When will the Boston Celtics’ best player, six-time All-Star power forward Jayson Tatum, returning from the devastating Achilles tendon tear that disrupted his title defense during the 2025 playoffs?

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Per Jay King of The Athletic, Boston president Brad Stevens has now supplied a huge update on a potential timeline for the 6-foot-8 former Dukie to rejoin his comrades on the hardwood.

“And he’s well on his way,” Stevens said of Tatum. “He has been incredibly diligent. He has been a great leader by example to people in this building when no players were around in the middle of the summer and when a lot of the young guys have been around in the last month-and-a-half. We appreciate that, and we know that he’s going to be itching to get back, and he will be the biggest decision-maker in that.”

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Tatum went under the knife in New York almost immediately after rupturing the Achilles, and recently has expressed an interest in possibly being back this season. Stevens, though, seems to prefer caution over expediency.

“But there will be a lot of people in that room when that ultimately gets decided, including people that are working with him every day and people that are really important to him,” Stevens added. “So we’re on a good path, and we just need — the most important thing is (a) fully healthy Jayson Tatum.”

Tatum will be re-joining a very different Boston team whenever he does get back on the floor. Stevens has traded away championship starters Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis, and third-string center Luke Kornet departed in free agency.

Backup center/power forward Al Horford remains technically unsigned, though he is said to have a “verbal agreement” to defect to the Golden State Warriors after they resolve Jonathan Kuminga’s restricted free agency.

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Tatum, 27, had established himself as one of the best two-way players in the league prior to his injury. Achilles tears can wholly uproot careers, so it will behoove the five-time All-NBA honoree and Boston’s medical staff to tread carefully with his recovery.