The worst part of the NBA offseason for Celtics fans has been the painful daily reminder that Jayson Tatum won’t be playing basketball for at least the next eight months. While it’s been a heavy burden to bear for Celtics fans, I’ve had concerns about how Jayson Tatum will manage the mental challenge of his injury and rehab process. However, this week, an unlikely hero provided us with a much-needed positive update on Jayson Tatum.
Enter Celtics legend Torrey Craig. Yesterday, Craig blessed the timeline with a video of him entering a training room in the Celtics facility, and walking up to none other than Jayson Tatum, yelling “my boy, day 25 gang”. Tatum, in this wonderful four-second video, is initially seen smiling and then bursting into laughter. A lovely sight indeed.
The “day 25 gang” is in reference to a tweet that Tatum made the previous day.
A slightly more serious tone than the Craig video, but a snapshot into how the first month of recovery is going for Tatum. Between the inspirational tweet and the power of friendship-driven video, we can infer that JT is starting to embrace the long rehab process he has in front of him.
The other big takeaway is that Torrey Craig is making a good case to Brad Stevens for remaining with the team. Craig’s impact on the basketball court might not be worthy of a contract, but when you factor in his ability to make Jayson Tatum laugh, it might be worth keeping him around.
