The Boston Celtics are finally getting closer to full strength. After a four-game absence due to a left hip flexor strain, Celtics star Jaylen Brown is getting ready to make his return on Sunday against the Milwaukee Bucks.
It seems like Brown won't have to ease himself back into things at all. He will play on Sunday with no minutes restriction, according to Jay King of The Athletic.
“Joe Mazzulla said Jaylen Brown will have no minutes restriction,” King reported on X, formerly Twitter.
Brown has been very good for a Celtics team that has been humming so far this season. In six games, Brown is averaging nearly 26 points per game while adding seven rebounds. It has been a bit of an inefficient start from a shooting perspective for Brown, but that should turn around as the sample size increases.
The Celtics went 3-1 with Brown out of the lineup, losing a heartbreaker at home against the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday. They picked up wins over the Brooklyn Nets, the Atlanta Hawks and the Charlotte Hornets in the meantime.
Even while managing the injury to Brown and playing the first part of the season without Kristaps Porzingis, the Celtics are still comfortably in second in the Eastern Conference at 8-2. They are only behind the Cleveland Cavaliers, who are off to a blistering 11-0 start in 2024-25. The rest of the conference is lagging behind, as the Celtics already have a three-game lead over the New York Knicks in third place.
On the other side of Sunday's matchup are the floundering Milwaukee Bucks, who are off to about as bad of a start as possible this season. Playing without Khris Middleton, the Bucks are just 2-8 and have been outscored by five points per game so far, including a 22-point loss to the Knicks on Friday night. It's still early, but the Bucks are at risk of digging themselves too deep a hole early in the year.
Despite the struggles on the other side, the Celtics will be overjoyed to have Brown back in the lineup on Sunday.