Celtics' Sullinger has foot injury, expected to miss extended time

The good news for the Boston Celtics is they acquired Isaiah Thomas at Thursday's trade deadline. The bad news is they seem to have lost power forward Jared Sullinger for a period of time due to a stress reaction in his left foot.

"He's going to be out a while," Celtics coach Brad Stevens said Thursday, after Sullinger was photographed sitting out practice while wearing a walking boot.

Despite some roster improvement geared toward the future, the Celtics are only a game-and-a-half out of the playoffs in the weak East, and Thursday's addition of Thomas bolsters their backcourt. Boston had earlier been linked to efforts to obtain Goran Dragic, but it seems Thomas, the other former Suns point guard, will do the trick - and is potentially a better fit alongside Marcus Smart.

Unfortunately, backcourt riches come at the expense of frontcourt thinness with Sullinger on the shelf. The Ohio State product is the Celts' leading rebounder, and since Jeff Green was traded away, their leading scorer.