Good morning, I’m Tyler Lauletta, filling in for Dan Gartland. If you haven’t locked in for a sports weekend since the end of football season, this is the weekend to do it. Conference tournament basketball. The World Baseball Classic. The NBA playoff race. The return of Formula 1. Turn on your televisions and share in this bounty of sport.
In today’s SI:AM:
Jayson Tatum’s return could shake up the East
The NBA postseason picture is taking shape. In both conferences, the contenders are pretty apparent. The West boasts the reigning champion Thunder, the ahead-of-schedule Spurs and the superstar-centric Wolves, Rockets and Nuggets. In the East, it’s the Pistons leading the way, with the Celtics, Knicks and Cavs fighting to remain within striking distance. The Hornets are also on a tear, though they’re still trying to get out of the play-in tournament for now.
If you were worried that the league’s hierarchy was too settled, don’t fret: The Celtics have listed Jayson Tatum, who hasn’t played since tearing his right Achilles tendon in Game 4 of the 2025 Eastern Conference semifinals, as questionable, and the six-time All-Star could make his season debut as soon as tonight against the Mavericks.
Tatum’s return immediately makes Boston a top threat to win the NBA Finals and puts the Celtics on a clear path to securing the No. 2 seed in the East. (In turn, the Knicks and the Cavs will now likely be locked in a battle for the No. 3 seed.) Even without Tatum, the Celtics have the league’s second-best net rating behind a defense that has allowed the fewest points in the paint per game and an offense that has scored the fifth-most points per halfcourt play.
While Tatum’s comeback could throw a wrench into a system that has been working just fine without him, there’s no reason to think that Tatum won’t gel with this year’s team. Jaylen Brown is already playing at an MVP level. Payton Pritchard has stepped up in the highest-usage role of his career, Derrick White has continued to be one of the East’s best perimeter defenders and Neemias Queta has had a breakout season in his fifth year in the league. Adding Tatum to that mix should make the rest of the team’s load lighter, not heavier. Joe Mazzulla, who has an outside shot to be named Coach of the Year at season’s end, should also have plenty of ideas for how to incorporate Tatum.
Debate shows might want you to think that the Celtics will now have to contend with whether Tatum or Brown is their true alpha. The far more likely scenario is that the duo will operate as they always have, playing 1A and 1B for each other with the roles switching on any given night and in any given quarter.
The rest of the East is on notice.
The best of Sports Illustrated
- In today’s digital cover, Michael Rosenberg profiles U.S. Paralympic skier Andrew Kurka as he contemplates life after competition. While he says he has plenty of things to fill that void, Kurka wants to make sure young athletes feel inspired to follow behind him.
- Chris Mannix writes that the Hornets have quietly become one of the NBA’s hottest teams and the franchise’s long rebuild may finally be turning into something sustainable.
- Providence fired men’s basketball coach Kim English after three seasons. Kevin Sweeney has a list of candidates who could replace him.
- Gilberto Manzano breaks down which NFC teams will be able to spend and which teams will have to be frugal in free agency. Matt Verderame tackles the AFC teams.
- In this week’s mailbag, Albert Breer answers readers’ questions about the potential landing spots for quarterbacks Malik Willis and Kyler Murray.
- Conor Orr plays NFL GM and comes up with dream signings for 10 teams next week.
- Quarterback-needy teams may find that the best prospects at the position will be on college campuses this fall. Bryan Fischer looks at the star-studded group that could make the 2027 draft class far stronger than this year’s.
- Sweeney talks with high-ranking general managers about budgets, star player compensation and roster management one month before the transfer portal officially opens.
- Jon Wertheim sat down with tennis star Félix Auger-Aliassime ahead of Indian Wells to discuss about his recent success, hockey and his mother’s words of wisdom.
The top five…
…things I saw last night:
5. Tre Jones working smarter not harder to secure the win for the Bulls.
4. Our first real practice of the F1 season.
3. Anthony Edwards putting RJ Barrett on a poster.
2. The latest bit of Joe Mazzulla philosophy.
1. Lehighbringing a little early madness to March with a Patriot League conference tournament buzzer beater.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as SI AM: Jayson Tatum’s Return Could Change Balance in East.
