BOSTON — Jayson Tatum will start for the first time this season as he makes his debut against the Dallas Mavericks on Friday night. Tatum will start alongside Derrick White, Jaylen Brown, Sam Hauser, and Neemias Queta.
Baylor Scheierman, who has been the Celtics’ starter over the past few weeks, will move to the bench.
Joe Mazzulla confirmed that Tatum will start pregame, though he normally wouldn’t unveil that kind
of information beforehand.
“Don’t ever say I don’t do anything nice for you guys,” Mazzulla said with a half-smile, insinuating it was a rare occasion in which he was willing to share information with reporters before game time.
Mazzulla did not say whether Tatum would be on a minutes restriction.
Tatum has previously shared the floor with all four other starters, although there will be an inevitable adjustment period to playing with this current iteration of the Celtics.
”I have no idea what it’s gonna look like,” said Derrick White on Thursday afternoon. “He hasn’t played in a really long time, and we all hope it’s the best thing in the world — but there’s gonna be ups, and there’s gonna be downs.”
Jaylen Brown addressed Jayson Tatum’s return for the first time
Brown confirmed Tatum was returning on Friday in an appearance on the “Cousins with Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady” Podcast.
“First, I want to commend JT for taking that notion and be like I want to come back,” Brown said. “Him even wanting to come back is an unselfish act, putting potentially his body on the line in order for us to accomplish something great. We both are on the same page; we had a good talk today about what we want. We talked about just the mindset that we both want to come back and add to winning.”
“We have a great understanding of what it means to win,” Brown said. “We’ve won for a long time. We know how to find success. We’re on the same page.”
Celtics-Mavericks tips off at 7pm ET.
