Bill Simmons won’t rule out Jayson Tatum return despite Celtics reluctance

Bill Simmons believes there is still a possibility Jayson Tatum could return to the court this season, even as the Boston Celtics have downplayed the chance of a comeback.

On the latest episode of The Bill Simmons Podcast, the longtime media personality speculated about a potential return for the six-time All-Star, who is recovering from an Achilles tear suffered during last season’s playoffs.

“Tatum, who knows? The Celtics are saying he’s not coming back, but I don’t know,” Simmons said. “It’ll be 10 months like right after the All-Star break, right around his birthday, which has been floated around in circles about could he be back on his birthday on March 3rd. That’s 10 months from the injury. We talked in the past about he had the surgery within 10 hours in New York, never flew. This would be like the greatest test case for could somebody actually come back.”

Simmons added that the Celtics will inevitably weigh the risk and reward if Tatum’s recovery accelerates.

“If you’re the Celtics you can’t not think like well what happens if he’s 100% and scrimmaging in February and like what are we just going to do not play him?” Simmons said. “So, I don’t know the answer to that and I don’t think they do either.”

Tatum, who turned 27 this year, was in the midst of another standout campaign before the injury. During the 2024-25 regular season, he averaged 26.8 points, 8.7 rebounds, six assists and 1.1 steals per game while shooting 45.2% from the field and 34.3% from three-point range across 72 contests. He logged 36.4 minutes per game as Boston secured the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference.

Bill Simmons fuels Jayson Tatum return talk as Celtics start 2025-26 without him