Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum has been listed as “questionable” hours before his team will host the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 7 of a thrilling first-round playoff series.
Tatum sat out the entire fourth quarter of a Game 6 defeat. While Boston announced on Friday that it had no injuries to report, Tatum popped up on its Saturday injury report with left knee stiffness.
Tatum tore his right Achilles tendon last May against the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference semifinals. He returned to action this year on March 6. Tatum played 16 regular-season games for the Celtics, who earned the No. 2 seed in the East despite his absence throughout most of the 2025-26 campaign.
In the playoffs this year, he’s averaged 23.3 points, 10.7 rebounds and 6.8 assists per contest while shooting 47.5% from the field, including 36.5% from 3.
While Tatum not playing in the fourth quarter in Game 5 on Thursday raised the antennae of basketball fans everywhere, especially those in Boston, injury concerns were minimized postgame, as well as on Friday.
ESPN’s Shams Charania was asked for an update on Tatum early Friday on “Get Up.”
“It’s positive right now,” Charania reported at the time. “Everyone in Boston is downplaying anything with Jayson Tatum, that this was even an injury. Joe Mazzulla denied that it was an injury at all. Jayson Tatum said after the game that it was just stiffness that he felt in his leg.
Charania continued: “I’m told Jayson Tatum told some teammates after the game he’s fine, he’s good to go. So I think the expectation in Boston is, Game 7, Jayson Tatum is all good.”
But that stiffness in Tatum’s leg has now landed him on the injury report as “questionable” with a 7:30 p.m. ET tip fast approaching.
The Celtics have dropped back-to-back games in the series after taking a 3-1 lead. The Sixers have found their mojo with Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and Paul George all healthy and rookie VJ Edgecombe providing contributions beyond his years.
Philadelphia has never come back to win a playoff series it’s trailed 3-1. It’s 0-for-18 in those scenarios. The Sixers are hoping to finally pull off a turnaround of that kind on Saturday in TD Garden.
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