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Tim BontempsMay 13, 2025, 04: 50 PM ET
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- Tim Bontemps is a senior NBA writer for ESPN.com who covers the league and what’s impacting it on and off the court, including trade deadline intel, expansion and his MVP Straw Polls. You can find Tim alongside Brian Windhorst and Tim MacMahon on The Hoop Collective podcast.
The Boston Celtics announced Tuesday that superstar forward Jayson Tatum underwent surgery to repair a ruptured right Achilles tendon Tuesday afternoon after suffering the injury late in the fourth quarter of Monday’s Game 4 loss to the New York Knicks.
The team said the surgery was a success and that no timetable was available for his return.
Tatum was in the midst of one of the best playoff games of his career, scoring 42 points on 16-for-28 shooting, before he crumpled to the ground in immense pain with three minutes to go in the fourth quarter Monday night.
He eventually was lifted to his feet and carried off the court, unable to put any weight on his foot. And even though the defending champions moved to within a game of elimination with the loss, the focus after the game was almost solely on Tatum’s health.
“I mean, at this point, I’m concerned about Jayson,” Celtics center Al Horford said in the locker room after the game. “That’s the most important to me.
“The game stuff, we’ll address it. But I’m just hoping that he’s OK.”
Tatum has been one of the most durable and successful players in the league since being selected third by Boston in 2017. He’s about to be named to his fourth consecutive All-NBA first team — making him one of just 43 players in the history of the league to have made that many — while having turned 2