Rumbles that Tatum might be able to play again much sooner than a calendar year give or take a month have begun to percolate.

If one event can dramatically alter even the most sustainable team-building strategy, is it even possible to maintain a championship window?

Jayson Tatum's torn Achilles tendon, without hyperbole, is among the most consequential injuries in NBA history. Kevin Durant comes to mind as a similarly gifted player to suffer such an injury, but he was almost 31 when he went down in the 2019 NBA Finals.