How Kings Big Man Explained Play That Injured Jayson Tatum

Everyone will have an opinion on Monday night’s play that injured Jayson Tatum, but Domantas Sabonis insists he wasn’t trying to hurt the Celtics star.

It sounds like Boston might have dodged the biggest bullet with its franchise superstar. Tatum rolled his ankle during the Celtics’ win over the Sacramento Kings and left the game after a scary moment. Sabonis was the culprit, getting his foot underneath Tatum on a closeout to contest Tatum’s jump shot.

Sabonis earned a Flagrant 1 for the play, but he publicly apologized after the game, claiming he didn’t mean to hurt Tatum.

“I feel horrible,” Sabonis told reporters, as seen in a video shared by ABC 10 reporter Matt George. “I’ve had a crazy month myself, personally, and you never want that to happen, so I apologize.”

There are a handful of these sorts of plays every year, and it’s something that always sparks debate when it happens. At worst, it’s a dirty play, and even at best, the fluke play does involve some recklessness from the offending party. Either way, Sabonis sounds contrite for putting Tatum in that spot.

The good news for the Celtics is Tatum himself believes he’ll be OK with a month left (10 games) before Boston defends its title in the NBA playoffs.