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Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum has undergone surgery to repair a ruptured right achilles tendon that will sideline him for the remainder of the playoffs, the team announced on Tuesday.
The Celtics announced the extent of Tatum’s injury and the surgery a day after the six-time All-Star went down in the Celtics’ 121-113 Game 4 loss to the New York Knicks. Tatum was in clear pain after the injury and was later seen with his head in his hands as he was taken to the locker room in a wheelchair.
The injury puts both the hopes of the Celtics defending their title and Tatum’s playing status for next season in doubt. When Kevin Durant tore his achilles during the 2019 NBA finals, he went on to miss the entire 2019-2020 season.
The 27-year-old Tatum was leading the Celtics in points (28.1), rebounds (11.5) and assists (5.4) per game for the second straight postseason before his injury.
The Knicks lead the Celtics 3-1 in their Eastern Conference semi-finals series. Game 5 is in Boston on Wednesday night.
Now, Tatum’s teammates will face a daunting task that few teams before them have pulled off if they want to break an NBA record six-season drought without a repeat champion. Teams holding a 3-1 lead in the NBA playoffs have gone on to win 95.6% of the time, with only 13 teams in 293 tries ever coming back from the deficit to win the series.
“Obviously, we all realize in our heads what this could mean. This part of the sport – it’s tough,” Celtics center Kristaps Porzingis said on Monday. “We have to move forward. He don’t want us to be over here sad and not play our best basketball.”
To become just the 14th team to overcome a 3-1 deficit, the Celtics will need big performances from a roster that has several players who have dealt with injuries this postseason. All-Star Jaylen Brown entered the playoffs dealing with a knee issue that has slowed him at times. Porzingis also has been affected by the lingering effects of a viral illness.
Regardless of how this series or the rest of the playoffs play out for Boston, Tatum’s injury will alter how the franchise confronts this coming offseason.
Including this year, the Celtics’ payroll will be over the salary cap and make them a luxury-tax team for the third straight season. That means they will be hit with the “repeater tax” for being over the cap threshold in three out of our seasons.
Their current payroll for next season is on track to come in around $225m, which would mean a tax bill next year of almost $280m. The combined potential $500m total price tag would be a league record. It is unclear whether the team’s incoming new ownership will want to keep paying those hefty taxes to maintain the current roster after agreeing to a purchase in March that is expected to have a final price of a minimum of $6.1bn.
Tatum signed an NBA-record five-year, $314m contract last July that will begin next season. Brown is playing under a five-year, $304m deal that kicked in this season. That means that trimming player salary is a possibility ownership could explore this summer. And with Tatum possibly missing all of next season, it could accelerate the front office’s timeline for reworking the current roster with an eye toward the future.
Other notable athletes who have come back from a torn achilles tendon
Aaron Rodgers. The four-time NFL MVP tore his achilles tendon in September 2023, four snaps into his first year with the New York Jets. Rodgers, 39 at the time, returned to practice in an astonishing 77 days after surgery but did not play again until September 2024. The Jets released him in March, and he is undecided on playing in 2025.
Kobe Bryant. The late Hall of Famer tore his achilles in April 2013 had surgery the next day and returned to the court with the Los Angeles Lakers in December that year, at age 35. Bryant played only six games before a knee injury forced him to miss the rest of the season. Bryant averaged 22.3 points in only 35 games in 2014-15 and 17.6 points in 66 games in his last season in 2015-16.
Kevin Durant. The two-time NBA finals MVP tore an achilles tendon in June 2019. He missed a full season and came back with the Brooklyn Nets in December 2020, at age 32. Durant hasn’t played more than 55 games in any season since his return but he’s been elite, averaging 28.8 points, 7.1 rebounds and 5.7 assists in three seasons since the injury.
Dominique Wilkins. The Hall of Famer tore an achilles tendon in January 1992. He returned to the court with the Atlanta Hawks that November, just two months shy of turning 33. Wilkins averaged 29.9 points in his first season back and played seven more years, including two stints overseas.
