LOS ANGELES — The Celtics have had a very nice start to their season, taking a best-in-the-East 11-2 record into Wednesday night’s game here against the Clippers.

But it’s certainly well within the realm of possibility that the roster could be different after the Feb. 6 trade deadline.

Size in general — and what that means for interior defense — would appear to be a problem when the Celts face bigger groups like Philadelphia, whom they lost to on opening night, and Milwaukee, whom they defeated a week later. Will the C’s need to be bigger to deal with those clubs in the crucible of the playoffs?

“I mean, if everybody’s healthy, I don’t feel like it’s so much of an issue,” said president of basketball operations Danny Ainge. “But, you know, with the injuries that we’ve had, I think you wish you had some bigger guys. But we’ve had a lot of success playing smaller, too. I mean, Grant (Williams) has done a good job even playing the 5.”

Ainge is no doubt open to making a move, and he has some good currency (a first round pick from Memphis, etc.) to use in the marketplace. But he made it clear he won’t upset what’s here now just to get any tall person.

“It’s always about who,” he said. “It’s not, like, how tall they are. It’s not like you can just go find any 7-foot guy and put him out there and all of a sudden you’re going to be better. It depends on who that is and whether they’re better than Marcus Smart guarding the center.

“So I don’t worry so much about that. I mean, obviously we have stars at every other position and we really don’t have stars at our big positions. So everybody thinks that that’s what we need to do, but it all depends on who that is.”

Smart plays

Smart was back in the lineup Wednesday after spraining his right ankle in the fourth quarter of Monday’s win in Phoenix. He pronounced himself good to go before the Celts’ morning shootaround at Staples Center.

“Ankle’s feeling fine,” Smart said. “You know, a little soreness, but we tested it — running, jumping, cutting, everything came out OK. It felt great, sooooo …”

Before he could get out another word, Jaylen Brown leaned in: “Man, he a’ight.”

Smart laughed. “Yeah, what Jaylen said.

“Yes, I do expect to play tonight and the rest of the trip,” he continued. “Obviously if something else comes up, that might change. But as of right now, I’m in play.”

As for whether the Celts going against powers like the Clippers and Nuggets (Friday) factored in, Smart said, “That was really actually one of the main reasons, because of who we are playing. And me being the competitor that I am, you know, I want to be out there. Obviously if it was serious enough, obviously I’d shut it down because it is so early, but, like I said, it’s not as serious. It’s a minor sprain, but nothing crazy, so I’m able to still play, and that’s what I want to do.”

There would seem to be a danger to Smart with the way he pushes himself to come back quickly after sustaining injuries (e.g. coming back from thumb surgery to take part in the 2018 playoffs), but he’s not buying it.

“No,” he said. “I mean, I was just born and raised and always a true believer of whatever is meant to happen on the court is going to happen, you know? When you start going out there and trying to prevent it from happening or prevent an injury or anything like that, that’s when you get injured. Instead of just going out there and playing and let whatever happens happen.”

Said Brad Stevens, “First of all, he’s tough and everybody knows he’s tough. But secondly, we’re not going to put him out there if we thought. … if there’s risk there. Our guys feel good about (it). It didn’t swell, looks good. It may just be one of those lucky deals on a fall where it’s not as bad as it looks. But there’s no questioning Marcus’ toughness. But at the same time, we’re not just going to let him go out and play if there’s any long-term ramifications.”

Shooters shoot

Grant Williams seemed a revelation of sorts when he stepped outside and hit five of nine 3-pointers over his last three preseason games (5-12 overall), but he hadn’t made any of his 16 regular season attempts entering the game against the Clippers.

Stevens has a simple directive for the rookie.

“Shoot,” he said. “Keep shooting when you’re open. He’ll be fine. You know, sometimes the lid just needs to come off. I was telling that story with (Aron) Baynes the other night. I think he was 0 for 12 the one year, and then he hit a couple against Toronto and the lid was off. Once the lid comes off, you feel better about life. You know, the rim looks a little bit bigger. Grant’s not going to be a volume shooter anyway, so I’m not worried about him just chucking until he makes one. He’s going to shoot the right ones, and he’ll be fine.”