Celtics guard Marcus Smart is expected to receive clearance to return to game action in late April, Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports tweets.
This is some much-needed good news for the snakebit Celtics, who will be without stars Gordon Hayward and Kyrie Irving during their playoff run. Hayward was lost during the first game of the season while Irving recently opted to have season-ending knee surgery.
Smart underwent surgery March 16th to repair the torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right thumb. He had the thumb reevaluated on Monday by specialists in New York and was given a timetable of six weeks from the surgery for a projected return to action, which would target his comeback around April 27th, Charania adds. That would mean he’d miss a few playoff games but might return later in the first round or early in the second round.
Smart has been cleared to begin light non-contact shooting. A good playoff showing by Smart could help his long-term prospects. The Celtics could make him a restricted free agent by extending a qualifying offer of $6MM this summer. Otherwise, he’ll be unrestricted.
Smart has appeared in 54 games this season, his fourth in the league. He’s averaging 10.2 PPG, 3.5 RPG and 4.8 APG in 29.9 MPG.
He might be able to return to game action in late April, BUT will the Celtics still have games to play by then? I don’t see the Celtics–minus Kyrie, Hayward, and Smart– beating the Heat, Bucks, or Wizards in a first round series.