Jayson Tatum suffered a devastating injury in the NBA playoffs, but the Celtics are confident in the 27-year-old’s ability to bounce back.
Tatum suffered an Achilles injury in Game 4 of Boston’s series against the New York Knicks. The All-Star forward underwent surgery the day after, which could help in his recovery process. It’s why one Celtics assistant doesn’t expect a huge setback.
“It’s good, man,” Cassell said on the “Pat Bev” podcast, per MassLive’s Souichi Terada. “When he come back, he can be even better. He can observe the game of basketball and work on everything he needs to work on. I’m looking forward to the journey with him. Top-5 first-team All-(NBA) this year. When he comes back, he’ll be first-team All-(NBA) again. He’s that good.”
Cassell has been with the Celtics since 2023, and he’s had a strong rapport with the team as Joe Mazzulla’s lead assistant. That experience helped strengthen the former NBA veteran’s belief in Tatum picking up where he left off.
“It’s hard,” Cassell said of Tatum’s injury. “But when you got a great group of guys who understood the situation we were in. It’s like, ‘Guys, we’re down 3-1, OK. We’re going to get another lead, so let’s just take advantage of the lead.’ Because we had leads every game. Basketball gods are just not happy sometimes. We’ll grow from this. As a staff, we’ll grow from this as a team. We’re the Boston Celtics, baby.”
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Tatum earned his fourth All-NBA nod after another strong season. He’ll hope to continue to add to his legacy when he does come back from his Achilles injury.
