Jayson Tatum questionable for Hornets on Friday

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BOSTON – There’s still no guarantee that Jayson Tatum will play Friday night against the Charlotte Hornets. 

But the right ankle injury he suffered in the first half of Boston’s 107-96 win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday isn’t bad enough to where the team has ruled him out, either. 

The Boston Celtics are listing Tatum as questionable for Friday’s game against the Hornets which is actually a good sign. 

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That means whatever issues he had with the ankle, they are not serious enough to where the Celtics know for certain that he can’t play.

The same can’t be said for Al Horford, who is in the league’s concussion protocol program and has already been ruled out for Friday’s game against the Hornets. 

If Tatum does not play, the Celtics can go in a number of different ways as far as who would start in his place. 

Marcus Smart could be inserted into the starting lineup, which would slide Jaylen Brown over to small forward with Aron Baynes and Marcus Morris representing Boston’s two bigs with the first group. 

Celtics head coach Brad Stevens may decide to go with Daniel Theis who would play power forward, and have Morris start at small forward which is the position he played most of last season with the Detroit Pistons. 

All of the aforementioned players have seen action this season with the first group, the kind of experience that for the younger players like Theis could prove invaluable at some point later in the season if called upon to step in as an injury replacement in the starting lineup. 

Tatum, drafted by Boston with the third overall pick in last June’s NBA draft, has been among the most productive rookies in the NBA this season. 

He averages 13.5 points, 6.0 rebounds and 1.8 assists while shooting 50 percent from the field and 52.9 percent from 3-point range while averaging 29.8 minutes per game.

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