Jayson Tatum’s long road to recovery has already begun.
The Boston Celtics star had surgery Tuesday to repair a ruptured right Achilles tendon he suffered in Monday’s Game 4 loss to the New York Knicks.
Tatum’s injury is devastating on many levels, likely costing the Celtics a chance to repeat as champions — they trail the Knicks 3-1 entering Wednesday’s must-win Game 5 — and potentially costing one of the NBA’s best players a full season of his prime (Tatum turned 27 in March).
But will Tatum miss the entire 2025-26 season? What’s the precedent for NBA players who have suffered similar Achilles injuries, and how long did they take to recover?
Here’s a look at notable NBA athletes who have dealt with Achilles injuries, how long they were sidelined, and what their post-injury careers can tell us about how Tatum may bounce back:
Klay Thompson
- Age when injured: 30
- Date of injury: Nov. 19, 2020
- Date of return: Jan. 9, 2022
Thompson had already missed the 2019-20 season due to a torn ACL when he tore his Achilles just prior to the 2020-21 season. Thompson played relatively well down the stretch for the Warriors in 2022 (20.4 points per game over 32 games) and averaged 21.9 points per game in 2022-23, his highest mark since the 2016-17 season.
The sharpshooting guard has yet to make an All-Star game since returning from injury, however, and his field goal percentage and 3-point percentage have both dipped below his pre-injury percentages.
Kevin Durant
- Age when injured: 30
- Date of injury: June 10, 2019 (Game 5 of 2019 NBA Finals)
- Date of return: December 22, 2020
Durant missed the entire 2019-20 season before returning for the Brooklyn Nets’ season opener in December 2020. (The start of the season was delayed due to COVID.)
While Durant made three consecutive All-Star teams after his injury and put up impressive counting stats — scoring averages of 26.9 points, 29.9 points and 29.1 points per game in 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23, respectively — he had trouble staying on the court, playing in 55 games or fewer in each of those seasons due to various minor injuries.
DeMarcus Cousins
- Age when injured: 27
- Date of injury: Jan. 26, 2018
- Date of return: Jan. 18, 2019
Cousins is the closest player in age to Tatum on this list, but his post-injury career isn’t encouraging. The All-Star big man was never the same after tearing his Achilles, playing just two more seasons while averaging single-digits in points and rebounds in both campaigns. He played in 89 total NBA games after his injury.
It’s worth noting that Cousins had dealt with Achilles issues in the past and is significantly bigger than Tatum at 6-foot-10, 270 pounds.
Kobe Bryant
- Age when injured: 34
- Date of injury: April 12, 2013
- Date of return: December 8, 2013
Bryant had the quickest recovery time of any player on this list, but it comes with a caveat: He played just six games in 2013-14 before being shut down for the rest of the season.
Bryant’s Achilles injury signaled the beginning of the end for his NBA career; he appeared in just 35 games in 2014-15 before suffering a season-ending shoulder injury, then played just one more season, averaging 17.6 points per game in 2015-16.
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Wesley Matthews
- Age when injured: 28
- Date of injury: March 5, 2015
- Date of return: Oct. 28, 2015
Matthews is by no means a superstar, but his case offers some optimism for Tatum. Matthews needed just seven months of recovery time before returning to the court, and while his scoring average dipped slightly over the next few years, he was relatively durable, playing in at least 63 games for five consecutive seasons following his injury.
Matthews played a total of nine NBA seasons after tearing his Achilles and was 37 when he played his last game (with the Atlanta Hawks in 2024).
Dominique Wilkins
- Age when injured: 32
- Date of injury: Jan. 28, 1992
- Date of return: Nov. 6, 1992
Wilkins was one of the first NBA superstars to rupture his Achilles, but he bounced back in a big way. After just over nine months of rehab, Wilkins returned to play one of the best seasons of his NBA career in 1992-93, averaging 29.9 points per game while finishing fifth in NBA MVP voting.
Wilkins delivered another All-Star campaign in 1993-94 before slowing down in his mid-30s, playing with the Celtics, Spurs and Magic over a five-season span that included two years overseas.
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