Tatum positive for COVID-19
Celtics will be undermanned vs. Heat tonight at TD Garden
Jayson Tatum’s continued rise as one of the NBA’s great young talents is about to take a momentary detour, as the Celtics’ attempt to stay healthy follows suit.
A league source told the Herald that Tatum tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday morning, but was asymptomatic. By last night Tatum was awaiting the results of a second “confirmation” test to determine whether he would be required to begin a 10- to 14-day quarantine.
The Celtics officially listed Tatum as “doubtful” for tonight’s game against Miami due to health and safety protocols. Jaylen Brown, Javonte Green and Semi Ojeleye were listed as questionable for the same reason, possibly for contact tracing purposes in the event of a second positive Tatum test.
According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, Tatum is expected to go into quarantine for 10 to 14 days. Charania also reported that Washington’s Bradley Beal, Tatum’s close friend, missed last night’s game against the Heat because of close contact with Tatum Friday night in Boston.
This all came one day after Robert Williams tested positive and entered the protocol along with Grant Williams and Tristan Thompson, who both sat next to the Celtics center on the team bench in Miami Wednesday night for a minimum of 15 minutes.
Williams, like Tatum, was asymptomatic at the time of his test, and Grant Williams and Thompson were quarantined for contact tracing purposes.
Should Tatum’s second test also come back positive, and Brown, Ojeleye and Green are sent into contact tracing, the Celtics will go into tonight’s game against the Heat with the league minimum of eight players — Marcus Smart, Daniel Theis, rookie Payton Pritchard, Jeff Teague, Tacko Fall, Carsen Edwards, Tremont Waters and rookie Aaron Nesmith.
Though Kemba Walker is expected to return soon from a kneestrengthening program, he’s more likely to come back later this week, after practicing. Romeo Langford, recovering from wrist surgery, is expected back later this month.
But in the meantime the Celtics will put their four-game winning streak on the line yet again in a shorthanded state, with Theis and Fall — one of the heroes of Friday’s win over Washington — the only available big men.
But the Celtics are merely part of a growing list of NBA teams going through COVID distress.
The Philadelphia 76ers lost to Denver Saturday after losing five players to health and safety protocols, including one (Seth Curry) who had tested positive for COVID19. Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons, though cleared for the game, sat out due to last-minute injuries.
Dallas had to leave three players quarantined in Denver following a Thursday game against the Nuggets.
Should the likes of Tatum, Brown and Ojeleye miss tonight’s game, the Celtics will find themselves in the same situation as Philadelphia — putting strain on a limited lineup. Four Sixers played over 35 minutes on Saturday.
Coach Doc Rivers lamented the burden placed on teams by COVID before the game.
“I trust the league and I trust the doctors as far as health-wise,” Rivers said before the game. “I’m more concerned with health on the floor. We’re gonna play players that haven’t played a lot of minutes.
“And that’s not just for today, that’s long-term health with the accumulation of games. The numbers we want to stay away from with our players. So I’m actually more concerned with that than I am, actually, about COVID. And I am concerned about COVID. I think everybody is. The league is and everyone else is as well. So yeah, it’s a lot of stuff going on.”