The Duke kid who tore his Achilles 10 months ago just put up a 25/18/11 and said he's still not at full strength
Tatum's comeback has been one of the better college-to-pro full-circle stories running right now. One year at Duke, third pick, eight years of building toward a title — then the Achilles in the playoffs last May.
He came back faster than almost anyone expected (10 months, ahead of the modern trend), and the rebounding numbers since his return are legitimately elite — 9.8 per game, more than anyone else on the Celtics roster.
The shooting isn't all the way back yet, which makes sense given where the Achilles affects explosiveness on pull-ups. But his coach is saying he hasn't missed a beat, and Dominique Wilkins — who went through the same thing — says he'll be fully himself again.
We wrote up the full breakdown including the numbers, the recovery timeline comparison to Kobe, KD, and Dejounte Murray, and what it means heading into the playoffs.
Curious whether people think the shooting returns by the second round, or if this is basically his ceiling for this postseason. full post here: https://fandaily.io/blog/the-scariest-sentence-in-the-nba-right-now-i-m-still-not-at-my-best
Posted Apr 8, 2026, 2:44 AM UTC