The Boston Celtics said on Sunday that guard Marcus Smart has a grade 1 strain of his left calf.
The Celtics said Smart will be off for two to three weeks, but a source told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski that there is optimism he could return in one to two weeks.
Smart underwent an MRI on Sunday after leaving Boston’s fourth-quarter loss of 96-95 to the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday with the injury.
Smart, who came into play with an average of 13.2 points and 6.0 assists – both career highlights – didn’t seem to land on anyone’s foot when he landed in front of the Boston bench after fighting for a rebound with 10 minutes, 31 seconds to go. the fourth quarter. But moments later, Smart grabbed the back of his left leg and sank to the floor in squirmy pain.
After Boston called timeout, Smart lay down for a while before finally being helped off the field and immediately returned to the Boston locker room by two Boston employees. He put no weight on his left leg at all while he was being helped.
Boston, which has lost two games in a row, is leaving Monday for a five-game West Coast trip that starts in San Francisco on Tuesday against the Golden State Warriors.
ESPN’s Tim Bontemps contributed to this report.