Marcus Smart is expected to miss at least two weeks with a lower left leg injury.

Smart will not need surgery.

Smart suffered the injury when he collided with Thomas Robinson on Friday.

Smart left the game and underwent an MRI and did not travel on this current road trip.

“They’ve gone and taken a bunch of images of it; they’ve wanted to make sure,” Stevens said.

“They’ve actually asked for second opinions on it, because it’s a really unique injury. But it’s not a long-term thing, and it’s not a huge issue. They just want to make sure that everything is fully healed before he comes back.”

The Boston Celtics have recalled guard Terry Rozier and guard/forward James Young from the Maine Red Claws of the NBA Development League.

Terry Rozier tallied 16 points on 5-10 (.500) shooting from the field, three rebounds and a game-high eight assists in 31 minutes in the Red Claws’ 112-93 victory over the Raptors 905 on November 20. Rozier has played in three matchups for Maine this season and is averaging 23.3 points, 6.7 rebounds, 7.3 assists and 1.0 steal in 33.8 minutes per game.

Also in the win over the Raptors 905, James Young recorded a double-double with a game-high 26 points, a game-high 15 rebounds, four assists and two steals in 31 minutes. Young is averaging 20.0 points, 6.8 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.8 steals in 32.7 minutes per game over four contests with Maine this season.

Danny Ainge immediately reached out to Kevin McHale following his dismissal from the Houston Rockets about a role with the Boston Celtics.

"I've always tried to get Kevin to come work with me and work with my big guys," Ainge told the Boston Herald. "I told Kevin that today. ... We've got a spot for him. I know we could figure something out for him in some capacity, but I think he's just in a wait-and-see mode.

"He appreciated me reaching out to him, but I think he's just going to lay low. He's probably got bigger and better things to do -- or more relaxing things to do."

The Dallas Mavericks also have interest in hiring McHale, who had him on payroll as a consultant in training camp in 2009.

"Maybe when the dust settles, I can get him out to teach the 'slippery eel' to Kelly [Olynyk] and Sully [Jared Sullinger] and Amir [Johnson]," Ainge told the Herald.

With all of the Boston Celtics' draft picks, Danny Ainge is more liberally using the D-League for players to get experience.

“What I don’t want to have happen when we draft a player is for my coaching staff to have such a burden of trying to win, trying to make the playoffs, trying to win games and making judgments on their young players who can’t help them win,” Ainge said.

“We’ve seen many, many franchises give up on players because winning was a precedent over developing players.”

With potentially three more first round picks coming to Boston next summer, the Celtics want to establish a foundation in which their younger players can develop without the pressure of having to perform.

The Boston Celtics have assigned guard Terry Rozier to the Maine Red Claws of the NBA Development League.

Rozier, a 6’2" guard, was selected with the 16th overall pick by the Celtics in the 2015 NBA Draft. He made his NBA debut against the Philadelphia 76ers on October 28, 2015, and is averaging 1.8 points and 1.6 rebounds in 8.8 minutes per game over five contests with the team this year.

Tyler Zeller was a starter for the Boston Celtics last season but he has only played sparingly so far in 15-16.

The Celtics added several frontcourt pieces this past offseason in the likes of Amir Johnson and David Lee, while Jared Sullinger has been Boston's best big this season so far.

"Tyler's a really good player," Stevens said. "We just have a lot of bigs. I don't know how else to say it. We haven't shot it great so you want to play some guys that can stretch the floor and be guarded when the floor is stretched. And that leaves at least one person out."

Zeller will be a restricted free agent in the offseason.

"And I don't know that it will always be Tyler," Stevens said. "In fact, I see him playing a huge role for our team and he knows that. But nonetheless it's really hard to deal with. But we've won three of the last four games and he hasn't played as much. But he'll help us win three of four in some other stretch, and he'll play a lot."

Danny Ainge confirmed that the Boston Celtics never offered Rajon Rondo a five-year, $70 million extension prior to trading him last December.

A report from Yahoo! Sports this week indicated that the offer was made to Rondo.

"No, that's not the correct number," he said. "We wouldn't even be able to do that under the Collective Bargaining Agreement. I'm not sure where those numbers came from, but we would not be able to do that."

A shorter deal was offered by the Celtics.

"It was more like a two-year extension," said Ainge. "It would've been for a percentage of what he was making, so probably in the $11-$13 million range."

Rondo eventually signed with the Sacramento Kings on a one-year, $9.5 million deal.

Gregg Popovich has an unusual bond with Brad Stevens.

Stevens often gushes about how the San Antonio Spurs run their franchise.

"I really respect what he does. I'll still watch his Butler tape, trying to learn some stuff he did there, to be honest with you," Popovich said of Stevens after Sunday's game. "I really respect the hell out of him. He's a really fine young coach, great demeanor. His team executes really well, and they're just going to keep getting better. So I enjoy him."

"Obviously great coaching, great players, great system, great way of playing, complete buy-in, and a willingness to sacrifice across the board," Stevens said. "All of those things stand out and what makes them great is they've got all that. Take away any part of that and it wouldn't be as good as it is. It's obviously been special to watch from afar."