Jayson Tatum reportedly dealing with bone bruise, doubtful for Game 2 vs. Magic

“It just reminds you of what the playoffs are and the intensity that you play with."

Jayson Tatum suffered a wrist injury on Sunday against the Magic. (Barry Chin/Globe Staff)

April 22, 2025

3 minutes to read

Jayson Tatum tried to ease the concerns of Celtics fans after injuring his wrist during Boston’s Game 1 win over the Orlando Magic on Sunday night.

Despite favoring his wrist after taking a flagrant foul from Magic guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope in the fourth quarter, Tatum said he was fine postgame after having X-rays performed at TD Garden.

“It’s clean, it’s good,” Tatum told reporters of his wrist, adding: “I just landed on it. It was throbbing for a second. It kind of went away.”

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope was given a flagrant foul 1 for this play on Jayson Tatum. pic.twitter.com/g2xnIzkuTm
— ESPN (@espn) April 20, 2025

But even if the Celtics superstar forward finished Game 1 against Orlando, Boston might have to manage that wrist ailment moving forward in the early stages of the team’s playoff run.

The Celtics released their latest injury report on Tuesday evening ahead of Boston’ Game 2 rematch against Orlando on Wednesday night. The team tabbed Tatum as “doubtful” for the game due to a right distal radius bone bruise.

Tatum’s injury designation falls in line with a report from ESPN’s Shams Charania earlier on Tuesday, which noted that the 27-year-old forward underwent further testing even after his X-ray did not reveal any fracture.

“Jayson Tatum underwent an MRI on that right wrist in the last 24 hours,” Charania said. “He has been diagnosed with a bone bruise in his shooting wrist. It’s believed to be a pain tolerance injury. Something that the Celtics will be managing day-to-day.

“His status is somewhat up in the air for Game 2 on Wednesday. It’s very hard for a guy like Jayson Tatum to miss any period of time. He loves playing basketball. But that injury clearly might be something that lingers for a little bit.”

While the Celtics may not need Tatum in order to take down the Magic in this first-round series, a nagging wrist injury would be a sizable setback for a Boston team looking to win back-to-back championships.

Boston’s roster has already been impacted this season by bone bruises, as Jaylen Brown reportedly received painkilling injections in his right knee to treat a similar injury ahead of the postseason.

Brown looked no worse for wear in Game 1 against Orlando, but a banged-up Tatum could complicate things for Boston moving forward.

Despite Tatum’s reputation as a durable presence in Boston’s frontcourt, the All-NBA regular dealt with a wrist injury during the 2022 playoffs that impacted his shooting mechanics and hurt his play down the stretch en route to an eventual loss to the Warriors in the NBA Finals. He received a cortisone shot to treat that injury ahead of the 2023-24 season.

Tatum was not spotted during Tuesday’s media availability at the Auerbach Center, although Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla listed him as “day to day” with his wrist issue.

“He was able to do some stuff [at practice],” Mazzulla said. “Just sore after the game. It’s gotten a little better today. He’s going to go through some on-court work and go from there.”

Even though Tatum downplayed the severity of the injury on Sunday, his teammate, Al Hortford, was not pleased with Caldwell-Pope’s foul on Tatum as he was going up for a dunk.

“There was something extra,” Horford said of the foul on Tatum Tuesday. ‘There was a lot – it was the second or third time that especially KCP went at him in that way. … “It just reminds you of what the playoffs are and the intensity that you play with.

“We’re all competing. We’re playing hard. There’s a level to it. In the regular season, you probably don’t see it as consistent. In the playoffs, there’s a lot of it. That’s just a reminder.”