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Tim BontempsESPN
BOSTON – The Boston Celtics will have a minimum of eight players available for Sunday night’s game against the Miami Heat after announcing that nine players are out – including seven due to NBA health and safety protocols for the COVID-19 pandemic .
While Kemba Walker (knee) and Romeo Langford (fist) are injured, the other seven players who will be seated on Sunday – goalkeepers Javonte Green and Jaylen Brown, strikers Jayson Tatum, Semi Ojeleye and Grant Williams and center backs Robert Williams III and Tristan Thompson – everyone is out on Sunday, and probably sometime later, because of league protocols.
That will leave Boston with just those eight players – guards Marcus Smart, Jeff Teague, Payton Pritchard, Carsen Edwards and Tremont Waters, swingman Aaron Nesmith and centerpieces Daniel Theis and Tacko Fall – for Sunday’s game against the Heat, and probably Tuesday’s game in Chicago against the Bulls and Wednesday in Boston against the Orlando Magic.
Robert Williams III, Grant Williams and Thompson lost Friday’s game against the Washington Wizards after initially appearing on Thursday’s injury report, while Tatum, Brown, Ojeleye and Green appeared on Saturday before being dropped on the Sunday.
The Celtics are now in a similar position to the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday afternoon, when they had only seven healthy players – along with Mike Scott, who became active but would not play – for the game against the Denver Nuggets .
Celtics coach Brad Stevens will have a hard time establishing a coherent squad when his eight available players include five – Smart, Teague, Pritchard, Edwards and Waters – who are six feet tall or less, as well as five players in the first or second NBA second season and the team’s two players (Waters and Fall).
Miami, meanwhile, will lose guard Avery Bradley, who was also placed on the health and safety protocol on Sunday afternoon and was dropped for Sunday night’s game.