BOSTON — Jaylen Brown made it clear to the Boston Celtics staff that he wanted to return for a rivalry game against the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday night.
That won’t be the case.
Brown was ruled out of the game earlier in the day, but remains a possibility for the second night of their back-to-back against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday.
“He’s close,” Ime Udoka said pregame.
“We’re going to hold him back a little bit, myself and the medical staff. He really wanted to play tonight — let alone back home in Atlanta — but we feel he needs a little more time. He’s ramped it up over the last week or so. He’s not quite ready but he’ll be back soon.”
Brown hasn’t played since Nov. 4 against the Miami Heat, where he left the game in the third quarter with a hamstring injury.
He and Robert Williams will both be out against the Lakers, with top-off at 7:30 p.m. ET.
