BOSTON -- Jayson Tatum has checked off another box in his recovery from a torn right Achilles: participating in 5-on-5 work with the Celtics coaches, a league source confirmed Sunday.
Shams Charania initially reported the update on ABC's "NBA Countdown."
Celtics general manager Brad Stevens said Friday that Tatum has already "hit a lot of the thresholds" in his rehabilitation process, but that the Boston wing still has significant progress to make before he can consider a return to the Celtics lineup. The six-time All-Star has not played this season after suffering the injury during the second round of last year's playoffs.
"He's doing more and more and will continue to do more and more," Stevens said. "He's still got a ways to go."
It's not yet clear whether Tatum will play this season. Stevens said the Celtics will not pressure him one way or another about returning. When the time comes, the team plans to sit down with Tatum and his doctors to determine the best approach. Stevens said Tatum should only suit up again "when he's 110 percent healthy, he's fully cleared by everybody that matters in that decision and he's got great peace of mind and he's ready to do it."
"When it's right, then we'll all sit down and talk about it," Stevens said. "There's still no force from us. There's no pressure from us. But there's also not gonna be any of us saying, 'Well, why doesn't he just take another week?' When he's ready, he's ready."
Though Tatum acknowledged on a recent episode of "The Pivot Podcast" that he has worried about how his return will impact a Celtics team that has looked like a contender without him, Stevens emphasized that such doubts are a normal part of the recovery process.
"I think in all of our conversations, he's confident he can make teams better, too," Stevens said with a laugh. "So I think what I would say is, again, I think it's more natural just from a -- when you're in that rehab process, you're thinking about, you know, there's a lot that goes through your mind. You're looking at old footage of yourself versus new footage of yourself. You're trying to figure out, like, where you are in that kind of whole path. And then you get back out on the court, and each day gets a little bit more normal, and you start to feel a little bit more maybe like yourself.
"And I think that's just normal," Stevens said. "If he needs it, I'll tell him every day because every team -- you know all 30 (NBA teams) -- would be way, way, way better with him on your team."