“Why me?” Jayson Tatum asked his father, Justin, on that fateful day in May. His dad argued that it was God’s will. JT is young, and he will overcome all hurdles. Tatum also reminded his son, “Isn’t Kobe your idol? Kobe got through this.” But, how do you console an aching heart that was chasing a second ring in a row? Distraught on the floor, Jayson decided to undergo surgery within hours of the tragedy, which was the mettle that drove him to come back in green as soon as possible. However, there were breaking points.

Meanwhile, Boston fell to New York in six painful games and spent the offseason shaking up the roster. Trading multiple starters for the 2025-26 season. At the same time, Tatum’s fate for the season hangs in the balance. Yet whispers on the street suggest he will stay sidelined for a while. Now, just a month before the Cs kick off the new season, the 27-year-old sat with Sports Illustrated.

He told them how the Achilles injury impacted him emotionally in the immediate aftermath of the situation. “I got drafted in New York, I tore my Achilles in New York,” Tatum expressed. “New York will be part of my life forever.” But it was the days after the injury that felt like a stone stuck in his throat. “I was in a dark place,” JT shared without hesitation.

He admitted that he’d wake up in the middle of the night and stare at his left foot. “Just wondering how this could happen to me,” he said. At 27, Tatum had reached heights most dream of. A championship, a sneaker deal, the richest contract the league had seen. Jayson Tatum inked a five-year, $314 million extension with the Boston Celtics on July 1, 2024, setting a new benchmark as the richest deal in NBA history.

This supermax Designated Veteran Extension, earned through his All-NBA honors, locks him in with Boston through the 2029-30 season. Yet, limping through his house, he could not imagine stepping back into that life. More than once, he told his mother, Brandy, “I don’t know if I can do this anymore.” 

Meanwhile, JT recalled a sound like a gunshot, the loudest pop he had ever heard, echoing in his ears, as he fell on the floor. The memory still cuts deep, and he admitted he cannot watch the replay. It took time to accept. Sitting out for eight to nine months sounds like a nightmare, to say the least.

Jayson Tatum felt like the game of basketball betrayed him

“As crazy as it sounds, I felt betrayed by the game of basketball,” Jayson Tatum confessed. “I literally sat there and cried for two hours ’cause so many things ran through my mind: ‘Damn, is my career over? Am I going to get traded? Are all my partners going to drop me?’ My basketball career flashed in front of my eyes,” He shared. “I’m in my prime, one of the best basketball players in the world, and it felt like it was all taken away.”

It’s a gut-wrenching truth months later. The injury struck Tatum, making him feel the full weight of being human. At 27, an age meant for feeling unstoppable, he faced a brutal reality. That May day reshaped everything for him and the Celtics. Surrounded by his trainer and mother, Brandy Cole, he broke down, confronting a fear few could imagine.

Now, Tatum focuses on what comes next. He is committed to a rigorous six-day-a-week rehab. The Boston Celtics’ gaps with Porzingis, Holiday, and Al Horford gone will intensify the urgency. While the next season may not see his return, Tatum’s dream is clear: step back on the hardwood, stronger and ready to reclaim the narrative.

The game tried to break him, but Tatum is rewriting the rules. From the heartbreak of a brutal injury to the weight of expectations, he has stared fear in the face and refused to blink. Surrounded by family and grit, he now chases a comeback with relentless drive. Every rehab session, every moment of patience, fuels a single truth: the hardwood is calling, and he will answer.