Jayson Tatum Is Now Dunking With Ease And Continues To Look Like A Player Destined To Return This Season

Boston Globe. Getty Images.

As the Celts hit the midway point of their season, there's a lot to be happy about. They're objectively one of the best teams in the NBA, every single young and unproven player has been a hit, they sit in the 2 seed in the East with a cushion that continues to grow as the Knicks slide, and then you realize this is all happening with Jayson Tatum playing a total of 0 seconds this season.

It's all been incredible.

Well what if I told you all signs continue to point to things getting even better? Impossible, you might say. I just don't know how else to feel now that we officially have footage of the latest update to Jayson Tatum's rehab and potential return. I've tried my hardest all season long to block this out of my brain simply for my own mental health, but those days are over. My brain has been defeated by Grade A Celtics porn, and I've never been happier.

I'm going to warn you now, what you are about to see is going to make you feel things as a Celtics fan. Serious things. Delusional things. Erotic things. My advice to you is not to fight it. Let those feelings flow through you while realizing what we're seeing right now and what it could mean for all of our lives before you know it.

If you have to work? Good luck. Unless you can escape to the bathroom for around 4 hours, I might not watch any of these. You've been warned

Giphy Images.

Giphy Images.

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Giphy Images.

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Sweet baby jesus, what happened? I blacked out. It had been a while since we'd gotten a live action update of Tatum's rehab and uhhhhhhh holy shit? Even knowing we're still a little ways away from a potential return, I don't know how anyone with even one working eye could see those clips and not get irrationally excited. Does that look like a player who isn't even close to a return? Does that look like a player who wouldn't immediately help a team that's already one of the best in the NBA?

And I get it. This isn't game speed. Far from it. But why should anyone give a shit? There's still plenty of time for all that. What I care about is what we're seeing right at this moment. When Tatum initially went in for his surgery, it was said that his recovery could be around 8-9 months.

Guess where we are right now?

Right at the 8 month mark. Give it another few weeks, and we're at the 9 month mark. 

Dunking like that? The pull-up 3 (something KD himself was the hardest part of his rehab/return) looking the same as it ever did?

Giphy Images.

I am also not overlooking the fact that it wasn't just the normal beat writers putting out clips. We also got a clip from Adam Himmelsbach, which to anyone who pays attention to the Boston Celtics is NOT an accident. If he's putting this stuff out there, that means the team knows something. I would argue his participation in this Tatum update is the most significant of them all. I don't think we'd heard from him at any point during the rehab process with stuff like this, so that stood out to me. Sure that may be a little tinfoil hat-y, but it's also how the Celts operate. 

When you want to know what is going on with the Celtics, you wait for Himmelsbach. The wording there was important to me. A "full workout"? That tells me the team wants that verbiage out there, which I can't imagine they would do if they didn't feel like a return was on the horizon.

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We still have no idea when that might be, but what we do know is that Tatum himself said it would be a home game. In looking at the Celts schedule, I can't get past 2 dates

1. February 8th vs NYK

2. March 4th vs CHA

The idea that we could have Jayson Tatum's return against the Knicks to come full circle in the morning, and then Drake Maye potentially playing in the SB at night is insane, yet on the table.

The March date feels safer just because you realize we're already entering late January, and it's the day after his birthday so that feels like an obvious birthday present. 

I've always felt that a potential Tatum return heavily depended on what the team actually looked like without him. If they were dogshit, it didn't really make sense ya know? Well, they answered that question and then some. Now, you're talking about adding a top 5 player to a top 2 team in the East. The basketball situation has shifted, so as long as he's medically cleared, there's no reason not to bring him back. It's not like you'd be ruining your pick or anything, and even a version of Tatum that's 70% of what we're used to as he works his way back is easily still the best trade deadline acquisition any team could make this season unless you're trading for Giannis or some shit (which feels unlikely).

It has been a total of 252 days since disaster struck on May 12th. I dunno how we've all made it this far, considering it feels like the longest 252 days while also being the shortest 252 days of all time. It hasn't been easy, but if this latest footage tells us anything, it's that our wait is nearly over. 

What a glorious day that will be whenever it finally does happen, and it sure feels like it'll be here before we know it.