They got star wing Jaylen Brown back from a bone bruise on Monday, only to lose Jayson Tatum, their best player, to an ankle injury.
Tatum suffered the injury after hitting a 3-pointer and landing on the foot of Kings star center Domantas Sabonis. Sabonis received a flagrant 1 foul for getting into Tatum’s landing space, and Tatum had to be helped to the locker room.
Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum lays on the ground after suffering an injury next to Sacramento Kings center Domantas Sabonis.
Cary Edmondson-Imagn Images
The star forward wasn’t made available for post-game interviews, but according to a post on X by Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe, he seemed to be in good spirits and was wearing sneakers on both of his feet.
“Jayson Tatum isn’t being made available for interviews,” Himmelsbach wrote.
“He’s at his locker eating and joking with teammates and wearing sneakers on both feet though.”
Needless to say, if Tatum has to miss an extended stretch, it could at least partly doom the Celtics’ hopes of winning it all again.
He came into Monday averaging 27.2 points, 8.7 rebounds and 5.9 assists a game. He had two 40-plus-point games in the last few weeks, including a 46-point outburst in a frustrating 123-116 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Feb. 28.
Tatum had 25 points before exiting the game against Sacramento. Boston was able to win easily by a final score of 113-95 and improve its record to 53-19.
