Boston Celtics superstar Jayson Tatum has been positioned to make a run at the MVP award and the scoring title in 2026-27. Tatum is the clear-cut go-to scoring option on the Celtics, and with Jaylen Brown swapped out for Paul George, he no longer has a defined No. 2.
That may give Tatum a golden opportunity to improve his legacy and solidify his return to the ranks of the elite, but it's also leaves him without a Plan B for perhaps inevitable struggles in his first full season since rupturing his Achilles tendon.
From a skill perspective, Tatum is nothing less than exceptional as a scorer. Between 2020-21 and 2024-25, he averaged 27.5 points on .460/.360/.844 shooting during the regular season and 26.5 points on .434/.346/.854 shooting during the playoffs.
That includes the 30.1 points per game that Tatum averaged in 2022-23—a clear sign of how the 28-year-old can reach elite levels as a scorer.
The unavoidable context of Tatum's success, however, is that it was all achieved before he ruptured his Achilles tendon in 2025. Since then, he's played 22 games between the regular season and playoffs. He averaged 21.8 points per game during the regular season and 23.3 in the postseason.
With Brown no longer on the roster, the Celtics are effectively banking on Tatum's first healthy offseason since the injury being enough to get him back to an elite level. They have no established insurance for if he fails to.
Celtics need Jayson Tatum to be an elite scorer—and lack other options
Brown averaged 28.7 points per game in 2025-26. He was traded for George, who's 36 years of age and produced 17.3 points per contest on .439/.392/.820 shooting this past season. George has also played a total of 78 games between the past two seasons.
For that matter, George hasn't averaged 20.0 points per game or more since 2023-24—when he tallied 22.6 in 33.8 minutes per game.
Perhaps George will return to that level and thus provide the necessary production to be a true No. 2. It's also plausible that Payton Pritchard could take another step forward after he averaged 17.0 points per game on .464/.377/.890 shooting in 2025-26. The reality is, however, that Boston lacks a defined No. 2 at this stage.
Until someone achieves more than what they recently or previously have, however, then Tatum will likely be on an island as far as thriving as a No. 1 scoring option is concerned.
That's a heavy burden for a player who has appeared in 22 games over the past 15 months to carry. By no means should Tatum returning to an elite level be ruled out as a possibility, but the hurdle of playing consistently and producing at an elite level is unavoidably difficult to clear—particularly when a player is coming off of a career-altering injury like a ruptured Achilles tendon.
Unless George turns back the clocks or Pritchard raises his game, the Celtics simply won't have much support to offer Tatum in regard to carrying the burden of a No. 1 scoring option.
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