Injury concerns for Jayson Tatum? Celtics star weighs in

The bumps and bruises of an NBA season have hit Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum hard over the last two games.

Tatum suffered a sprained left ankle on Sunday after Giannis Antetokounmpo ran the ball short, making him questionable for Tuesday night’s NBA Cup game against the Atlanta Hawks. Tatum played, but the injury aggravated late in Boston’s stunning 117-116 loss to the Hawks at TD Garden.

Tatum tweaked the area with 4:29 left in the fourth quarter after blocking Larry Nance Jr. at the rim. Tatum landed on Nance’s foot, bounced around in pain for a brief moment before making his way to the field and playing the rest of the game.

The five-time All-Star was clearly affected by the injury, but assured everyone that he wouldn’t miss any time in his next appearance.

“Yes, I will play (Wednesday),” Tatum told reporters as the Celtics took on the Brooklyn Nets for the second straight night, according to NBC Sports Boston. “It’s a little tender. There was about two minutes left in the game, so I just had to push through.”

However, the Celtics might have different ideas about playing Tatum, particularly regarding the way he acted after falling on Nance’s foot. Tatum moved gingerly around the court and played cautiously as he fired just one shot – a wide-open 3-pointer with Boson trailing by a point in the final seconds – and missed it in the final stretch. He also committed a turnover.

Tatum finished the game with 20 points on an inefficient 5-for-16 shooting from the field, hitting just 2 of 9 3-pointers. He contributed eight assists and six rebounds in 37 minutes.

Tatum doesn’t like sitting out games and will certainly do whatever it takes to be on the field against the Nets. But since it’s so early in the season, the Celtics may have to take that decision out of his hands this time.