The Boston Celtics have been dealt a significant setback, as they are on the verge of being forced to compete in the NBA’s play-in round.
The Celtics announced on Monday that All-Star forward Jaylen Brown will miss the rest of the 2020-21 season.
Brown suffered a torn scapholunate ligament in his left wrist this weekend, according to the team. He will have the torn ligament medically repaired later this week.
An NBA source tells SportsCenter 5’s Chris Gasper that Brown has been battling with and playing with a persistent wrist issue this season, but recent testing revealed that the ailment was much more serious and required season-ending surgery.
Brown had missed the Celtics’ last three games due to a right ankle injury sustained while colliding with teammate and fellow All-Star Jayson Tatum in the final seconds of a May 2 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers.
The 24-year-old Georgia native was having a career season for Boston and made his NBA All-Star Game debut.
Brown has appeared in 58 games for the Celtics this season and is the team’s second-leading scorer with a career-high average of 24.7 points per game. He also averages 6.0 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game, both career highs.
During the 2020-21 season, he also set career highs in field goal percentage (48.4), 3-point shooting % (39.7), and free throw percentage (76.4). Defensively, his averages of 1.2 steals and 0.6 blocks per game are also career highs.
The Celtics were 35-33 and ranked sixth in the NBA’s Eastern Conference heading into Monday. Only the top six teams in each conference advance to the playoffs, while teams ranked seventh through tenth must compete in a play-in round.
In the NBA play-in tournament, the seventh seed will face the eighth seed first. The victor of that game will be the seventh seed in the conference playoffs, while the loser will have to face the winner of the game between the ninth and tenth seeds. The victor of the third game earns the eighth seed in their respective conference.
The Celtics have four games left in the regular season, including a meeting against the Miami Heat on Tuesday. Miami defeated Boston in the 2020 Eastern Conference Finals and again on Sunday at TD Garden to take a two-game lead as the East’s No. 6 seed.
