Celtics big man Neemias Queta enjoyed a breakout year in an increased role in 2025/26, making 75 starts in the middle and averaging new career highs in points (10.2), rebounds (8.4), assists (1.7), and blocks (1.3) per game while finishing fourth in Most Improved Player voting. Still, center is considered a position Boston will look to upgrade this summer, sources tell Tim Bontemps and Brian Windhorst of ESPN.
“Can Queta get you through 82 (games)?” one Western Conference scout said to ESPN. “Yes, but can he patchwork it through the playoffs? I think he keeps getting better, but there’s a ceiling. They have to get a higher-level center if they want to be considered serious contenders.”
The question is how the Celtics might be able to acquire a starting-caliber center after having moved so many of their larger, most tradable contracts last offseason. While the team should have some form of mid-level exception available, it’s not easy to add an impact free agent with that exception, especially since there’s no guarantee Boston will have access to the full non-taxpayer version of the MLE.
Here are a few more items of interest from Bontemps and Windhorst:
- Given their cap/apron situation, the Cavaliers will be incentivized to negotiate a new multiyear deal with James Harden that lowers his cap hit for 2026/27 rather than simply having him pick up his $42.3MM player option, Bontemps and Windhorst observe. “(That is the) best path to get under the apron without materially salary dumping,” one Eastern Conference executive said. “The Cavs will pay him more than he could get in free agency. They’ll probably work something out.” Sources tell ESPN that Harden and Cavs head coach Kenny Atkinson have established a strong working relationship.
- Karl-Anthony Towns technically has two years left on his contract after this season, but 2027/28 is a player option, so the Knicks big man looks like a prime offseason extension candidate. A deal could hinge on how the rest of New York’s playoff run goes, but Towns had another All-Star season in 2025/26 and has been excellent so far in the postseason. “They’re probably in a spot with KAT that they should either extend him or look to trade him,” an Eastern Conference executive told ESPN. “If this playoff run convinces everyone this is a good fit, maybe they can get him to take a little discount off his max like (Jalen) Brunson did and help them keep the core together.”
- Earning an All-NBA spot this spring would make Jalen Duren eligible for a Rose Rule contract worth up to 30% of the salary cap (instead of 25%), but Bontemps and Windhorst suggest the Pistons will probably be reluctant to go that high for the All-Star center. One Western Conference executive who spoke to ESPN speculated that Duren might not even get a standard (25%) max deal, pointing to an average annual salary around $35MM as a figure that might work. “What’s a number that could leave both sides uncomfortable?” that exec said. “That might be what it takes to ultimately get a deal done.”
My understanding is
Jalen Duren may not get 25% of total team salary cap. That is $38 million per year
Not
Jalen Duren may not get 25% of max deal
Does that Western Conference executive not think that the Lakers or Bulls would be interested in Duren? As long as those two teams have enough cap space left to offer a max contract, Duren will have leverage.
They could’ve had Duren for much less.
You have to sign your players to long contracts If you believe in them.
OKC don’t mess around and sign their guys to long-term guaranteed deals, especially when they can get them on a team-friendly contract.
I liked Jabari Smith’s extension for this reason.
But ofc you have to sign the right player. P-Will and his 5 year guaranteed deal is an example of when it can go wrong.
But that’s what you get paid as a front office person. You should have more data and better opinion on your players than anyone in the world.
I don’t like this “We’ll let him go into his contract year and prove his worth”.
Now you’ll have Duren and Cade on huge contracts and little room to make other roster moves.
Next season, Shai will still be on a deal he signed in 2021. Anunoby will make more money than him.
KAT has always been in the extend or trade category this off season, and that remains the case. The only change up has been he’s now playing quite well.
Still, unless the NYK win it all, the season will end on a disappointing note, and that will the storyline (not how much better KAT and Brunson look together). It’s really as simple as there is no practical way to upgrade this roster if they extend KAT, even at a slight discount (that might be needed just to keep from going too far over the 2nd apron). It’s either: 1) extend KAT to run it back, or 2) trade KAT with a view toward upgrading the roster.
Towns will not be extended by the Knicks. There already been talk of them getting money taken off. Unless he takes a discount down i highly doubt they resign him. After his option year he will be almost 33 so on teh downside of his career.
I don’t think age or discounts really matter much here. He’s not even 31 yet, so his extension couldn’t go past his age 35 season. As a skilled C, not a big deal. His contract is fixed at 57 mm next season, and that number can’t be changed as long as he’s on the roster. If extended, that 57 mm would become part of a contract that can’t be moved until mid-season, not to mention that it comes with 3 more seasons – even if those are discounted, it’s hard to see those added years being attractive to a trade partner.
Bottom line is the NYK can’t reconfigure the roster around his contract, whether its extended with discounts in the out years or not. I assume he’ll agree to discounts if the NYK agree to extend, but the latter is the question. If not, he’ll be traded, probably taking back equally flawed players, but that’s another issue.
My comment is not about Knicks wanting to sign him to an extension. It is about how rumors start because a unknown source is quoted like its happening. Knicks have no worries because they can ride out his contract and decide when the time is right.