For those who are unaware, while I graduated from USC and now live in Los Angeles, I was born and raised in the Greater Boston area. Hence, am have been a massive Boston Celtics fan since I started watching basketball at seven years old. (I even own a custom Drew Peterson Celtics jersey, which I bought after last season’s championship.)
Obviously, I was devastated after seeing star Jayson Tatum go down with an injury in Monday’s playoff game, and the subsequent news Tuesday that he underwent surgery to repair a torn achilles. After the initial shock wore off, however, my thoughts shifted towards another basketball injury that I remember all too well: Juju Watkins’s ACL tear.
The parallels between the two situations are striking. Both Tatum and Watkins are superstar players who entered the postseason looking to lead their respective teams to glory. Instead, however, both suffered severe injuries in the second round that not only prematurely ended their championship quests, but will likely keep them out for the majority of next season as well.
Both players are still quite young—Tatum is 27, while Watkins is just 19. While fans are generally confident that both will be able to return to elite levels of play, there are major questions surrounding what their respective teams will look like in their absences, as well as when they finally return to the court, potentially not until the fall of 2026.
There is one key difference between the two situations: Tatum and the Celtics already won a championship last year. While Watkins has taken the USC program to new heights—Elite Eights, conference titles, and No. 1 seeds—this was supposed to be the year that the Trojans finally broke through and reached their first Final Four since the days of Cheryl Miller. With Watkins now sidelined for the foreseeable future, there are now much more uncertainty regarding if/when that will happen.
Differences aside, though, both situations are incredibly sad to watch unfold. With both the Celtics and the Women of Troy, 2025 was supposed to mark the dawn of a potential dynasty, with Tatum and Watkins leading the way.
After severe injuries to both star players, however, there are now major question marks surrounding the futures of both teams. With one bad plant of a foot, both Boston and USC went from perennial contenders to organizations with massive questions in a nanosecond.
This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: Jayson Tatum injury draws parallels to Juju Watkins
Reporting by Adam Bradford, Trojans Wire / Trojans Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
