Jayson Tatum and the Boston Celtics won 113-95 Monday night against the Sacramento Kings in the Golden 1 Center. This marks the sixth straight win for the Celtics and 11 wins in their last 12 games. Tatum led the way for Boston with 25 points, eight assists, and seven rebounds before spraining his ankle and leaving the contest.
Tatum was attempting a three-pointer in the third quarter when Kings three-time All-Star Domantas Sabonis entered his landing zone. Tatum inevitably landed on Sabonis' foot, rolling his ankle, and was helped off the court and back to the locker room. Sabonis was assessed a flagrant foul penalty one for the action.
The Celtics eventually announced Tatum suffered an ankle sprain and he never returned to the game. After that injury news, the Kings star offered his condolences to Tatum for what was an accidental act.
"I feel horrible," said Sabonis. "I've had a crazy month myself personally, and you never want that to happen, so I apologize."
Domantas Sabonis apologizes for his flagrant foul that hurt Jayson Tatum. pic.twitter.com/qAoasJGcQ3
— Matt George (@MattGeorgeSAC) March 25, 2025
Despite his apology, Sabonis has been facing backlash on social media, with one big account on X sarcastically calling him out.
"I'm shocked Sabonis would do something like this," warriorsworld posted, tallying over 430,000 views.
I'm shocked Sabonis would do something like this https://t.co/PSQMeqYHcb
— warriorsworld (@warriorsworld) March 25, 2025
"This dude is a dirty player," one fan commented. "He always likes to jump into players landing space. He did that to Steph and he nearly rolled his ankle. League needs to fine players who do this!"
"This dude been dirty since day 1," a fan added. "Remember the close outs he did on Steph and was called no foul every single time LMAOOOOOOOO"
The good news for Boston is that Tatum has since been upgraded to questionable for Wednesday's game against the Phoenix Suns.
Injury Report update:
Jayson Tatum (left ankle sprain) - QUESTIONABLE https://t.co/eBjtO92yiP
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) March 26, 2025
Sabonis injured his own ankle back on March 17 against the Memphis Grizzlies when he mistakenly stepped on the foot of Grizzlies guard Jaylen Wells while driving to the basket. Monday's game against Boston was his first game back since the injury.
Tatum has missed just six games out of Boston's 72 played so far this season, but no team wants to lose their superstar right before the playoffs. The Celtics have inched closer to the Cleveland Cavaliers for the first seed in the Eastern Conference as they sit just 4.5 games back.
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This story was originally published March 26, 2025 at 5:09 PM.