Jaylen Brown has been downgraded to “out” for Sunday’s (March 17) Boston Celtics game against the Washington Wizards. He joins Kristaps Porzingis and Derrick White on the injury report, leaving Joe Mazzulla short of three starters against one of the Eastern Conference’s biggest strugglers.

According to the Celtics, Brown is nursing a right ankle sprain. Without the Georgia native in the rotation, Jayson Tatum will likely step into a more prominent role on offense, especially in the opening quarter, where Brown’s absence will undoubtedly be felt. Boston has a total of just 16 games remaining in their regular season schedule.

Given their commanding lead at the top of the Eastern Conference standings, we’ll likely see multiple games where starting rotation members sit out to gain additional rest.

With three players missing, the Celtics will need to be locked in and at their best in order to avoid a potential trap game against a Wizards team that recently beat the Miami Heat. 

Listen to the “Green With Envy” podcast on:

Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3DoLhYK

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3Oj4dhD

YouTube: https://bit.ly/3K8MbvY

Story originally appeared on Celtics Wire