Pistons hit with breaking news that could change everything

The Detroit Pistons and the rest of the Eastern Conference knew it was a possibility, but it’s been confirmed that Jayson Tatum will indeed play this season. 

Shams Charania from ESPN confirmed that Tatum will likely make his debut against Dallas just 10 months after an injury that was supposed to keep him out for the season. 

The basketball fan and human in me is glad to see Tatum back, as you never cheer for injuries and I want to watch the best players, but the Pistons fan in me wishes he could have held off until next year. 

The Boston Celtics just got a lot more dangerous for the Detroit Pistons 

Boston has been one of the surprise teams of the season, as everyone assumed they’d be taking a gap year after Tatum got hurt, and they traded away key veteran players. 

But someone forgot to tell the rest of the Celtics, particularly Jaylen Brown, who has led them to the 2nd seed in the East even though they are missing their best player. 

Adding an MVP-caliber player to this group makes them extremely dangerous in the East, as most would have had them as one of the top teams had Tatum not been injured. 

The Celtics are rebounding better than they were at the beginning of the season, playing better defense and still have one of the best offenses in the league, so this is a team primed to make noise in the playoffs. 

Tatum has to fit in, and the Pistons can dodge him 

Tatum will have little time to get back up to game speed and acclimate himself to a team that learned how to play without him. 

I’m sure he’ll be on some kind of restrictions when he first comes back and will only have around 25 games before the playoffs start, so it will be baptism by fire for Tatum. 

Luckily, the Pistons won’t have to see him, at least not anytime soon, as Detroit has already played all of their games against the Celtics. 

If Boston holds onto the second seed and the Pistons don’t fall apart, the only way the two teams can meet is in the Eastern Conference Finals, and I am sure Tatum will be back to full speed if both teams can make it that far. 

The East is wide open 

The Eastern Conference is up for grabs, and I’d say any of the top four teams think they have a shot to win it. 

You then have the surprising Hornets, who are clobbering everyone at the minute, and you probably have a 5th team that thinks it has a legit shot to walk out of the East. 

That task just got harder, as Tatum is an All-NBA talent joining a team that is already very good.