Boston Celtics striker Jayson Tatum is now the organization’s newest player who will be necessary to quarantine, which will leave him out for 10 to 14 days, according to The Athletic’s Shams Charania. This brings the total number of quarantined Celtics players to four after the team announced on Friday that Tristan Thompson, Robert Williams and Grant Williams will all be necessary to isolate yourself for a minimum of seven days due to NBA COVID-19 protocols. Robert Williams supposedly positive test for the virus and has been asymptomatic, while Grant Williams and Thompson are being instructed to quarantine for contact tracking, according to Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe.
In the next two weeks, the Celtics will play against the Heat, the Bulls, the Magic twice, the Knicks and the Sixers twice and without their top scorer Tatum, and with three of their big ones towing, Boston will be missing a hand incredible work in the immediate future. The Celtics have already felt the effects of a lack of manpower this season, as Kemba Walker has yet to make his debut with a knee injury, Jeff Teague is dealing with an ankle injury and Romeo Langford is out with an injury on the wrist.
Despite the ups and downs of the list, Boston still managed to win, as the Celtics started the season with 7-3. Jaylen Brown’s strong game, which has made a big leap this season with an average of 26 points per game at 41.2 percent in the 3-point range, has taken the Celtics to another level this season as he is a big reason for they started like that Strong. However, not having an All-Star like Tatum, who averaged 26.9 points, the career record, to go along with 7.1 scholarships and 3.8 assists, while 43.8 percent of the range 3 points, it’s a monumental blow.
Losing three important frontline players is also not ideal. Thompson has an average of 8.4 points and 8.5 rebounds per game for the Celtics and helped with the lack of size that this team had last season, as Boston can now put Thompson and Daniel Theis on the starting lineup to take care of the great opponents. Without Thompson and both Williams, who acted as attackers / support centers, the Celtics could call Semi Ojeleye to come on the scene as a starter, as there are not many options left for them with the number of injured players and players who are out due to the COVID-19 protocols. We could also see more playing time for Tacko Fall next week, and some time when Boston became incredibly small with its schedule.