After winning their 18th title two years ago, the Celtics decided to run back the same core roster to try to defend their title in 2024/25, operating over the restrictive second tax apron to do so. A mysterious ailment caused Kristaps Porzingis' significant issues in the second half of that campaign, but Boston still entered last year's playoffs with an excellent 61-21 record and the team was considered to be on a short list of legitimate contenders.
After beating Orlando in a physical first-round matchup, the Celtics were upset by the 51-31 Knicks in a six-game second-round series. Disaster struck in Game 4, when star forward Jayson Tatum tore his Achilles tendon in the fourth quarter of a game Boston ultimately lost to fall behind 3-1 in the series.
Boston's unwillingness to be further hamstrung by the second apron led to the moves president of basketball operations Brad Stevens made last summer, when he traded Jrue Holiday's long-term deal for the expiring salary of Anfernee Simons (we'll circle back to him shortly) and sent Porzingis to Atlanta in a deal that brought back Georges Niang, who was subsequently flipped to Utah.
The cost-cutting maneuvers, combined with Tatum's injury, contributed to an outside perception that the Celtics wouldn't necessarily be upset if 2025/26 ended up being a "gap year." They were projected to win 42.5 games by sportsbooks, yet they wound up going 56-26, far exceeding external expectations and earning Joe Mazzulla a Coach of the Year award.
Boston's season was highlighted by the play of Jaylen Brown, who thrived as the primary offensive option with Tatum sidelined; the emergence of Neemias Queta as a starting-caliber center; another strong season from Payton Pritchard; the heady two-way play of Derrick White, who was named first-team All-Defense but struggled throughout 2025/26 with his outside shot (32.7% after converting 38.7% of his three-point looks in the three seasons prior); and the March return of Tatum, who looked healthy and capable of playing at or above his previous All-NBA level.
The Celtics also received positive contributions from their minimum-salary free agent additions (Luka Garza and Josh Minott, though Minott was later traded to Brooklyn); first-rounder Hugo Gonzalez was a pleasant surprise as a rookie; and young players like Jordan Walsh and Baylor Scheierman continued to improve and played rotation roles on the wing at different times.
Boston made another series of cost-cutting moves before the deadline to duck the luxury tax, including trading Simons to Chicago for Nikola Vucevic. Then Tatum came back, and suddenly the Celtics looked like contenders again.
However, after building a 3-1 lead in their first-round series against the Sixers, the Celtics collapsed, dropping the final three games to lose in seven. Tatum was reportedly dealing with some knee discomfort in Game 6 and wound up missing Game 7.
The Celtics' Offseason Plans
The Celtics have had a ton of success with Tatum and Brown as their top two players, making the Eastern Conference finals multiple times, advancing to the NBA Finals in 2022, and winning the championship in 2024. However, the team's heavy reliance on three-point shooting does lead to a considerable amount of offensive volatility. Boston doesn't put a lot of pressure on the rim or score much in the paint, which Stevens noted after the season; those comments subsequently led to speculation about a possible pursuit of Giannis Antetokounmpo.
