Celtics coach Brad Stevens leaves team to visit ex-player battling cancer

Boston Celtics coach Brad Stevens traveled to Indiana to visit with a former Butler player who is battling cancer, and Stevens will miss Thursday’s game against the Chicago Bulls.

Boston media outlets reported the player is Andrew Smith, who has been battling cancer for two years.

“We ask that the private nature of this visit be respected,” the Celtics said in a statement.

Smith, who played for Stevens at Butler and played in the 2010 and 2011 Final Four, was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma in January 2014, and was readmitted to the hospital this week.

Smith’s family made a renewed request for prayer Wednesday.

His wife, Samantha, posted on Facebook and Twitter:

“Please pray. Pray so very hard. We need a miracle & Andrew asked me to have you all rally with us in prayer in this moment.”

Smith’s father, Curt, also asked on Twitter that people “pray for a miracle” for his son.

Smith's sister, Julie Smith Webster, posted on Facebook:

"Hey all, I hate to be cryptic but my brother Andrew has asked us to ask you all to pray. For healing, for peace, for understanding, for God to be made big in this battle. Drew doesn't ever ask for things but I'm so proud that in dark times he asks for Jesus. His faith is stunning. God's answers will be even more so."

Smith has been largely confined in recent weeks but attended the Dec. 19 game in which Butler defeated previously unbeaten Purdue 74-68 in the Crossroads Classic at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

Smith was released from the hospital in time to be home for Christmas. He was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in January 2014.

In an earlier blog, Samantha said Andrew was readmitted to the hospital following a Nov. 6 bone marrow transplant and that her husband’s condition had worsened. She said the only treatment option left was a clinical study.

Celtics assistant Jay Larranaga will guide the team in Stevens' absence. He told reporters in Chicago that Stevens' decision to miss the game is emblematic of his family-first attitude towards coaching and life in the NBA.

"He makes it very clear to our players on a day-to-day basis that family is the most important, that the things they’re able to do away from the court," Larranaga said. "I think our players do a great job of giving back to the community, and the impact that they’re able to have in those areas are so much more important than what happens on the court. So, it’s just another example of the person he is. "

David Woods writes for The Indianapolis Star, part of the Paste BN Network. Contributing: Michael Singer in Chicago.