Marcus Smart’s return sport in Boston must wait a 12 months.
The former Celtics guard, who was traded to the Grizzlies final summer season, will miss a minimum of six weeks after struggling a extreme damage to his proper ring finger, the workforce introduced on Thursday. Under that timeline, Smart will miss the Feb. 4 matchup between the Grizzlies and Celtics at TD Garden.
Smart was identified with a rupture of the proximal interphalangeal joint central. He suffered the damage throughout the third quarter of the Grizzlies’ win over the Mavericks on Tuesday evening.
The damage continued a tough first season for Smart in Memphis, the place he missed 17 video games earlier this season because of a foot damage, together with the primary matchup in opposition to the Celtics in November. He returned to play 9 video games earlier than the finger damage. He was averaging 14.5 factors and 4.3 assists per sport for the Grizzlies, who’ve a 14-23 document and in addition misplaced star guard Ja Morant to a season-ending damage earlier this week.
Smart performed 9 seasons in Boston, which included a run to the 2022 NBA Finals as he grew to become a fixture of the franchise earlier than being shockingly traded in a three-team deal that despatched Kristaps Porzingis to the Celtics final June. His return to Boston in three weeks was anticipated to be an emotional, although it’s nonetheless actually potential he travels with the Grizzlies for that sport and continues to be honored by his former workforce.
Source: www.bostonherald.com