Atlantic notes: Tatum, Raptors, McCain, Sixers

Celtics star Jayson Tatum will be out for Thursday’s matchup against Detroit due to right patellar tendinopathy, per Souichi Terada of MassLive.com. Tatum, who also missed his first game of the season last week against the Pistons, was initially listed as questionable before being ruled out.

As Terada writes, Boston is likely just being cautious with the All-NBA forward since the team doesn’t play again until Sunday, giving Tatum a full week of rest. Sam Hauser (right adductor trunk) and Jaden Springer (illness) will also miss Thursday’s competition.

Here are a few more notes from the Atlantic:

• Head coach Darko Rajakovic is understandably disappointed that Birds of prey have yet to see all their young core players share the field together this season, writes Eric Koreen of The Athletic. Scottie Barnes expected to miss several weeks after suffering a right ankle sprain, and Immanuel Quickley remains on the sidelines with a left elbow injury. “That would be great,” Rajakovic said of seeing the core together. “We haven’t had our core and main guys in their roles pretty much all season. And what it does at the same time, it doesn’t allow us to look (at) what our bench would look like when we have those guys in their roles. … I remain hopeful that sooner rather than later we will have this situation to see on our full roster what that looks like. And I think it will be great for guys to have the chemistry of playing together, (growing) together and giving us a lot of answers.”
• With Sixes approaching full strength, what is Jared McCain‘s ideal role? Head coach Nick nurse hasn’t made a decision, but the reigning Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month should get plenty of opportunities either way, which Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer relays. “I’m still not quite sure” said the nurse. “But I think right now it looks like he’s kind of the early scorer off the bench of the two. For sure, we’ll play him a little at one. I could see it changing a little bit somewhere along the way. But (I) really liked him.”
• On Wednesday, the Sixes and the Philadelphia City Council continued to spar over the community benefits agreement portion of the proposal for a new arena, report Sean Collins Walsh and Anna Orso of The Philadelphia Inquirer. Some council members wanted the team to increase its public offering of financing from $50MM to the $75-100MM range. But despite some opposition, the council on Thursday gave initial approval to the proposed plan, which includes $60MM in funding from the 76ers for the Community Services Agreement, according to The questioner. A team spokesman said the Sixers were undergoing last-minute changes to the deal.