The Boston Celtics saw their quest to repeat as NBA champions derailed far earlier than anyone could have predicted (and at the hands of the freakin’ New York Knicks, no less).
Jayson Tatum is out indefinitely after rupturing his Achilles. The roster is set for a cost-cutting overhaul as the rent comes due for all the big spending that helped deliver Banner 18.
All of which makes it understandably difficult to see how Boston maintains its status as a legitimate title contender for the 2025-26 season.
But change also means opportunity, and we’re strangely energized to see how the players who remain on Boston’s roster grasp the chance to step into a bigger spotlight.
A lot of teams in the East have tough decisions to make this offseason — looking at you, Cleveland — and the conference wasn’t exactly overflowing with talent this past year. We don’t think it’s far-fetched to suggest that, with enough pieces back, the Celtics could still be in the mix.
Yes, the Celtics have tough financial decisions to make, mainly to ensure their long-term sustainability as a title threat. Watching Bill Chisholm’s fan-like energy up close late in the season, we’re confident that every effort will be made to keep this thing afloat despite the obvious short-term obstacles preventing the team from keeping the current core intact.
Here are four reasons to embrace what’s to come in the 2025-26 season:
1. JB in the 1A role
Let’s state the obvious here: This assumes the Celtics keep Jaylen Brown as part of their offseason tinkering, which, if they elect to dip below the second apron but stay above the tax, is the least painful path possible. It would be criminal if the Celtics were forced to consider moving a homegrown superstar because the new CBA extremely limits any team’s ability to build around two max-contract players.
Brown has routinely thrived whenever more is thrown on his plate. Two of his best playoff games — Game 2 vs. Orlando and Game 5 vs. New York — came while Tatum was inactive. Further removed from the knee woes that seemingly hindered much of Brown’s 2024-25 season, we’re invigorated by the possibility of Brown being the focal point of Boston’s roster.
Let’s be honest: We’ve all wondered if Brown eventually might yearn to be the 1A of a franchise — to step outside Tatum’s shadow and see what he could accomplish as the primary option. Now we might get that preview without having to watch him on another team.
Brown would be positioned to reassert himself as an All-NBA player. His two-way potential is undeniable, and Boston’s best basketball in recent seasons has come when Brown has embraced defending the best scorer on the opposing team.
Brown needs to find more consistency with his 3-point shot. He needs to continue to tighten up the ball-handling and limit turnovers. But each year we see strides with his playmaking. We’re intrigued by the idea of watching Brown try to hold the fort while Tatum rehabs. Regardless of how the 2025-26 season plays out, it has potential to set the team up nicely for when the Jays would be reunited down the road.
At a time when Celtics fans are feeling a little melancholy about the future of the team, it feels appropriate that the guy dubbed the Energy Shifter might be the one who can bring back some optimism.
2. Payton Pritchard: Fifth Man of the Year?
Regardless of whether the Celtics are forced to move Jrue Holiday’s salary to aid cost cutting, there will be at least one opening in Boston’s starting five with Tatum rehabbing. One season after running away with the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award, it might be time to answer another longstanding query: Would Payton Pritchard thrive as a starter?
Pritchard’s base stats in 17 games as a starter during his career are solid: 17.2 points, 6.4 assists, and 5.1 rebounds. That’s while shooting 46.5 percent from the floor, 37.9 percent beyond the 3-point arc, and 100 percent at the free throw line. In Pritchard’s three starts this past season, those numbers spiked to 21.7 points, 7.3 assists, and 5 rebounds per game on 48.2/32.1/100 percent shooting splits.
Pritchard’s evolution has been fun to chronicle, from a frustrated young player on a team with an overloaded guard depth chart, to key role player on a title team, to the best bench weapon in the NBA. Now it could be time to really turn Pritchard loose.
3. Which of the kids is ready to break out?
With so much uncertainty around the team’s core — we’d go so far as to suggest that the Celtics could be without at least four players from their nine-man core of the past two seasons, counting Tatum — there is ample opportunity for some of the remaining younger players to prove they can blossom in elevated roles.
Can Baylor Scheierman thrive as a bench shooter if the team can’t afford to carry Hauser when his extension kicks in this summer? With his penchant for flashy playmaking, Scheierman was one of the bright spots among developmental talent at the end of the 2024-25 season.
Jordan Walsh logged only 400 total minutes last season (7.8 per game). After making a strong case for an increased role out of training camp, he never quite did enough to fully earn head coach Joe Mazzulla’s trust. But the absence of Tatum will create ample opportunity for the team’s bench wings to show what they can do.
Walsh, if he survives any roster shuffling, must showcase the progress made behind the scenes. That he’s still only 21 years old suggests there’s plenty of runway.
J.D. Davison’s 2025-26 salary is non-guaranteed — with a June 29 decision date looming — after getting called up to the parent squad, and the team will have to decide if they want him back as a depth option. Davison, the 53rd pick in the 2022 draft, is still only 22 years old.
Does fellow Maine stalwart Drew Peterson get a spot on the parent roster after a couple seasons as two-way player? The team added Miles Norris as a two-way player late in the season, too.
The Celtics have until opening night before Neemias Queta’s $2.4 million salary is fully guaranteed (only half of it is before that).
4. No expectations
No matter how much Mazzulla craved a bullseye between his team’s eyes last season, there was undeniably added pressure in the quest to be the Celtics first repeat champion in a half century. Heavy is the head that wears the crown.
But much of that pressure will be relieved next season. There will be no stressing about the potential “Last Dance” that last season’s team endured. Opponents won’t arrive to TD Garden with quite as much desire to take a swing at the king; another team will wear that target next season. Without Tatum, expectations for the Celtics will plummet.
It’s been a while since the Celtics were underdogs. They might just thrive in that role (and they can still bark like the road dawgs of last season). The Celtics could have a new freedom that might let the natural talents of their players carry them. There will be no lofty goals, just a willingness to see where the road takes them.
We like the idea of Derrick White as your No. 2 option. The elusive All-Star nod might arrive for him next season. Kristaps Porzingis could have a chance to remind the NBA how impactful he can be when not battling mystery illnesses. Mazzulla should be eager to show he can push all the right buttons with whatever collection of talent is assembled.
Instead of worrying singularly about how the season might end, everyone can just enjoy the ride next year.
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