The Boston Celtics are going to be without their defensive backstop in Robert Williams III for the early part of the upcoming NBA season. While the expectations has been that he'd likely miss the first couple of months, there are fears that point to him potentially being out for longer.
The latest rumblings from NBA insider Shams Charania indicate that Timelord's return could extend even beyond January, which was the back end of his return timeline.
“I'm told that Robert Williams underwent a PRP injection on Monday to continue to promote healing in that injured knee. … I'm told his hope is some time in December or January, but it even could be later than that. The Celtics are going to be very cautious,” said Shams.”
It would certainly be a huge blow for the Celtics not to have their key defensive big man on the floor for the first half of the season with just a 36-year-old Al Horford being tasked to soak of the minutes. But Boston's playing the long game with an eye toward the playoffs which, per Shams, Robert Williams would be playing in if they were today. Definitely a good sign that the team is just staying on the safe side.
“If it was the playoffs right now, he probably would play. But as of right now, Robert Williams is out indefinitely and hopefully back in the second half of the season.”
According to @ShamsCharania on #RunItBack this morning, #Celtics big man Robert Williams recently underwent a PRP procedure in his knee and could return in the second half of the season pic.twitter.com/rSb7EPsWP2
— FanDuel TV (@FanDuelTV) October 18, 2022
A different report, however, from Celtics insider Keith Smith indicates that the expectation hasn't change per a source from the team.
"No change" is what a source told @celticsblog on the timetable for Robert Williams' return.
Williams is still expected back sometime around the start of the 2023 calendar year.
— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) October 18, 2022
At the end of the day, a couple of weeks difference in Robert Williams' return would be inconsequential. What matters is he'll be as close to 100 percent as possible once he takes the court again as the Celtics try to get back to the NBA Finals.
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