Tatum says he played through fractured wrist last season

Jayson Tatum's NBA Finals performance played a part in preventing the Boston Celtics from winning a championship. However, a nagging ailment may have been the reason behind the superstar's poor showing.

The three-time All-Star revealed to Bleacher Report's Taylor Rooks that he played with a fractured wrist for the majority of the second half of last season. He said his wrist first started bothering him following a February game against the Atlanta Hawks.

"I had a non-displaced fracture in my wrist. It was small ... but a non-displaced chip," Tatum said, adding that he put off receiving a diagnosis until just before the playoffs.

Tatum then re-aggravated the injury in the Celtics' second-round series against the Milwaukee Bucks when he fell into the crowd following a Giannis Antetokounmpo foul on a dunk attempt.

"That was the most painful it's been since that day that I hurt it," Tatum said.

Even though Tatum needed to wear a brace before shootaround for the rest of the playoffs, he felt the need to persevere with a ring on the line.

"In my mind, if I'm going out there to play, it's like nothing matters," he said.

The 24-year-old averaged just 21.5 points per game in the six-game NBA Finals loss to the Golden State Warriors, hitting 36.7% of his field goals and 65.6% of his free throws. Tatum scored only 13 points on 6-of-18 from the floor in the series-clincher.