Romeo Langford has torn wrist ligaments, leaving his availability unclear for postseason

The Celtics were mere minutes away from entering the postseason with a clean slate of health. Alas, a hard fall by Romeo Langford in Thursday’s seeding game finale against the Wizards has put his availability for the postseason into question.

Brad Stevens said Langford suffered torn ligaments in his right wrist (shooting hand) during the Wizards game after the Celtics wrapped up practice on Saturday afternoon. Langford played through the injury initially in the second half of the loss against Washington but was pulled in the fourth quarter and ruled out for the rest of the game with what was called a sprained right wrist at the time.

While it sounds like the torn ligaments will eventually need to be fixed via surgery, the Celtics' medical staff is still debating whether Langford will be able to play through the injury for the postseason, according to head coach.

“He will probably have to do something about that at some time,” Stevens said of the wrist injury. “But we’re still going through the process of determining next step with him. I don’t know if that means that, down the road, he’ll have to take time off, if that means he’ll have to have it worked on, but they’re determining and we’re still in the process of determining how he feels and whether or not he’ll be available or not. I’d say it’s questionable.”

The situation is a bad break for the snake-bitten No. 14 overall pick who sat out much of the first half of the season after suffering from various ankle and knee injuries. He emerged in January as a strong wing defender for a rookie and appeared to be on the fringe of the C’s wing rotation for the postseason after a couple strong performances in Orlando. At the least, he was going to be useful bench depth in case of an injury to a starter, but that role is now uncertain.

“That stinks,” Stevens said of his numerous injuries during this year. “It’s always been significant enough that it’s been at least a portion of time, not just a day here or there. So that stinks. I feel for him. He is a hard-working guy, he’s a tough guy and I think he’s got a bright, bright future. Again, I hope that he’s able to play, but that’s going to be totally dependent on our doctors and dependent on his probable pain. So he’s going to have to test that and get used to it and see what it feels like. If not, then we’ll have him back when we have him back.”

BSJ Analysis

According to BSJ’s medical expert Dr. Jessica Flynn, with an injury to wrist ligaments, it will likely come down to pain tolerance if Langford and the medical staff decides he will be able to play this postseason. The 20-year-old has shown a willingness to play through pain before as he suited up for his entire freshman year at Indiana while dealing with torn ligaments in his shooting thumb. He underwent surgery after the season for that injury which kept him out of Celtics summer league as a rookie.

Based on his recent rotations in Orlando, Stevens probably did not intend to play Langford much/at all against the Sixers. Marcus Smart and Brad Wanamaker have been serving as dual ballhandlers off the bench with the Celtics rotating their starting wings for big minutes with the second unit, limiting the need for Langford. The right wrist injury will make Langford likely even more of a non-factor from a shooting standpoint from the perimeter if he is able to play, something Stevens will have to consider if he calls his number.

However, against a Sixers and Raptors team that has lots of 3-point shooting on the wing, Langford is one of Boston’s speedier perimeter options off the bench. He has good length and recovery speed when guys drive past him after close-outs, a bit more than someone like Semi Ojeleye. For that reason, the medical staff is probably exploring ways to keep him available for a potentially deep playoff run for Boston. A couple of other questions/topics to consider in the wake of the injury.

1. Who gets a chance if Langford can’t go? The two main guys to watch will be Ojeleye and Javonte Green. Ojeleye will get the first call due to his experience in the system but he struggles at times with speedy wings. If an injury pops up and Stevens has to go deeper into his bench, Green is the next man up from a positional standpoint behind Langford. He does not have Langford’s strong defensive instincts but he can pressure the ball and hang with speedy guards around screens if called upon.

2. Langford’s injury will come into greater focus once Gordon Hayward leaves the bubble: The Celtics will probably stick with an 8.5-man rotation against the Sixers with an outside chance of Ojeleye grabbing some minutes on the wing now instead of Langford. However, if/when the Celtics are still playing and Gordon Hayward needs to depart Orlando for the birth of his son in September, that could be 2-3 games the C’s are without one of their top wings. Langford was one of the top candidates to soak up a lot of the 35 minutes that would have been up for grabs with Hayward away but this injury could put Stevens into a bigger bind with matching up with the Raptors or Bucks for those contests. The Celtics will probably have a better sense in a few weeks whether they can realistically expect anything out of Langford with the injury (if he does put off surgery) so there will be a greater onus on bench players like Ojeleye, Wanamaker, Green and Grant Williams to step up. Of course, the Celtics hope they get to the point of the postseason where Hayward’s absence even becomes an issue but this part of the depth chart is worth watching closely if it does.