Interesting Stat Shows How Much Celtics Are Missing Jayson Tatum
Jayson Tatum suffered an Achilles tendon tear during the Boston Celtics’ 2025 Eastern Conference Semifinals loss to the New York Knicks. He’s expected to miss most, if not all, of the 2025-26 NBA season.
Without Tatum in the rotation, multiple members of the Celtics’ roster have stepped into larger roles. However, there’s no replacing a top-5 player and four-time All-NBA First Team forward. As such, the Celtics are making the best of what they have until Tatum is cleared to return to the court.
According to Cleaning The Glass, which includes a built-in garbage-time filter, the Celtics’ offense has taken a significant downturn during meaningful minutes this season. With Tatum leading the way during the 2023-24 championship season, Boston had the best offense in the NBA. Last season, Joe Mazzulla’s team was third in the NBA for offensive production.
Yet with Tatum sidelined, the Celtics have fallen to 13th in the league for offense. Of course, if you factor in garbage-time minutes, those numbers skew and propel the team to eighth in the league. But when those minutes actually matter, the Celtics are a middle-of-the-road offensive team.
Not only is Tatum an elite-level playmaker for his position, but he also possesses considerable scoring gravity. His presence on the court demands defensive attention. Pairing him with Jaylen Brown is a surefire way to stretch opposing defenses and create the spacing Mazzulla’s system craves.
by forcing more turnovers and getting up the court more quickly. Yet the lack of high-level on-ball decision-makers has led to a disjointed offense for stretches of games. Fortunately, once the St. Louis native returns from injury and is back up to speed, everything should fall into place.
We knew this season was going to look different. “And while the offense has not been nearly as potent, Tatum’s absence is allowing others to grow and develop their games. Long-term, that could have a beneficial impact on the roster, as all internal development is good for long-term sustainability.