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Will Jaylen Brown’s hamstring injury keep him out of Celtics season opener?
"We’ll take it one day at a time. But as of now, I feel great.”
The Boston Celtics will officially open their 2025-26 season on Wednesday night when they welcome the 76ers to TD Garden.
But, it remains to be seen if Celtics star Jaylen Brown will be on the parquet floor as Boston’s new season officially tips off.
The All-Star wing left last week’s preseason finale against the Raptors with left hamstring tightness, potentially putting his availability in doubt for the start of regular-season play.
Speaking to the media on Monday, Brown said that he wasn’t “too concerned” about the injury, but said that nothing has been set in stone about his game status for Wednesday night.
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“We’ll see,” Brown said of his availability. “We’ll take it one day at a time. But as of now, I feel great.”
Brown shared that he was a full participant during Monday’s practice at the Auerbach Center, with Joe Mazzulla adding that the team is still waiting to see how he fares through the next few days before making any sort of ruling about his participation against the Sixers.
“Went through practice today. We’ll continue to see how he progresses,” Mazzulla said. “But he was able to go today.”
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The Celtics will have to rely heavily on Brown this season, given both Jayson Tatum’s extended rehab back from a torn Achilles tendon and the state of a Boston roster that lost key contributors like Kristaps Porzingis, Jrue Holiday, Al Horford, and Luke Kornet this summer.
But, a nagging hamstring issue will have to be monitored for Brown, especially with the Celtics opening the year that includes a stretch of seven games over 11 days from Oct. 22 – Nov. 1.
“It’s one of the funner times of the NBA season,” Brown said. “It’s like the first game, it’s just like the first day of school. Got your outfit lined up, the shoes lined up, you’re ready to go. So I’m looking forward to it.”
While the onus will fall on players like Brown, Derrick White, and Payton Pritchard to lead the way on a revamped Celtics roster, Brown believes that Mazzulla’s shifting approach this offseason — one that preaches more of a fast-paced approach on the court — should also pay dividends.
“I think Joe’s done a great job of setting the tone, the pace, the energy, the style that we need to survive and the style that we need to play every single night,” Brown said. “Obviously we’re less talented than we have been before, less experienced than we have been before, so this is the style of basketball we have to play.
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“We have to double down on it if we want to be successful. I think Joe has done a good job of that and he’s maybe been a little crazy, but a little crazy is needed at times. I’m OK with that. You’ve got to be a little crazy if you want to win or you want to outperform people’s expectations, so I think Joe has done a great job.”
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