BOSTON — During an hour-long interview with “The Pivot” podcast, Jayson Tatum spoke at length about his grueling recovery from Achilles surgery.

The Celtics star hinted at when he might be planning to return to the court — and admitted he’s given considerable thought to the potential challenges of reintegrating himself into a Boston team that’s thrived in his absence.

“That’s something I contemplate every day,” Tatum told the show’s hosts, former NFL players Ryan Clark, Channing Crowder and Fred Taylor. “More so about the team. If or when I do come back this season, they would have played 50-some-odd games without me. So they have an identity this year, or things that they’ve felt that have clicked for them, and it’s been successful — second (seed) in the East up to this point. So there is a thought in my head of, like, how does that work? How does that look with me integrating myself off an injury and 50, 60 games into a season?

“(There) obviously could be some challenges, and it is a thought, like, ‘Damn, do I come back, or should I wait?’ It’s honestly something that recently, in the last two weeks or so, I just kind of contemplate every single day.”

The question that prompted that response was specifically about Tatum’s longtime co-star, Jaylen Brown, who’s posted career-best numbers this season as the Celtics’ unquestioned No. 1 option. Brown is on pace to become just the third player in franchise history to average at least 29 points, six rebounds and four assists per game, joining Tatum in 2022-23 and Larry Bird in 1987-88.

Brown, voted an NBA All-Star starter for the first time, has called this his “favorite season.” There are valid questions about how Boston’s offense — which was revamped in training camp to account for the losses of Tatum and offseason departures Kristaps Porzingis, Jrue Holiday, Al Horford and Luke Kornet — will operate once both of its superstars are available.

Forty-six games in, the Celtics rank second in offensive rating and third in net rating, and trail only the Detroit Pistons in the Eastern Conference standings.

“I feel like I’ve sacrificed over the years in order for us to be a championship-caliber team,” Brown said after Monday’s win over the Portland Trail Blazers. “And now, I think we’re getting to see that a little bit — what exactly I was capable of and what I was sacrificing. I think before, maybe it wasn’t so obvious. I think now, being able to be at the helm of things, and us being the second seed in the East, versus last year, we finished second seed in the East. It’s almost been no dropoff, with four players, five players, that are essentially gone.”

Though Tatum has not confirmed he will play this season — and Celtics officials have repeatedly declined to announce a timeline for his comeback — he seemingly has made steady progress in his recovery. Last week, he worked out in front of reporters for close to an hour. The 50-to-60-game window he referenced would put him back in uniform in February or early March — roughly nine months after he suffered the injury in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals on May 12.

(Tatum previously said his first game back would be at TD Garden; the Celtics home games during that stretch are this Friday against Miami, this Sunday against New York, next Wednesday against Chicago, Friday, Feb. 27 against Brooklyn, and Sunday, March 1 against Philadelphia.)

Tatum also reflected on what he described as dark times following his surgery.

“I was done with basketball when I got hurt,” he said on the podcast. “I felt, like, betrayed. In a sense, I felt betrayed by the game. I was never one of those guys that was — I never cheated the game. I never took it for granted. I used to wake up at 5:30 in the morning when I was in high school and work out before school. Growing up in St. Louis, single-parent household, I felt like I was behind already. I didn’t come from a New York or a Florida or a California, so I felt I already was behind other players around the country, so I did everything possible to maximize my God-given ability.

“I never wanted to miss games. I never missed a playoff game. I didn’t do load management. I led the league in minutes since I came into the league. So it just didn’t feel fair that that happened to me. So I remember I didn’t watch the rest of the playoffs. I didn’t want to talk about basketball. I really felt betrayed, and I needed some time. I needed some time away from the game.”

During those difficult weeks, he said, he questioned his basketball mortality.

“It took time,” Tatum said. “There was a few weeks where I thought about, like, ‘Damn, did I make enough money? Did I accomplish enough?’ There were some moments where I was laying in my mom’s house with my foot up where I thought, like, ‘Man, I might be done.’ ”

Tatum, who turns 28 in March, said his mother, Brandy, helped lift his spirits during that period of doubt. He also drew inspiration from Kevin Durant, who’s been a perennial All-Star since tearing his Achilles in the 2019 NBA Finals.

“I can honestly say KD is a big reason why the narrative (around Achilles injuries) has kind of changed,” he said. “Even he was older than me when he did it, and he still returned to being exactly who he is. (He’s) someone I’m super close with and I’ve talked to, but just the way he went about it and the way he came back really changed the narrative around that injury and gave people like myself hope that, oh, you can come back and be yourself or be better.”

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