Celtics’ Robert Williams Set to Make Season Debut Against Magic, per Report

The Boston big man will reportedly see his first action of the NBA season on Friday.

The Celtics will reportedly get a familiar face back on the court on Friday.

Robert Williams is slated to make his debut in the 2022 season when Boston faces the Magic, according to The Athletic’s Shams Charania. On Sept. 23, before the season, Williams elected to undergo arthroscopic surgery to remove the loose bodies and address swelling in his left knee, the same one he injured during the latter part of the 2021-22 season.

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski previously reported that Williams’s surgery was considered more of a “clean-up” procedure. At one point, Williams was slated to return to the hardwood in four to six weeks, but Boston later announced that he would resume basketball activities in eight to 12 weeks, putting him at a timetable of the middle of November or the middle of December as a projected return date.

Then, Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla announced on Dec. 4 that Williams was close to making a return before Wojnarowski reported that the big man would return for Boston’s previous game against the Lakers on Tuesday or Friday’s matchup.

The 25-year-old missed the end of the 2021-22 regular season and the start of the 2022 NBA playoffs. Williams returned to the Celtics’ Game 3 win against the Nets in the first round of the playoffs. During the postseason, Williams played in 17 of the Celtics’ 24 games, averaging 7.7 points, 6.2 rebounds and 2.2 blocks in 23.2 minutes per game.