BOSTON — The Celtics are coming to Rhode Island. Sort of.

Yesterday the Celtics announced that radio broadcasts of Boston’s games next season will be moved from WRKO to WEEI, meaning that Rhode Islanders will now get to hear the games via the station’s in-state FM channel, 103.7. Both WRKO and WEEI are owned by Entercom, but the switch gives Boston the chance to be part of the highest-rated sports-talk station in the country. WEEI also has FM stations in Worcester and Springfield, Mass.

“We had a relationship with Entercom on a macro-level,” Boston COO Rich Gotham said, noting that some Celts games have been broadcast on WEEI this season. “The real estate was available, so why not take it?"

Managing partner Wyc Grousbeck was careful to say that the team was not unhappy with the ratings or relationship it has with WRKO, which is political and current-events talk when the Celtics aren’t playing. In-game advertisers are happy as well, Grousbeck said.

Gotham and Grousbeck noted that interest in the Celtics hasn’t waned this season despite the team having just 21 wins going into last night’s game with Orlando — attendance is up, and ratings are up on both WRKO and FoxSports New England, which televises all of Boston’s games.

There are still details to be worked out, though it’s believed play-by-play man Sean Grande and color analyst Cedric Maxwell will remain. Grousbeck indicated that there will be some sort of pre-game show, and confirmed that tip-off will remain at 7:30 p.m. It had been pushed back from 7 p.m. before last season.

Olowokandi out for season

Boston officially announced that Michael Olowokandi will be out for the rest of the season with a broken bone in his left foot.

Doc Rivers said the break occured on the last play of practice on Sunday, when Olowokandi stepped on the foot of one of his teammates. Al Jefferson and Kendrick Perkins apparently heard a “pop” when Olowokandi was injured.

A former number one draft pick, Olowokandi came to Boston in last year’s trade with Minnesota that also brought Wally Szczerbiak to the Celts. His hefty contract expired after last season, and Olowokandi earned a non-guaranteed contract out of training camp. He was averaging 1.7 points and 2.0 rebounds in just under 10 minutes per game this season.

Also last night, Rivers said he doesn’t believe reserve forward Brian Scalabrine, nursing a strained left hamstring, would be back this season.

“I’d be surprised if we see him again. He doesn’t think so, but I do,” Rivers said. “He absolutely wants to play. [But] he can’t play now, and he won’t play in the next week or so.”

Boston’s season ends on April 18 against Detroit.

A lesson has been learned

Rivers, Danny Ainge, and Grousbeck all mentioned Boston’s recent $30,000 tampering fine, which was incurred when Ainge sat next to the mother of Texas star (and likely draft-bound) Kevin Durant. Ainge, speaking on WEEI, insisted that he had nothing more than small talk with Durant’s mother, but it was still ruled a no-no by NBA commissioner David Stern. Grousbeck, who was also on WEEI yesterday, refused to even talk about the potential top two available in the draft — Durant and Ohio State’s Greg Oden — even when they were not referred to by name.

Rivers, as is his way, joked about the situation. When a reporter asked him about Howard during his pre-game pow-wow, he immediately retorted, “Will I get tampering charges for this?” He also told a story about his days as coach in Orlando when Grant Hill, then with Detroit, scored 51 points against the Magic. Asked about the performance after the game, Rivers said, “I love Grant Hill,” and that statement drew him a call of warning from the league. “What was I supposed to say?” Rivers asked last night.

smanza@projo.com