The Celtics and Knicks are tied for second place in the Eastern Conference, with the possibility that a return of Jayson Tatum could spark another long playoff run for Boston.
BOSTON — Brad Stevens has a message for Jayson Tatum If the injured star of the Boston Celtics He really wonders if he would still fit on the team he led to the NBA championship in 2024.
“Obviously, any team with Jayson Tatum is going to be better,” Stevens said Friday. “If he needs it, I’ll tell him every day. Because every team, all 30 of them, would be much, much better with him on the team.”
Tatum led Boston to its 18th title and had them on track to repeat the feat last spring before he tore his Achilles tendon in the Eastern Conference semifinals against the New York Knicks. The Celtics seemed destined for a rebuilding year when they traded key players like Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis over the summer to avoid the league’s punitive second tranche of the luxury tax.
But they entered this week’s trade deadline tied for second in the Eastern Conference, with the possibility that a late-season return for Tatum could fuel another long playoff run. When asked about that scenario last week, Tatum wondered if his return could alter the team’s chemistry.
“It’s something I think about every day,” he said on “The Pivot” podcast. “They would have played over 50 games without me. So they have an identity this year, or things that have worked for them and that have been successful.
“So I have a question in my head: ‘How would that work? What would my integration look like after an injury?'” And it’s a thought like, ‘Damn, do I come back or should I wait?'”
Stevens said he hadn’t listened to the podcast, but from his conversations with the six-time All-Star, he hadn’t seen anything other than the usual doubts of a rehabbing player about whether he could return to the same level.
“Those are things that go through anyone’s mind,” Stevens said, laughing at the thought that the team would be better off without Tatum. “In all our conversations, he is also confident that he can improve the team.”
For now, Tatum still has “a long way to go,” and the team isn’t going to pressure him, Stevens said.
“He’s accomplished a lot of the goals, he’s doing more and more and he’ll continue to do more and more,” said the former Celtics coach and current president of basketball operations. “There’s no pressure on our part. But we’re also not going to say, ‘Well, why don’t you take another week?’ It will be: When it’s ready, it’s ready.”
Despite Tatum’s absence and a reduced offseason cap bill, the Celtics (33-18) won four straight before Thursday’s trade deadline, when Stevens further reduced payroll by trading Anfernee Simons to Chicago for Nikola Vucevic and then dumping Josh Minott, Xavier Tillman and Chris Boucher to get below the luxury tax threshold.
Originally a first-round draft pick by the 76ers, Vucevic made his NBA playoff debut when Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen’s Celtics eliminated Philadelphia in the 2011 Eastern Conference semifinals. But the 35-year-old Montenegrin has only made the playoffs three more times in a 15-year career and has never won a postseason series.
“It’s something that I think every player wants to have the opportunity to do and go far,” Vucevic told reporters on Friday. “Unfortunately, I haven’t had the opportunity to do that in my career.” “I’m excited to be here, to be part of a championship team, surrounded by many players who have already won a championship, the coaching staff and the Celtics, with all their history,” Stevens said.
Stevens explained that the exchange of Simons for Vucevic gives the team greater depth at the center position, at the expense of a position in which they already had several players. Tatum’s possible return did not influence his decision, Stevens added.
“The best thing for Jayson is for him to return when he is at 110% of his health, when everyone involved in the decision gives him the go-ahead and when he has complete peace of mind and is ready to play,” Stevens said. “That’s the goal, and we’re going to stick to that.”
