Jayson Tatum has played NBA basketball since rupturing his Achilles tendon in 2025, even making six appearances in the playoffs. He played just 16 regular season games, however, and missed Game 7 of the Boston Celtics' first-round loss to the Philadelphia 76ers due to a left knee injury.
Despite the fact that Tatum has played 22 games of NBA basketball over the past 18 months, however, the Celtics need him to prove he can be a ball-dominant player in a rotation that has been deprived of the shot creation depth it once possessed.
Tatum has spent his career playing alongside a deep cast of shot creators who can generate offense in a pinch. Chief among those players were the likes of Jaylen Brown and Jrue Holiday, with whom Tatum helped deliver the Celtics' first championship in 16 years.
After trading Holiday in 2025 and Brown in 2026, however, the Celtics have built a team that's unlike any Tatum has played for in the past in the sense that he projects to be the only high-volume scorer on the roster.
Jayson Tatum may need to be a ball-dominant No. 1 in his first full season since rupturing his Achilles
There's certainly talent at the top of the rotation. Paul George, for instance, is as skilled as they come. In saying that, he's also 36 years of age and has averaged 16.7 points on 43.4 percent shooting from the field over the past two seasons.
George has also played just 78 games during that time, which aligns with the fact that he's missed at least 26 outings in four of the past five seasons.
Payton Pritchard is a candidate for a major leap on offense, but up to this point, he's never averaged more than 17.0 points per game. Compounded by Derrick White's woeful inefficiency in an elevated scoring role in 2025-26, the Celtics are thin on high-volume shot creators.
In fact, Tatum is the only Celtic who has averaged at least 20.0 points per game in either of the past two seasons—and there's no guaranteeing that anyone will step up to save him from being overburdened in his new role in 2026-27
Celtics' lack of shot creation depth will test Jayson Tatum's limits
Tatum's usage rate has floated between 29.0 and 31.9 over the past six seasons. As such, no one in their right mind would argue that he's played a scarce few minutes with the ball in his hands. The nature of that ball-dominant role, however, is that it was effectively split between himself and Brown.
During those same six seasons, Brown's usage rate resided between 28.2 and 35.1. He also established himself as a high-volume scorer during that same time, averaging 24.9 points per game.
Furthermore, Brown averaged more points per fourth quarter than Tatum in both 2022-23 and 2024-25. Tatum led the Celtics in 2023-24, but he also shot 39.7 percent from the field and 31.0 percent from beyond the arc while doing so.
In 2025-26, the Celtics' next-leading scorer in the fourth quarter after Brown and Tatum was White—who shot 38.8 percent from the field and 31.3 percent from three in said scenarios.
In 2026-27, the Celtics will need Tatum to not only take over late in games, but do so with efficiency. They'll also need him to pace them through four quarters as a scorer and playmaker. That's quite a burden for a player in their first full season since a potentially career-altering injury.
Pritchard rising to the occasion, George turning back the clocks, and White rediscovering his efficiency could simplify the game for Tatum, but as it stands, he's in for quite a test as a ball-dominant player who's still figuring out who he is post-injury.
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