Jayson Tatum is not going to make his season debut Sunday in opposition to the Philadelphia 76ers — and one other Celtics wing could possibly be sidelined, as nicely.
Baylor Scheierman fractured his left thumb throughout Saturday’s 148-111 win over the Brooklyn Nets, in line with the Celtics, and is listed as questionable for Sunday’s sport at TD Backyard.
Scheierman, who’s left-handed, suffered the harm in the course of the first half of the blowout victory. He collided with a Brooklyn participant throughout a quick break and was holding his thumb as he walked off the courtroom.
A member of Boston’s coaching employees taped the thumb throughout an ensuing timeout, and Scheierman remained within the sport, taking part in 22 minutes and tallying 10 factors on 3-of-3 taking pictures, six assists, three rebounds, one steal and no turnovers. Shortly after his harm, he whipped a cross-court, no-look hook cross to teammate Sam Hauser for an open 3-pointer.
This can be a hell of a cross from Scheierman pic.twitter.com/dyYXYjJasL
— Marc D’Amico (@Marc_DAmico) February 28, 2026
Few Celtics gamers have boosted their inventory extra this season than Scheierman, who grew to become a full-time starter in early February. During the last month, Boston has outscored opponents by 116 factors with the 2024 first-round draft choose on the ground, the second-best mark on the staff behind Derrick White’s plus-166.
Scheierman has proven large enchancment as a defender whereas additionally rising as one of many Celtics’ best rebounders. Throughout that very same stretch, the Creighton product ranks third amongst Celtics gamers in complete rebounds and fourth in assists whereas committing simply eight turnovers in 13 video games.
“I believe he’s simply develop into a greater participant,” head coach Joe Mazzulla stated on Feb. 11. “I believe one, it simply comes with time. Simply processing info, executing. I believe statistically, clearly you’ve seen an enormous leap in his rebounding. However I believe his defensive versatility — he’s guarded level guards; he’s guarded facilities — he has a transparent understanding of our defensive system and changes to that inside a sport, and he can guard totally different guys. Offensively, similar factor, however he has the power to type of learn the sport in actual time.”
There was hypothesis that Tatum may return from Achilles surgical procedure in Sunday’s sport, which was flexed into the primetime 8 p.m. ET slot on NBC. Boston’s famous person wing has been absolutely participating in 5-of-5 scrimmages with teammates, in line with a report from ESPN’s Shams Charania, and is co-producing a docuseries with NBC about his comeback.
Tatum has stated his first sport again could be at TD Backyard, so he is also unlikely to go well with up for Monday’s highway tilt in Milwaukee. The Celtics will host the Charlotte Hornets on Wednesday and the Dallas Mavericks on Friday earlier than starting a troublesome three-game highway journey by way of Cleveland, San Antonio and Oklahoma Metropolis.
