Celtics thin after 3 frontcourt players ruled out

The Boston Celtics will be without virtually their entire frontcourt rotation for Friday night’s game against the Washington Wizards after announcing Grant Williams, Robert Williams and Tristan Thompson were all out due to the NBA’s Health and Safety Protocols.

Those three players — along with reserve guard Carsen Edwards — had all been listed as questionable by the Celtics on Thursday night for the same reason, a day after Boston finished off a four-game road trip with a win in Miami thanks to a last second tip-in by rookie Payton Pritchard.

The team said Edwards would be available to play against Washington, while the other three would not.

Boston did not practice Thursday and did not hold shootaround Friday. While the team didn’t announce a reason why the three big men will have to sit Friday, it appeared all of them were in a contact tracing situation like the one several Houston Rockets found themselves in earlier this season, based off the timeline of events.

With all three of them absent — and it remains unclear how long each of them won’t be able to play — Boston only has two healthy and available big men for Friday’s game — Daniel Theis and Tacko Fall.

Boston is still waiting to see if Jeff Teague, who missed the last two games with a sprained left ankle, will be able to play against Washington. He remains questionable.

Kemba Walker (knee) and Romeo Langford (wrist) remain out. Javonte Green, who missed Boston’s entire road trip because of the Health and Safety Protocols, will be available to play Friday.