With about two months to go in last season, Jayson Tatum said he suffered a non-displaced fracture in his left wrist, he told Taylor Rooks of Bleacher Report in an interview Sunday. It healed somewhat, but he said he re-inured it against the Bucks in the playoffs.
Tatum said nobody but the Celtics knew of the injury, and while he wore a brace for it, he was careful not to do that around the media or while playing.
"I played with somewhat of a fracture for two months" 🤯
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) August 21, 2022
Jayson Tatum opens up about playing through an undisclosed injury during the playoffs in live interview with Taylor Rooks in B/R app pic.twitter.com/kt7xZCV36W
“It was small, but it was still like a non-displaced chip. So like I chipped a bone but it didn’t leave the surface. But it had shown that the bone had grew over it so it healed, but I was still in pain because I kept getting hit or falling on it. So I guess I played with somewhat of a fracture for like two months.
“Then in the playoffs, there was a play against Milwaukee in Game 3. I dunked it, Giannis [Antetokounmpo] chased me down and fouled me and I fell into the crowd. That was the most painful it’s been since that day that I hurt it. I ended up getting a cortisone shot in my wrist that night and you could see it. I’ve lost color in my hand because it kills the fat cells and there’s not a lot of fat in my hand, so I’ve lost color right there. After each game I would have to wear a brace to shoot around and I would take it off before the cameras saw me.”
This is the play where Giannis Antetokounmpo fouled Tatum, re-injring the wrist.
Tatum threw it down on Giannis despite the foul 😳 pic.twitter.com/bPATVuuZQu
— NBA TV (@NBATV) May 7, 2022
Tatum was quick to say this was not an excuse, “if I’m going out there to play, nothing matters.”
The wrist and a shoulder injury did not slow Tatum much in the playoffs, he still averaged 25.6 points per game in the postseason and helped carry the Celtics to the Finals. Boston comes back this season as one of the title favorites.
And they come back with a healthy Tatum.
