Celtics Take 6-2 Start to Charlotte With Pritchard Day-to-Day After Eye Injury

Featured image: Spectrum Center in Charlotte, N.C., where the Celtics open a four-game road trip against the Hornets in NBA Cup group play Friday, Nov. 6, 2026 (file photo). Photo: Matthew D. Britt, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

Payton Pritchard left Wednesday night’s game with a right eye abrasion and is day-to-day as the Boston Celtics (6-2) prepare to open a four-game road trip against the Charlotte Hornets on Friday, Nov. 6, at 7 p.m. ET in NBA Cup group-stage play. The Celtics Pritchard injury update comes one night after Boston held off Milwaukee 109-102 at TD Garden without Jayson Tatum, who was rested, according to the Celtics’ Keys to the Game recap and 98.5 The Sports Hub.

How Pritchard was hurt, and Mazzulla’s update

Midway through the third quarter Wednesday, Milwaukee guard Ryan Rollins’ hand struck Pritchard in the head on the wing, 98.5 The Sports Hub reported. Pritchard grabbed his forehead, finished the defensive possession, then was subbed out and did not return. The team listed the injury as a right eye abrasion. Before exiting, Pritchard had 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting and five assists in 18 minutes.

“He’s OK,” head coach Joe Mazzulla said after the win, per 98.5. “I don’t know exactly what it is, but I think he got hit in the eye or hit in the head. But seems to be OK. We’ll check on him tomorrow.” FOX Sports’ Friday preview listed Pritchard as day-to-day with the eye injury, alongside Tatum (day-to-day, rest) and Devin Carter (out, illness). As of 11:30 a.m. ET Thursday, the league’s official NBA injury report still showed both Boston and Charlotte as not yet submitted for Friday’s game, so no formal designation had been filed.

Tatum’s rest night shifted the late-game load. Derrick White scored 11 of his season-high 24 points in the fourth quarter and added seven assists, while Paul George scored 25 with four steals, the Celtics’ Keys to the Game report said. Milwaukee erased a 22-point deficit and tied the game at 97 before Neemias Queta and White closed it out. Our Celtics-Bucks recap covers the full comeback and finish.

By the numbers: Boston’s 6-2 start into Cup play

Through eight games, Boston has wins over New York, Chicago (twice), Brooklyn, Orlando and Milwaukee, and losses at Detroit and Houston, per the ESPN Celtics schedule. The scoring chart below shows the 109-102 Bucks win as Boston’s sixth victory, coming after a 109-93 loss at Houston on the second night of a back-to-back.

Against Milwaukee, the Celtics outrebounded the Bucks 54-45, including a 19-11 edge on the offensive glass, and held Milwaukee to 14 first-quarter points — Boston’s best defensive quarter of the season, according to the Keys to the Game notes. White was 7-for-7 from the free-throw line in the fourth. Those details matter for Friday because Charlotte (3-6 entering the FOX preview) will see a Celtics group that has already won without its closer for a full night and without Pritchard for the final stretch of another.

FOX Sports listed the Hornets’ Grant Williams as day-to-day with a hamstring injury. Charlotte finished 44-38 last season; Boston went 56-26. Those 2025-26 season totals are background only — Friday is an NBA Cup group-stage game at Spectrum Center, tip 7 p.m. ET.

What Friday’s Hornets matchup means on the road trip

Friday starts a four-game road swing that also lists Milwaukee, Philadelphia and Toronto on the ESPN schedule after Charlotte. NBA Cup group points and Eastern Conference seeding both sit in the background of a 6-2 start. If Pritchard sits or is limited, White, George and the bench that already carried the Bucks win become the primary creation options until Tatum returns from rest to a full workload.

Carter remains out with an illness, the same designation that kept him inactive in earlier November games. Mazzulla’s next public update after Thursday’s medical checks will clarify whether Pritchard travels and plays. Tip times and TV for the full trip are on the Celtics schedule hub.

Sources

• NBA.com/Celtics: Keys to the Game — Celtics 109, Bucks 102 (Nov. 4, 2026)
• 98.5 The Sports Hub: Payton Pritchard suffers eye injury in Celtics win over Bucks
• FOX Sports: Hornets and Celtics meet Friday in NBA Cup group stage
• ESPN: Boston Celtics 2026-27 schedule and results
• NBA: Official Injury Report, Nov. 5, 2026, 11:30 a.m. ET

Additional sources

• Wikimedia Commons: Spectrum Center file photo (CC BY 2.0)