This past Monday, Boston’s Jayson Tatum was trying to will the Celtics to a win. He finished the game with 42 points and seven three-pointers.
However, the 27-year-old ruptured his Achilles late in the fourth quarter. A devastating blow to the Celtics’ chance of repeating as NBA champions. Despite losing Tatum for the rest of the 2025 playoffs, there’s a small amount of optimism moving forward. Jayson Tatum was able to have surgery on his ruptured Achilles just hours after the injury. Doctors said this is a “rare” turnaround that benefits Tatum.
The stars aligned for Jayson Tatum to have surgery hours after his injury
NEW: Jayson Tatum could be in an unprecedented position to recover from his Achilles rupture because he did something few NBA players have done: he underwent surgery just hours later.
“That is atypical. That is really wonderful.”
My convo with UPenn’s Dr. Lou Soslowsky ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/UEVZKVOsQR
— Noa Dalzell 🏀 (@NoaDalzell) May 15, 2025
Boston’s Jayson Tatum was in the right place at the right time, according to Dr. Lou Soslowsky. He is the founding director of the Penn Achilles Tendinopathy Center of Research Translation. Lou spoke with CelticsBlog about Tatum’s “rare” case. The superstar PF is not the first player to rupture their Achilles. It’s happened many times before. However, Tatum’s circumstances were different.
Dr. Lou explained how players usually have to wait several days before they have surgery. He noted how players have to choose which surgeon they want to use. More often than not, the player has to travel to have a procedure. The stars aligned for Jayson Tatum to have surgery just hours after rupturing his Achilles.
World-renowned specialist Dr. Martin O’Malley was available on Monday night and performed the procedure for Tatum. He had it done at the New York Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS). Dr. Lou explained to CelticsBlog that Tatum’s circumstances were “atypical” from what normally happens. Tatum was truly in the right place at the right time and was lucky Dr. O’Malley could take him on short notice. The quick turnaround could be beneficial to his recovery timeline.