Boston Celtics center Nikola Vucevic faces a potential end to his regular season after undergoing surgery to fix a fractured right ring finger.
The 35-year-old sustained the injury in the opening quarter of Friday night’s dominant 120-100 win over the Dallas Mavericks at home. Medical staff at New England Baptist Hospital in Boston performed the procedure on Saturday to stabilize the broken bone, according to team officials.
Team doctors will reassess Vucevic’s condition in three to four weeks, the Celtics announced. With the regular season concluding on April 12, the timeline puts his return in jeopardy. Boston currently sits at 42-21, holding the second seed in the Eastern Conference while trailing the Detroit Pistons by four games.
Since joining Boston from the Chicago Bulls in a February 5 trade, Vucevic has contributed 10.4 points and 7.2 rebounds per game across 12 appearances, including one starting assignment, while logging 21.7 minutes nightly.
The veteran big man earned All-Star honors twice during his career and has posted lifetime averages of 17.1 points, 10.4 rebounds, and 2.9 assists across 1,032 regular season contests. His NBA journey began with Philadelphia in 2011-12 before stops in Orlando, Chicago, and now Boston, with 957 career starts among his appearances.
