Jayson Tatum's return from injury has brought more than just his signature scoring back to the Boston Celtics. It's brought a new, dominant presence on the boards that has one NBA insider making a fascinating—and flattering—Hall of Fame comparison.

Following a 24-point, 13-rebound performance in a recent loss to the Knicks, Tatum is now averaging a career-high 10 rebounds per game. While it's a small 16-game sample since his March return, it marks a significant jump from his previous career best of 8.8 rebounds per contest.

The Athletic's senior NBA writer Fred Katz highlighted this surprising development, noting that while Tatum's jumper is returning to form, his rebounding has become a game-changing new weapon. "Tatum has been one of the NBA’s best-rebounding wings since he became a pro nine years ago," Katz wrote, "but he’s never feasted on the glass like this."

He's grabbed double-digit boards in 10 of those 16 games, including an 18-rebound night against Miami, just one shy of his career high. This surge has been a key driver in the Celtics' remarkable team turnaround on the defensive glass, propelling them from last in the league in defensive rebound rate in early December to second since that date.

The most eye-catching part of Katz's analysis, however, was the player comparison. He likened Tatum's rebounding intuition to that of the legendary—and notoriously eccentric—Hall of Famer Dennis Rodman. "Tatum possesses a Dennis Rodman-esque intuition to track where the ball might ricochet," Katz observed.

While Rodman's off-court persona was controversial, his on-court ferocity and rebounding genius are undisputed, making the parallel a major compliment to Tatum's evolving game. The Celtics' defensive rebound rate skyrockets by 6.4 percentage points when Tatum is on the floor, proving his impact is both tangible and transformative for a team that was already rolling.

For a superstar known for his scoring, adding elite, Rodman-level rebounding to his arsenal makes Jayson Tatum and the Boston Celtics an even more formidable force as the playoffs approach.