The Boston Celtics have been riddled with injuries of late. Both Jaylen Brown and Al Horford were placed on the league-mandated concussion protocol in the past two months, and reserve center Daniel Theis has also been ruled out for the season with a knee injury. But the biggest blow, of course, came when the team announced that Kyrie Irving would miss the remainder of the season and the playoffs after undergoing surgery to repair a nagging knee injury.
To make matters worse, the Celtics’ best defender, Marcus Smart, has missed nearly two months after tearing a tendon in his thumb, a scenario that reportedly rendered the organization uncertain about whether he’d return at all this season. However, it appears that Smart’s return could potentially happen this year.
According to Shams Charania of Yahoo! Sports, Smart got his injury reevaluated and is expected to get the green light to come back before the end of the month.
Sources: Celtics guard Marcus Smart had reevaluation on torn right UCL Monday in New York and is expected to receive clearance to return to game action at six-week mark of surgery (April 27). Smart has been cleared to start light non-contact shooting.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) April 9, 2018
Immediately after Gordon Hayward’s freak injury on opening night, the Celtics were viewed as a team with an uphill battle to compete for a championship this season, or even the Eastern Conference crown. While they competed valiantly this year, Kyrie’s injury likely sealed their fate. But Boston can still make some noise in the postseason as they head into the playoffs with the No. 2 seed, which is currently projected to give them a first-round matchup against a talented-but-inconsistent Bucks squad.
It’s hard to know if Smart will be able to return at any point in the first round of the postseason with this timetable, but if the Celtics are still alive, he will give them a much-needed weapon going into the conference semifinals.
