![\"Nikola](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2260303345_acfc22-e1775411739289.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Nikola Vucevic, Boston Celtics<\/p>\n
Nikola Vucevic<\/a> will return from injury when the Boston Celtics<\/a> face the Toronto Raptors<\/a> on Sunday, April 5.<\/p>\n The veteran big man has missed Boston\u2019s previous 14 games due to a fractured finger on his right hand. The Celtics have gone 10-4 in those games, while holding oppoents to 100 or less points on four occasions.<\/p>\n In his absence, Luka Garza<\/a> has stepped up, proving himself capable of anchoring the second unit\u2019s center position.<\/p>\n Vucevic joined the Celtics from the Chicago Bulls<\/a> at the Feb. 5 trade deadline. Anfernee Simons<\/a> went in the opposite direction, despite impressing during his short spell in the Celtics rotation.<\/p>\n Since teaming up with Boston, Vucevic is averaging 10.4 points, 7.2 rebounds and 1.8 assists, shooting 49.3% from 2-point range and 35.1% from deep.<\/p>\n It will be interesting to see whether Vucevic is kept on a minutes restriction against Toronto, or whether he will be available to play as many minutes as necessary. The Celtics have four talented big men under contract, including Neemias Queta<\/a>, Garza and rookie Amari Williams<\/a>.<\/p>\n Therefore, Mazzulla will have plenty of options if Vucevic is on a minutes restriction. The Celtics could also test out Jayson Tatum<\/a> at the five, if they\u2019re looking for some additional playmaking and ball-handling.<\/p>\n Boston Celtics\u2019 Vucevic Previously Had Surgery<\/p>\n Vucevic injured his finger during the Celtics March 6 win over the Dallas Mavericks<\/a>. He only saw one minute of playing time before his injury occurred.<\/p>\n According to ESPN\u2019s Jamal Collier, the veteran big man underwent surgery to stabilize his fracture. Boston then evaluated him a few weeks later.<\/p>\n \u201cCeltics\u00a0center\u00a0Nikola Vucevic had successful surgery to stabilize a fracture in his right ring finger, the team announced Saturday. Vucevic will be reevaluated in three to four weeks,\u201d\u00a0Jamal Collier reported at the time.<\/a> \u201cThe injury occurred early in Friday night\u2019s 120-100 win<\/a>\u00a0over the\u00a0Dallas Mavericks<\/a>, with Vucevic departing two minutes into the first quarter.\u201d<\/p>\n Fortunately for Vucevic, he will now have five regular-season games to try and ramp up before the postseason begins.<\/p>\n Celtics\u2019 Vucevic Has Been Nearing A Return<\/p>\n When speaking to the media on Wednesday, April 1, head coach Joe Mazzulla noted that Vucevic was nearing a return to the court.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s getting better, as you saw in the workout today,\u201d\u00a0Mazzulla said<\/a>. \u201cThe most important thing is that he feels 100%. When he\u2019s ready, he\u2019ll come back, and we just want him back when he\u2019s ready to go. He\u2019s going to help us \u2014 we obviously see the impact that he has on us as a player, especially last time we played Miami, he was huge.\u201d<\/p>\n Now that he\u2019s back in the rotation, Vucevic can begin trying to prove himself to Boston\u2019s coaching staff. After all, his current contract is set to expire at the end of the current season. If Vucevic wants to contend for a championship during the final years of his career, sticking with the Celtics is probably his best bet.<\/p>\n However, if he wants to earn another contract, not only will he need to stay healthy, but he\u2019ll also need to make a legitimate impact on the court. Fortunately for Vucevic, now is the perfect time to start impressing.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tAdam Taylor<\/a> is a basketball reporter covering the Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Lakers, Golden State Warriors, New York Knicks and Miami Heat for Heavy. He holds bylines for CelticsBlog, USA Today and Yardbarker. Adam also covers the WWE and AEW. He has a bachelor\u2019s degree in creative writing from Open University. More about Adam Taylor<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Celtics\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nikola Vucevic, Boston Celtics Nikola Vucevic will return from injury when the Boston Celtics face the Toronto Raptors…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":700008,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3766],"tags":[7,45,75,3798,46,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-700007","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boston-celtics","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-boston","10":"tag-boston-celtics","11":"tag-bostonceltics","12":"tag-celtics","13":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116353540109016110","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=700007"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700007\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/700008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=700007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=700007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=700007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}