SATURDAY, 8:30pm: The Celtics have officially confirmed that Wallace is done for the rest of the season, writes Royce Young of CBSSports.com. Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com tweets that Wallace could have surgery as early as Tuesday.
1:34pm: Wallace has given thought to playing through his injuries, though Ainge thinks he’ll opt for surgery, tweets Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com.
12:50pm: Celtics president of Basketball Operations Danny Ainge confirms that Wallace is out for the season, as Washburn writes in a full story.
FRIDAY, 11:33am: Gerald Wallace has suffered a torn meniscus in his knee and is also dealing with bone spurs, injuries that are likely to keep him out for the rest of 2013/14, according to Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe (All Twitter links). Coach Brad Stevens says that the 13th year veteran will be out for an indefinite amount of time, but A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com seconds Washburn’s report, calling the return of Wallace “doubtful” (on Twitter). Wallace’s ailments add to a litany of maladies for the lottery-bound Celtics, who are also missing Vitor Faverani, Kelly Olynyk and Avery Bradley.
Wallace, 31, is by no means the player he once was, as witnessed by his career-low 10.1 PER this year. He’s nonetheless played a significant role in Boston’s rotation, averaging 24.4 minutes per game. The Celtics were unsuccessful in finding a taker before the trade deadline for his inflated contract, which pays him slightly more than $10.1MM each season through 2015/16. His injuries surely won’t help Boston have any more luck trying to trade him in the summer.
Boston added Chris Babb on a 10-day contract today, adding depth to its depleted roster to help make up for the loss of Wallace and others. Still, there’s little incentive for the Celtics to win, as they sit at 20-39, in 12th place in the Eastern Conference and seven games out of the final playoff spot.