The Boston Celtics have been one of the biggest surprises of the season. Despite losing most of their championship core via trades, free agency, and Jayson Tatum’s injury, the team has emerged as a powerhouse in the Eastern Conference, raising questions about the forward’s return, which seemed earlier than initially thought. However, recently, after Tatum seemingly changed his tone, another voice has chimed in.

“Jayson Tatum [is] now saying he may sit out the remainder of the season, which is kind of what everybody expected in the first place,” four-time All-Star Draymond Green stated on his Draymond Green Show podcast. “You go through an Achilles injury, nobody’s really expecting you back that fast. And everybody’s kind of a little worried that Jayson Tatum could be coming back too fast. ”

Green made it clear that from a player’s perspective, the risk of potentially coming back too early, before he’s ready, and reinjuring himself is too high, and outweighs the potential reward. This matters especially when Tatum is still in the middle of his prime.

Green focused on playing the long game, and thinking through every decision as Tatum comes back from the Achilles injury. Green has witnessed the risk of coming back early firsthand. Famously, in the 2019 Finals, Green had two teammates, Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant, who returned early from injuries and proceeded to suffer setbacks that cost them a year or more in recovery time.

Green wasn’t the only person checking in. Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla also spoke about the struggles that Tatum has faced.

“We’re always having conversations every day about where he’s at physically, mentally,” Mazzulla told reporters. “I think you do that with all the players, and so I think that’s the important thing over the course of a season, to answer your question, about challenges of 82 are just not physical. They could be mental. They could be emotional.”

A Memphis Comment That Revealed the Bigger Picture Around Jayson Tatum

During this segment, Draymond Green also highlighted an interesting observation Jayson Tatum made about his legacy.

“Jayson Tatum stated on the Pivot podcast also that ‘if I had the career I have right now with the Grizzlies, I would have a statue outside the arena right now,'” Green said. “Yes, because Memphis has not seen had the success for any player in their organization history that Jayson Tatum has had already in Boston and so he probably would have a statue out there.”

Green‘s opinion on the statue conversation around Tatum was pretty clear. Tatum has been one of the best American players in the league for the last few years, and has achieved heights that no Grizzlies player has reached. He’s a champion, a perennial MVP-candidate, a multi-time All-NBA player, and someone who is most likely going to have his jersey retired by the Celtics.

The Grizzlies haven’t existed as long as them, and have never had a player even close to Tatum’s caliber, despite some good overall team-play over their history. Who knows, we might just end up seeing a statue outside TD Garden for Tatum.