he looks to make his return this season. (Photo By Winslow Townson/Getty Images)
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Jayson Tatum knows he’s facing a long road back to the basketball court.
The Boston Celtics star suffered a torn Achilles during the team’s semifinals matchup against the New York Knicks last May. It was a painful ending to the season for the six-time All-Star forward, who suffered the injury on a non-contact play. The recovery process for such an injury is usually a year.
It’s been over 21 weeks since the injury – roughly five months – and after a grueling rehabilitation process, Tatum is now back on the court doing basketball activities. The 27-year-old was seen running and shooting with teammates on the court. However, as Tatum as says, he still has a “ways to go” before he makes his official return in a game.
“I could write a book on it,” says Tatum in a one-on-one interview of his recovery process. “It’s been a long journey, 21 weeks tomorrow, so I’m just over the five-month mark. It’s just so many different phases. There’s the beginning phase where you’re just kind of stationary, you can’t do anything not really mobile with that. You get in the boot, you’re in crutches, and eventually you get to drop one crutch. Now it’s little things where you just take for granted and every day life was a little bit tougher. It just took me a lot longer to do things
“I had a shower seat,” Tatum continues. “It took me like an hour to take a shower and get dressed every morning whereI was on crutches. You dropped one crutch, then you dropped two crutches, and now you still have this boot on. But your hands are free, and that’s when it started.”
Tatum says he recently dunked for the first time since the injury, another landmark moment for a star who certainly welcomes them as he aims to make his return at some point this season. The Celtics star reportedly is looking to return at some point during the 2025-26 season and the team is not ruling him out. However, they’re also not rushing him back as he looks to make his return from a serious injury.
“Things started or life started to feel a little bit more normal,” says Tatum of his recovery process as of late. “When you finally get the boot off, you get to put a shoe on it, you get to put a normal outfit on and walk around, that really helped me mentally. I’m back running, I’m on the court doing basketball workouts.
“I dunked the ball the other day for the first time,” Tatum continues. “I still got some ways to go, but I feel really good. It’s been something I’ve been working on for the past 21 weeks, but I’m getting there.”
Jayson Tatum Admits The ‘Mental Part’ Is Toughest Thing To Deal With From Achilles Injury
While the physical part of the rehabilitation is grueling, the “mental” part is the toughest, Tatum admits. The 6-foot-8 veteran has been the star and the go-to player for the Celtics for nearly a decade and he’s used to dominating the opposition on the court.
In fact, when Tatum suffered his injury, the Celtics were in the midst of defending their championship crown after winning the title last June. Boston finally overcame the glass ceiling after numerous playoff shortcomings to win the first franchise title since 2008.
“The mental part is definitely the toughest,” says Tatum. “Lots of emotional days, a lot of crying mentally. It was just tough. It’s just like, ‘Man I’m going to rehab six days a week and I’m working my ass off and giving everything I have.’ I used to be able to jump and dunk on people and now I’m learning how to do a calf raise again.
“It was just things like that that were tough to tough to deal with because one day I felt invincible,” Tatum continues. “I felt perfectly fine and healthy and strong, and then the next day you just need help with everything. It’s just hard to adjust.”
While Tatum admits that he’s “happier” now that he’s able to do the physical things on the court that he wasn’t able to do just a few weeks prior, he still says it’s an “adjustment” because he’s not going to be on the court when the Celtics open up the regular season in a couple of weeks.
Boston will open up the 2025-26 season on Oct. 22 against the Philadelphia 76ers.
“Happier, yes,” Tatum says when asked if he’s happier now compared to a few weeks prior. “It’s also October – the season starts this month, and my team is out there practicing, and everybody’s getting ready for the season. It’s just a reality check, I’ve come a long way, but I still got a long way to go. I won’t be out there to start the season. That’s not something I’m familiar with and it’s an adjustment for sure.”
Jayson Tatum Details How JOURNAVX Helped In His Road To Rehabbing Achilles Injury
One of the things Tatum used in his road to recovery from his Achilles injury is JOURNAVX, a non-opioid medicine used to treat his short-term pain after his surgery.
Tatum details why this was important for him and he partnered with Vertex Pharmaceuticals, the makers of the medicine.
“Obviously taking JOURNAVX around that four-week mark to relieve the pain that I was having,” says Tatum. “It’s more so about letting people out there know that whether they’re in pain or just had surgery, whatever the case may be, that you have options and you have a choice. You should just open that conversation up and talk with your doctor, go through your medical history and see what works best for you. That’s exactly what I did when we landed on JOURNAVX.”
At the four-week mark following surgery when he was at 50% weight bearing, that’s when Tatum started using JOURNAVX when he was initially prescribed opioids after coming out of surgery.
He says the opioids made him nauseous and that’s when he leaned on JOURNAVX.
“I was prescribed opioids when I first came out of surgery, and just the side effects that it had for me, I was very nauseous,” Tatum says. “It made me really sick, and I only took it for less than half a day. I was like, ‘Man, I’d rather tough it out with the pain than keep taking this medicine.’ That’s when we had the conversation that JOURNAVX is a non-opioid for moderate to acute severe pain. Once we talked through it, it really did help me. It relieved the pain. I personally didn’t have any side effects, which I was really excited about.”