To the naked eye, it was honestly hard to tell that Jayson Tatum tore his Achilles when he returned in March. He may have been a step slow or lacking his full burst, but for the most part, he looked like Jayson Tatum.
He put up good numbers, won an Eastern Conference Player of the Week Award, and in a lot of ways, it felt like he jumped in and picked up right where he left off. But realistically, as good as he looked and as much as he defied the odds with his rapid recovery, we should have known it wasn’t going to be the smoothest transition.
Tatum admitted he was nervous for every game last season
JT was up and down in the playoffs and left Game 6 with an injury, which caused him to miss Game 7. On Thursday, Tatum went on the Dan Patrick Show and talked about his return in an interview, admitting:
“I was nervous. I was anxious. To be honest, I was nervous every game that I played in.”
He may not have shown it, but that’s perfectly normal, and frankly, it would have been weird if he wasn’t nervous after nine months off. Tatum has basically been a basketball machine for his entire life and an iron man since entering the NBA. This was the first major injury he has dealt with, and it’s one of the most devastating setbacks in all of sports.
He went through major surgery and rigorous recovery to come back ahead of schedule, and while he was obviously cleared physically, that’s going to take a massive mental and emotional toll on any human being, let alone a world-class athlete.
It’s only natural that it would take him some time to clear that mental hurdle and get back to playing basketball, not just at 100% physically, but also 100% mentally. As painful as the ending to last season was, the silver lining is that, hopefully, Tatum was able to get out there and prove to himself he can still play.
Tatum should be back to 100% physically and mentally this season
He suggested he may have been at about 80% physically while obviously dealing with nerves and learning to trust his body again. Now, he has had an entire offseason to recover and to keep working at it, having a normal summer to get in shape for the NBA season like he normally would.
Ideally, he’s going to be back to 100% and will be ready to hit the ground running from day one this season, back to the best version of JT, the one that made four straight first-team All-NBA appearances and led the Celtics to a championship.
That’s the Tatum we all know and love. As great as it was to have him back last season, it would have been crazy to expect that in his first return to action. But now, that’s all out of the way, and this season, he should be better than ever, ready to dominate the league yet again.
Add us as a preferred source on Google