Jayson Tatum says his right knee tendinitis is ‘feeling a lot better’
"I’m feeling a lot better, and you know, I’m fine."
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After missing two games earlier this month, Jayson Tatum says his body is healing up.
The Celtics’ star missed a pair of contests against the Detroit Pistons on Dec. 4 and 12 due to right patella tendinopathy. Those are the only games Tatum’s missed all season.
Speaking with reporters on Saturday ahead of Boston’s tilt versus the Chicago Bulls, he chalked the ailment up to playing frequently at the beginning of December.
“That was just a tough stretch. I think we played, like, six games in nine days, or something like that,” Tatum said when asked about his knee. “But it’s definitely getting better.”
He’s right: between Nov. 29 and Dec. 7, the Celtics played six contests. Boston won four of those games, including the one without Tatum.
Since missing his last game on Dec. 12, though, he’s since played in both of the Celtics’ contests. Tatum scored 28 and 31 points on the Dec. 15 and 19 versus the Bulls and Wizards.
He also noted that it’s not just this season that’s taken a toll on his knee. Tatum explained that he played the entire playoffs last season and won the championship, plus played in the Olympics a few weeks later.
Last week, head coach Joe Mazzulla explained that Tatum’s injury wasn’t concerning.
“Tendinopathy, I don’t know too much about it, but I do think it is something that just kind of comes and goes. It’s nothing serious,” Mazzulla said.
Since entering the league in 2017, Tatum has been extremely durable. He has yet to miss any extended period of time (outside of COVID-19 protocols in 2020-21) due to serious physical injury across eight seasons with the Celtics. Tatum’s recent tendinopathy doesn’t seem to be anything different.
“The game off helped, the work that [we’ve] been doing,” Tatum said. “Just getting back right. It’s ramping back up, I’m feeling a lot better, and you know, I’m fine.”
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