Marcus Smart, the Boston Celtics guard, was suspended by the Heat for Friday's preseason finale in Miami. Smart missed the team's flight from Florida earlier this week. A source said to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.
Smart stated that they would keep the information in-house after Thursday's practice in Miami. "It's done. "We're excited to see the MSG game, however."
After Jaylen Brown's and Al Horford tested positive for COVID-19 respectively, the Celtics also had Smart, Jayson Tatum and Dennis Schroder as their seats. This was in Orlando for Wednesday's 103-102 defeat to the Magic. It was planned that the Celtics would play their regular players in close to normal minutes on Friday, before opening the regular season Wednesday at Madison Square Garden against Kemba Walker and his former teammate, the New York Knicks.
Ime Udoka, Celtics coach, said that it was internal. We've dealt with it. We hold Marcus to a high standard and he's not remorseful. He'll be out tomorrow night, as we've made it clear since Day 1. He is with us on this trip. You can look forward to moving past this growing and clearly adhering to the team rules.
"Marcus, one of our leaders, is someone we can expect a lot. He is able to understand that. We'll get on with our lives.
Smart signed a $77 million four-year extension to stay with the Celtics. This is his first time playing for the team since being drafted sixth in 2014. He set career-highs in assists (5.7), minutes (32.9), and points (13.1). After the Celtics traded Walker, Smart will be Boston's starting point-guard this season.
Smart and Payton Pritchard (who injured his nose Wednesday's game), are out Friday. Udoka will not be able to see his entire roster.
Udoka stated that while we won't be able to see all the lineups we wanted, we must move on. We've done the same with Jaylen and Al. We had a good practice and added new things tomorrow and for the coming week. It was a great experience and we will keep it going. Marcus and the others will then catch up with the guys when they return in the next week.
The Celtics believe Brown will be able to leave the NBA's safety and health protocols in time for them to face the Knicks. Horford's timeline is however much shorter.
