Boston Celtics
“He’s doing more and more and will continue to do more and more.”
Jayson Tatum has been sidelined with an Achilles tear this season. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
February 6, 2026 | 2:50 PM
3 minutes to read
When the Celtics traded Anfernee Simons to the Bulls for Nikola Vucevic ahead of Thursday’s trade deadline, some hypothesized that it could mean the team anticipates Jayson Tatum returning soon. But Brad Stevens insists that isn’t the case.
The Celtics’ president of basketball operations told reporters that Tatum’s potential return from his Achilles tear had “very little impact” on their decision to trade for Vucevic. Stevens added that Tatum’s return isn’t imminent.
“He’s hit a lot of the thresholds,” Stevens said on Friday. “He’s doing more and more and will continue to do more and more. He’s still got a ways to go.”
Speculation about Tatum’s return has heated up in recent weeks following his hour-long workout in front of reporters in Detroit just over two weeks ago. One report last week said that Tatum is reconsidering whether to return to this season, while he told ESPN’s Ramona Shelbourne that he hasn’t made up his mind yet on if he’ll play this year.
Earlier this week, Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix said on the “Celtics Talk Podcast” that Tatum has reached the “mental hurdle phase” of his recovery. Mannix added that Tatum is “basically able to do everything” physically, and he’s “as close to all the way back he can get.” However, Mannix didn’t report on when Tatum might return, adding that he might be cautious.
Stevens and the Celtics also seem to be taking a cautious approach with Tatum. He reiterated that he doesn’t want Tatum back on the court until he’s over 100 percent healthy.
“When is best for Jayson Tatum to come back? The best time for Jayson Tatum to come back is when he’s 110 percent healthy, he’s fully cleared by everybody that matters in that decision, and he’s got great peace of mind and ready to do it,” Stevens said. “That’s it.”
If Tatum returns this season, he’d certainly help fill the scoring void left by Simons following this week’s trade. Simons scored 16.2 points per game since the start of January and was the Celtics’ fourth-leading scorer this season.
But Stevens felt that giving up Simons for Vucevic made sense for the Celtics from a pure basketball standpoint, while recognizing that trading the guard was one of the few ways they could land the big man from a salary rules standpoint.
“At the end of the day, if you kind of look at who you have to go through, the paths you might have to take, you just can’t get worn down physically,” Stevens said on whether Tatum had any impact on the team’s decision to trade for Vucevic. “And we were going to be much smaller. And now we at least have big options.
“Obviously, any team with Jayson Tatum’s going to be better, so if that happens, that happens. And if it doesn’t, it doesn’t. But we just thought that redistributing our positional needs was probably the most important thing.”
And while the Celtics will lose some perimeter scoring with the trade, Vucevic can put up points, too. The 35-year-old is averaging 16.9 points per game this season, shooting 50.5 percent from the field and 37.6 percent from deep. He’s also got nine rebounds and 3.8 assists per game.
Some might not have felt that center was as much of a pressing need for the Celtics with the recent emergence of Neemias Queta. Stevens recognized that while Queta and some of their other bigs, like Luka Garza and Amari Williams, have done well in their role, Vucevic adds another element to their roster.
“Obviously, the shooting and scoring get a lot of attention,” Stevens said of Vucevic. “The passing is a big factor for us, and it’s something we really like in bigs. So it’s just something that gives us another look and I think our two guys that have played the majority of the minutes at that position have been outstanding.”
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