UPDATE: Tatum and Hauser have been ruled out for Thursday’s matchup with the Pistons.
Due to a knee injury, Jayson Tatum has been listed as questionable for Thursday’s matchup with the Pistons in Boston. Sam Hauser (adductor) is doubtful, while Al Horford (toe) has been removed from the Celtics’ injury report after missing their last game.
Tatum has been listed as questionable for the Celtics’ past three games, but he has only ended up being inactive for one of these contests, which is his only absence so far this season and ironically came against the Pistons.
Tatum leads the Celtics with a 31.1% usage rate and 28.2 PPG this season. If the superstar is out, the Celtics will likely opt for a bigger starting five, with Horford starting alongside Kristaps Porzingis in the frontcourt. All the Celtics’ key players will see usage boosts if Tatum is sidelined, most notably Jaylen Brown, Derrick White and Porzingis.
With Tatum missing his first game of the season last Wednesday, Brown posted 28 points, nine assists and six rebounds, White notched a 14-point and 11-assist double-double and Porzingis finished with a season-high 26 points to go along with nine rebounds. With Tatum off the court this season, Porzingis’ usage has increased a team-high 5.9 percentage points. Meanwhile, Brown’s usage has risen 3.6 percentage points and his assist rate has skyrocketed a team-high 13.5 percentage points. White’s assist percentage has jumped 10.1 percentage points with no Tatum.
Payton Pritchard will also handle a much larger workload off the bench if Tatum is sidelined. With the forward out last Wednesday, Pritchard poured in 19 points across 34 minutes off the bench and his usage increases 2.6 percentage points with Tatum off the floor this season.
Evident from all this data, Tatum being inactive would be massive news and all of Brown, White, Porzingis and Pritchard. They would be excellent DFS targets and players to target for overs on the DraftKings Sportsbook if Tatum is absent.
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