The Boston Celtics have been thin on ballhandlers all year.
The team started the season without starting point guard Kemba Walker, and he’s been on a minutes restriction since returning to the lineup. So naturally when rookie sensation Payton Pritchard showed he could step up in Walker’s absence, he sprained his MCL. Follow that up with Marcus Smart going down with a Grade I calf strain and it’s hard not to laugh at the misfortune.
But Celtics coach Brad Stevens provided a promising update about Pritchard’s status that could help start to turn things around.
Pritchard traveled to the west coast trip with Boston, and did some work during practice Monday and Tuesday. In his pregame availability ahead of the Celtics’ game against the Golden State Warriors, Stevens shared the guard could be available to go for the second game of the back-to-back.
“Once he’s available he’ll obviously be part of the rotation. It’s just a matter of when he’s cleared,” Stevens said. “He came to the gym earlier today and did more and I did not hear about how it went. And then we’re just basically at a day-to-day after today. I do not know if he will play tomorrow night or not but I don’t think it’s out of the question. But I’ll learn more on the bus ride to Sacramento after the game.”
The Celtics and Warriors tip off Tuesday before driving down to take on the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday. Both games are at 10 p.m. ET.
