Sports, at their core, are a playground for the young. According to ‘Joker Mag’, the average age of an NBA player, as of November 11th, 2024, was 26.004 years old. As of now, 17 of the 19 players on the Boston Celtics roster are below the age of 30. However, with Derrick White already 31, and Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown being 27 and 28 years old, the days of the Celtics being led by young players will be gone soon. Once that happens, a renowned sportswriter wants to know what happens next.

Boston Sports Journal reporter John Karalis touched base to speculate about the Boston Celtics’ future. The team is starting to get into “the end of phase two”, with the first phase being where everybody’s young, and then the players “get to like 25 to 30”. Once everybody is post-30, they become the ‘veteran team’. The 2025-26 NBA season will be Jaylen Brown’s last one in his 20s, and Jayson Tatum will be celebrating his 28th birthday next year. According to Karalis, this means that the Celtics have only a few more years of bliss left. How long will the Celtics accommodate Tatum as the team might search for a new age Boston?

On the ‘Locked On Celtics’ show, the host said, “And then there’s Tatum, who, coming off the Achilles injury. I have a ton of confidence, but is he’s going to like, I don’t know, I can’t say for sure that he’s going to be what he was. I think he will be, but nonetheless, he, all these guys are going to start pushing 30, past 30.” He then added, “So, what do you do? How do you prepare for this? This is where you start making decisions. Tough, tough, tough decisions”.

The upcoming season is critical in finding the right pieces to fit around Tatum, Brown, and Derrick White. If the changes don’t work even after a few seasons, the Celtics will have to start making some tough decisions. While John Karalis does not wish to see Derrick White go, he does question that, at some point, the player will become more valuable as a trade option that brings in younger players and/or draft picks. He referred to the ‘OKC model’, highlighting how the OKC Thunder got an advantage by rebuilding the team by getting many draft picks, especially first-round picks.

If that isn’t enough, then any further issues with the CBA could compel the Celtics to do away with the expensive players, which also happen to be Brown, Tatum, and White.

“And so, as the Celtics start to be like, ‘Hey, we’re going to have to move Derrick, Jaylen, Jayson at some point’. Don’t see Jayson Tatum spending his entire career at a point where, like, when he’s in his early 30s, and the Celtics are like, ‘Hey man, we got to be bad. We got to be bad so we can get top pick because we need to get the next, you know, the next Jayson Tatum, the 18, 19, 20-year-old kid to come in and see if he can be the next guy,” Karalis added. “And for the Celtics to be as bad as they need to be at some point, not this year, but a few years from now, you know, you never know when it’s going to happen”.

During the ongoing off-season, the Boston Celtics parted ways with both Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday. Two important players were responsible for the Celtics’ championship win back in 2024, so there’s no commitment attached in a business league. One of the reasons for the trades was stated to be the team’s desire to get out of the second apron. However, Sports Illustrated reporter Nelson Espinal also noted how “The Celtics traded away two veterans over the age of 30 during the past 24 hours, adding younger players to the team as they try to retool their roster for another title run once Tatum gets healthy.”

Given the recent remarks from John Karalis and the trades of Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday, Jayson Tatum’s long-term future is uncertain. For now, however, the focus is only on the next season and how soon Tatum can recover to get back on the NBA court. One doesn’t have to speculate, as Tatum himself recently gave an update.

Jayson Tatum Reveals Being Out of Boot Amid ‘Tedious’ Injury Rehab

Jayson Tatum is now reportedly over three months into his recovery from the ruptured Achilles tendon he sustained in the 2025 NBA playoffs. The player hadn’t shared many public updates personally until he put out a recent video that was highlighted by the official X account of the NBA. “Rehab is… It’s tedious, man,” said Tatum. “It’s six days a week. It’s starting to get a little bit better. I’m out of the boot now. Better days ahead, but just trying to take it one day at a time”.

As Newsweek reporter Matthew Schimdt highlighted, the consensus is that Jayson Tatum will miss all of next season. After all, Achilles rehabs are reportedly long and strenuous. On top of that, the Celtics have yet to set a timeline or formally rule Tatum out for the season. Some NBA insiders like Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports Boston aren’t ruling the Jordan Brand athlete out yet. He believes that “If he (Tatum) rehabs to the point where it is both safe and beneficial for him to return to NBA action, then why procrastinate?” Therefore, it all depends on how consistent the 6x NBA All-Star continues to be with his rehab process.

“You’ve got to be resilient. That first six weeks of this was probably the toughest six weeks of any point in my life,” Tatum added in the video. “Just had to accept it and realize it happened, and now I got to do everything in my power to get back to who I was and get back to playing”.

Jayson Tatum has begun appearing on the radar of one NBA reporter. Just how many more will jump at speculations once the player comes closer to the age of 30 is something that remains to be seen.