Speculation was rife throughout the NBA Finals that Jayson Tatum could be hampered by an injury against the Golden State Warriors. The Boston Celtics star confirmed that speculation on Sunday, but the shoulder injury was not previously reported.
Instead, Tatum said, he was dealing with the aftereffects of a broken wrist for most of the playoffs.
“I had a non-displaced fracture in my wrist,” Tatum told Bleacher Report. “It was small, but it was still an undisplaced chip. I cut the bone, but it didn’t leave the surface…the bone grew on it, so it healed, but I was still in pain because it kept hitting, or I Kept falling on it. I think I played with the fracture for two months.”
Tatum explained that he initially injured the wrist against the Hawks in February, but it was likely aggravated on this play when Giannis Antetokounmpo fouled him in Game 3 of the teams’ second-round series.
Tatum really seemed to slow down in the Finals, especially on offense. But for the Warriors, that’s the beauty of being NBA champions. The teams and players they lost to have spent the summer fantasizing. (Though to be fair to Tatum, he specifically went out of his way to say the Celtics shouldn’t do that.) For Mark Cuban, it was an exclamation from Andrew Wiggins. For Grant Williams, the Celtics were more talented, just less disciplined. For unnamed NBA owners, it was Joe Lacob’s ability to pay the luxury tax. And now, add Tatum’s wrist to that list.
