Last Updated on March 7, 2026 12:49 pm by Mike Passador | Published: March 7, 2026

The big story from Friday was the much-anticipated return of Jayson Tatum. He tore his Achilles in the playoffs last year and the reporting around his rehab has been wild, even though the rehab itself ended up being fairly no-nonsense. At one point it was said that Tatum would not return at all — which was a fair expectation coming into the season with Boston lined up for a gap year without him — but that didn’t come out until the Celtics were already chasing down Detroit for the top seed in the conference. Then it was Tatum getting cleared for parts of practice, only for him to come out and say he wasn’t sure about when he might return. All the while his participation levels increased, culminating in rampant speculation about a March return. And here we are.

The biggest news was that Tatum would be playing without any minutes limit. That was met with heavy skepticism but the Celtics walked the walk and Tatum’s season debut ended up resulting in 15 points (6-of-16 FG), 12 rebounds, seven assists, a steal and three 3-pointers in 27 minutes. The baseline of playing time being 27 minutes is a massive development for fantasy as managers were likely bracing for a series of 15-minute games before a slow ramp-up. Boston has a pretty friendly schedule going forward with almost no back-to-back spots. Tatum is going to play and we’re not far off from him playing a lot. He has league-winning potential if you can air drop him onto a roster that is already competitive — in fantasy and reality.

Between Tatum and Dejounte Murray, that’s two players who have basically hit the ground running this year after tearing their Achilles. Modern medicine is incredible.

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Top Pickups

This is the “general must-add” section regardless of the slate. If these players are being overlooked and remain chilling on the waiver wire, consider adding them to your squad.

Jayson Tatum (62%)

Obviously. This number was a lot lower yesterday but there’s still 38% of leagues out there where you can add Tatum. Probably not in yours, but you never know.

Oso Ighodaro (21%)

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