Nikola Vučević left the Celtics’ game against the Mavericks early Friday night with a fractured finger on his right hand.
According to ESPN’s Jamal Collier and Shams Charania, Vučević is expected to undergo a procedure Saturday for the fracture and will miss approximately a month. The injury comes after the Celtics acquired the veteran big man from the Bulls at last month’s trade deadline to add frontcourt depth to support a potential championship push.
Those postseason hopes were boosted Friday with Jayson Tatum’s return from a torn Achilles, which he suffered in the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Knicks last season. Heading into the 2025–26 campaign, it was presumed this could be an off year for the Celtics without their best player. Joe Mazzulla’s team didn’t hear any of that noise, however, as Boston was second place in the East and 41–21 ahead of Tatum’s return. The strong season is in big part due to Jaylen Brown’s career year, plus strong years from his supporting cast of Payton Pritchard and Derrick White.
Boston’s thin frontcourt remained its biggest personnel question heading into the season. Fifth-year center Neemias Queta is in the midst of a career year himself as the starting big man, while Luka Garza has provided solid minutes off the bench. Still, though, Boston brought in some frontcourt juice at the deadline in the Vučević deal where president of basketball operations Brad Stevens sent out Anfernee Simons.
With the veteran big man slated to miss approximately a month, let’s take a look at what the injury means for the Celtics as we head into the final chunk of the regular season.
What does Nikola Vučević’s injury mean for the Celtics?
Vučević could presumably return around April 7 against the Hornets if he misses a full month and is able to recover within that time frame. That would leave four games left in the regular season, so he could return ahead of the playoffs if all goes to plan.
When Vučević arrived in Boston, it was presumed he would slide into the starting lineup, but that hasn’t been the case with the awesome season Queta is having. In 11 games as a Celtic, Vučević has averaged 11.4 points, 7.8 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game while shooting 35.1% from three. He has started just one game with Boston, which came on Monday as Queta was given a night off.
Queta has averaged 9.9 points, 8.8 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game in his first season as a starter. He was great in Friday night’s win over the Mavs with 16 points and 15 rebounds. Garza had 10 points in 18 minutes as Vučević was injured after two minutes of play.
The ill-timed injury puts more pressure on Garza compared to Queta, as the latter simply needs to keep doing what he’s doing. Garza has played minimal minutes since Vučević’s arrival, but he’s averaged 7.2 points and 4.2 rebounds in 15.5 minutes per game on the season.
And while Vučević isn’t the player he once was, he still creates an advantage as a floor-spacing big. It’s a valuable archetype in the NBA and luckily for Boston, Garza spaces the floor himself. He’s shooting 43.8% from three this year, albeit on minimal volume, and is a career 35.6% three-point shooter.
Adding Vučević allowed Garza to become a third big, which is likely his most suitable NBA role. But, he’s proved he can be a serviceable backup center that can stretch the floor—and Mazzulla will need to rely on him to keep things afloat when Queta is off the floor over the next month.
Foul trouble is a potential issue with just two available big men. Any further frontcourt injuries would put the Celtics in an even worse spot, too. Luckily, though, Vučević’s fractured ring finger doesn’t appear to be season-ending and he could return right in time for the playoffs. It’s a significant injury with how thin the frontcourt was the majority of the season, but the Queta-Garza combo just needs to do its thing for a little while longer. Plus, Tatum’s return brings the team a ton of juice even if he doesn’t help the issue on the front line.
More NBA on Sports Illustrated
Listen to SI’s NBA podcast, Open Floor, below or on Apple and Spotify. Watch the show on SI’s YouTube channel.