Does Jayson Tatum injury change Celtics’ future plans at all?

As the news broke on Tuesday that Jayson Tatum underwent surgery to repair his ruptured right Achilles tendon, the ominous future of the Boston Celtics' roster came into question. With the Celtics' 2025-26 payroll expected to far exceed the NBA second apron threshold and a new owner looming, there was already an expectation for changes to come.

However, could Tatum's injury add to the impending deconstruction?

Prior to the injury, which will likely keep Tatum off the court for most of the 2025-26 season, it was already widely assumed that at least one or two of Kristaps Porziņģis, Jrue Holiday, and Derrick White would be on the trade block in the offseason. Now, that seems like more of a certainty, but what else may be in store?

Well, it likely depends on the route the Celtics choose to take.

The first option, and the most destructive, would be the Celtics decide to go with a full rebuild. This would put a player like Jaylen Brown at risk of being moved for a young, inexpensive player and high draft picks. Even Tatum himself could be on the chopping block in the most drastic version of this scenario. One could also reasonably expect the Celtics to tank for their own lottery pick in 2026, in this situation. Although a full rebuild seems unlikely, it is unfortunately very much in play, at least in some capacity.

Next, would be a more moderate approach. In this more likely case, the Celtics would retain Brown, but move, again, one or multiple of the guys mentioned above (White, Holiday, Porziņģis). With this strategy, the Celtics would still be a solid contender in 2025-26 and onward, but they would be stuck with the same high salary-bill they, presumably, want to diminish.

The final route the C's could feasibly take in the offseason, would be to essentially do nothing and run it back. But again, for reasons aforementioned this is probably the least likely option, even bordering on completely out of the question. One could wish, however.

Nonetheless, it seems reasonably accurate to say that the 2025-26 Celtics will look much different than the last few seasons. However the Tatum Injury may influence those changes is unknown, but it seems fair to say it should factor into the equation.

Luke Graham is a digital sports content co-op for 98.5 the Sports Hub. He is currently a sophomore at Northeastern University studying communications and media studies. Read all his articles here, and follow him on X @LukeGraham05.