Boston — already without Robert Williams III, Tristan Thompson, and Grant Williams due to the league’s protocols — are now about to lose their biggest star for five games, at least.
Jayson Tatum is out and will have to quarantine for 10-14 days due to the league’s coronavirus health and safety protocols, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic. That time frame indicates Tatum has tested positive for the virus.
Boston Celtics All-NBA star Jayson Tatum is expected to enter quarantine and miss 10-to-14 days due to COVID-19 health and safety protocols, sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) January 9, 2021
This will cost Tatum at least five games, including against Miami Sunday. If this extends to 14 games, Tatum will miss a couple of key games against Philadelphia on the road.
Tatum is averaging 26.9 points and 7.1 rebounds a game for Boston this season, playing more than 34 minutes a night at All-Star, maybe All-NBA level.
The Celtics have been outscored by 9.1 points per 100 possessions when Tatum is on the bench this season, and while stat has a lot of noise — he plays with the starters, small sample size — it is very concerning.
The league will continue forward with Celtics games — that the league is playing the Philadelphia vs. Denver game shows how committed they are to having games — because this is what the owners and players signed up for. Nobody wanted to do the bubble again, not for an entire season. But to play the game with going home and travel to arenas meant this was destined to happen (we have seen with the NFL, MLB, and college sports). The Celtics are just getting hit hard.