The Worst Case Scenario Is Official: Jayson Tatum Has Ruptured His Achilles

Boston Globe. Getty Images.

Deep down, we all knew this was going to be the tweet. We all knew the second we saw the replay of the injury. Parts of us all wanted to hope for the best, that maybe the Celts would catch the prayer of a lifetime and it wouldn't be the dreaded worst case scenario. It was 100000% copium, but what other option did we have? There's a reason why whenever a play like this happens it usually is followed by that type of result, and now our greatest fears have become our new reality.

Jayson Tatum ruptured his Achilles. He's out for at least a year (you would think) and the future of a HOF career is completely up in the air. Nobody has any idea how he'll respond or what he'll look like when he returns. To suggest otherwise would be insane. Maybe it won't be an issue, maybe he'll be changed forever. The only thing we know is that whatever version he ends up being, it will not be the same exact version we've been watching for 8 years. What percentage you want to put it at, go nuts. That doesn't change the reality of what this now means for both the short and long term.

Even though we knew that Shams' tweet was coming, it's still a shotgun blast right to the chest. I've just been sitting in my office all day, unable to do anything. I don't want to move, I don't want to blog, I don't want to eat, I don't want to watch the games tonight, none of it. I'm not doing any dishes, nothing.

We've lived through a lot of serious injuries over the last 15+ years, but this one feels different. At least for me. This one is truly gutting. I would have taken anything other than a torn Achilles. Give me the extremely rare KP ankle injury. Give me a torn ACL. Give me some sort of fracture or broken bone. Instead, a generational talent, one of the best Celtics to ever exist, who is in the early stages of his NBA prime, just suffered one of the most devastating and potentially career-altering injuries you can have as a basketball player.

Just typing that makes me want to fucking puke.

A player who is never hurt, who trains and puts in the work to be available every night, who does all the right things on and off the court, and everything has changed just like that in horrific fashion. Make it make sense

Now that we know what happened, it's only natural to think about what comes next. As a reminder, the Celts already had a huge decision to make this offseason, even if Tatum hadn't gotten hurt. Things basically boil down to their choice of when to trigger that Year 3 as a 2nd apron team. You basically get 3 years to do it in a 5 year span. As of now, the Celts have burned 2 of them. With that in mind, their options heading into the summer were simple

1. Triple down, keep the core together for one more year, and then sell off major pieces to be under the 2nd apron for the following 2 seasons.

2. Sell off pieces this summer, get under the 2nd apron, and then use those team building assets that become unlocked to reload and go back over the apron for the Jay's prime years with a reloaded roster

Logic told you that really the only reason to keep things together this summer would be if you were coming off back to back titles. At least that would be the argument for it. If the owner says he'll pay whatever to win, then that was an easy choice.

But now? There's really no need to be a 2nd apron team anymore. You only do that if you are contending for titles. With Tatum now out for a year (or more), for the moment, that certainly changes your status as a title contender. There's no point in limiting what you can do when it comes to building a roster to help survive a non-Tatum season with high priced aging players, only to have to sell off next summer anyway. You may as well take this opportunity to get under the apron and reset things.

What are those moves? My guess is things start with Jrue/KP. They were "win now" players who were brought in to complement Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. With KP being an expiring contract and Jrue aging (and signed for 3 more years) it's not crazy to think they would be where Brad starts. The issue of course, is that there has to be a market for either. I'm not really loving the idea of attaching picks just to offload those contracts, so I'm not sure what you do.

I'm sure there will be some that would prefer to trade Jaylen Brown, but I'm not entertaining that bullshit. I'd be shocked if Brad went that route, but this is completely uncharted territory. We have no idea what he's going to do. Personally, I would start with those two guys and see where that leaves you. 

With Tatum out for a year, what does this mean for Al Horford? Is it really fair to expect him to go a whole additional season before he can play with Tatum again? He says he wants to play, but does this change things? You're probably going to lose Luke Kornet in UFA, and Al retires, what the fuck do they do about their frontcourt? Is it possible they only move guys like Jrue and Hauser to help get under the apron and keep KP for that one final year/salary slot? Then maybe you flip it at the deadline? 

Either way, our worst fears have come true. It's all still so unbelievable, even hours later I am struggling to even come close to processing what has just happened over the last 48 hours. It's all just so deflating.