BOSTON (AP) — Boston All-Star Jayson Tatum took a big step toward returning from his torn Achilles tendon when he was assigned to practice with the Maine Celtics, the organization's G-League team, on Monday.
The organization said he would immediately be recalled to the Boston Celtics and continue to rehab the injury he sustained in the Eastern Conference semifinals last spring.
Tatum led the Celtics to their title in 2024 and had them on track for a repeat before the injury, which was expected to keep him out for about a year.
Boston entered Monday night with the third-best record in the Eastern Conference, and a Tatum return could help propel the team to a long playoff run. Tatum expressed doubts last month whether he might upset the team's chemistry by returning, but Brad Stevens, the team's president of basketball operations, said that was not a concern.
“Obviously, any team with Jayson Tatum’s going to be better,” Stevens said on Friday. “If he needs it, I’ll tell him every day. Because every team -- all 30 of us -- would be way, way better with him on the team.”
Stevens said Tatum still has “a ways to go,” and the team isn’t going to rush him.
“He’s hit a lot of the thresholds, he’s doing more and more and will continue to do more and more,” Stevens said. “There’s no pressure from us. But there’s also not going to be any of us saying, ‘Well, why don’t you just take another week?’ It’s going to be: When he’s ready, he’s ready.”
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Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum, right, walks off the court after an NBA basketball game against the Dallas Mavericks Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
Boston Celtics guard Jaylen Brown, left, applauds while seated alongside forward Jayson Tatum, who both did not play, during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Sacramento Kings, Friday, Jan. 30, 2026, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia's imprisoned former Prime Minister Najib Razak was transferred from prison to his home Tuesday to serve the remainder of his graft sentence under house arrest, following a court ruling that cleared the way for his release from prison.
The Kuala Lumpur High Court cleared the final legal hurdles for the transfer earlier Tuesday.
Najib, Malaysia's first former leader to be imprisoned for a major corruption scandal, was seen in a vehicle that entered his house in Kuala Lumpur. He had been imprisoned since August 2022 following a graft conviction linked to a multibillion-dollar looting of the state investment fund 1MDB. In September, Najib was granted royal clemency, allowing him to serve the rest of his sentence under house arrest once he paid a court-imposed fine.
Last Friday, he left prison after his political party paid the 50 million ringgit ($12.3 million) fine, but he was brought back hours later after the attorney general blocked the transfer, seeking legal clarifications.
The attorney general's request sparked a public rebuke from the palace, which said that King Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar’s prerogative of pardon for Najib that allowed the house arrest was clear and must be respected. It said any attempts to challenge it would amount to defying the royal order.
Najib's lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah told reporters after a court hearing Tuesday that all was settled for the former prime minister's transfer to house arrest at his Kuala Lumpur home, where he is to remain until Aug. 23, 2028.
“It’s a final relief, you know, great sigh to him because he has been waiting for this,” the lawyer said.
The house arrest covers only Najib's reduced, six-year sentence in his first trial for graft and not a separate, 15-year sentence handed down last December for corruption and money laundering. That sentence followed a second major trial tied to the 1MDB scandal.
Najib is also appealing that sentence, which he is to serve after the end of his first sentence. If his appeal fails, he could return to prison after his house arrest ends.
Najib, who served as prime minister from 2009 to 2018, has denied any wrongdoing in the 1MDB scandal. It marked one of the world’s largest financial scandals, rippling across global markets and triggering investigations in the United States and other countries.
Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, escorted by prison officers, arrives at the Kuala Lumpur High Court complex in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)
Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, escorted by prison officers, arrives at the Kuala Lumpur High Court complex in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)
Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, escorted by prison officers, arrives at the Kuala Lumpur High Court complex in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)
