Celtics’ Nikola Vucevic reveals confidence in building chemistry with Jayson Tatum

BOSTON — Prior to Sunday afternoon, Boston Celtics center Nikola Vucevic had never played alongside star forward Jayson Tatum.

Although they both suited up on March 6 to take on the Dallas Mavericks, Vucevic was put in while Tatum was subbed out. The first-year Celtic was then forced to exit the game after less than two minutes because of a fractured right ring finger. The locker room visit didn’t seem significant at first — especially since it was overshadowed by Tatum’s triumphant comeback from an Achilles injury — yet Vucevic ended up missing 14 games in a row.

He was finally able to return to the court against the Toronto Raptors on Sunday, seeing the floor for 13 minutes and contributing 4 points and 4 rebounds during the Celtics’ 115-101 victory at TD Garden. And at long last, Vucevic shared the parquet in the second quarter with Tatum, who wasn’t active in February when “Vooch” was first traded to Boston.

“Obviously, JT and I didn’t get a lot of time together,” Vucevic stated in the locker room after the double-digit win. “But we’re both high-level players, both smart players, and I think we’ll be able to figure it out pretty quickly.”

Nikola Vucevic on playing alongside Jayson Tatum and how they’re both high-IQ players:

“I think we’ll be able to figure it out pretty quickly.” pic.twitter.com/eKkLD4VbLm

— Daniel Donabedian (@danield1214) April 5, 2026

It’s not often that a team with championship dreams rosters two players who aren’t very familiar with one another. Of course, Tatum and Vucevic have squared off with one another over the years, but playing together is a different story.

“The chemistry part, that just has to come from us playing and practicing together,” Vucevic admitted. “Which is good, at least [we’ll] get these five games in before the playoffs and then we’ll have the week in between that’ll help.”

Although the Montenegrin big man could have waited until the postseason to play again, Sunday was always his target date.

“That was kind of the plan from the beginning, after I got the surgery,” he said of coming back versus the Raptors. “We had this game at the four-week mark, so we kind of had this day in mind—that’s how the plan went…I just felt like [my finger] was good enough for me to get out and play.”

What did Nikola Vucevic get up to when he was sidelined?

While he sat with a complicated cast on his finger, Vucevic studied the Celtics and paid close attention to centers Neemias Queta and Luka Garza, imagining what he would do in their shoes during certain actions or set plays.

He also watched a lot of film and worked with the Celtics staff in order to stay sharp despite his pesky injury.

“Just being around the guys in the time I didn’t play has helped a lot,” he said. “It would’ve been great to have the full month that I missed, but it is what it is.”

Vucevic has now entered 13 games for the Celtics — and just one with Tatum. However, the veteran center is learning more and more about the Celtics’ system every day, and if there’s a superstar who’s easy to gel with, it’s Tatum.

“He just wants to win,” Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla described of Vucevic. “He’s been in the league a long time. If anything, making sure he’s aggressive enough to where we have the best version of him so that we can have a different layer of what we want to accomplish is the most important thing.”

Tatum, Vucevic, and the rest of the 53-25 Celtics will have a chance to build some chemistry again on Tuesday night when they host the 43-36 Charlotte Hornets. It’ll mark just the second game all season in which the C’s have no injuries to report.

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