Fortunes can change quickly in the modern NBA. Just ask the Celtics.
At this time last year, Boston had its sights on back-to-back championships after winning it all in 2024 and returning its entire star-studded rotation. Fast forward 12 months, and half of that rotation is gone, sacrificed at the altar of the second-apron overlords.
Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday were traded for luxury tax relief. Luke Kornet got paid in free agency. Al Horford remained unsigned as of Monday, but the Celtics are not expecting him back. Most of the players brought in to replace them are career backups.
Add in the major injury that will sideline its best player, Jayson Tatum, for at least a large portion of this season, and Joe Mazzulla’s club suddenly looks like a team that, rather than competing for titles, could struggle to finish above .500.
With training camp set to tip off on Monday, Sept. 29, here are the eight biggest questions facing this new-look Celtics squad:
1. How will Jaylen Brown perform in a starring role?
Brown has waited his entire career for an opportunity like this.
Year 10 in Boston for the 2024 NBA Finals MVP will be Brown’s first season as the Celtics’ unquestioned go-to guy. He’ll be the C’s centerpiece while Tatum recovers from his ruptured Achilles. This is Brown’s chance to prove he can carry a team — and that he’s a player worthy of the All-NBA recognition that’s eluded him for most of his career (his only selection was a second-team nod in 2022-23).
“I’m willing to make sacrifices on either end to get the job done,” Brown said in March. “But on any given night, I could be the best on the floor on offense or defense, and my team knows that and respects that.”
To maximize his increased role, Brown will need to avoid the injury issues that hindered him for much of last season. He missed 19 games and was limited down the stretch by a partially torn meniscus that required offseason surgery to repair.
2. Who will start: Pritchard or Simons?
Holiday’s trade to Portland left Boston with a void in its backcourt alongside Derrick White — and two intriguing candidates to fill it.
Will Mazzulla promote reigning NBA Sixth Man of the Year Payton Pritchard to the starting lineup after the best season of his career? Or will the head coach continue to use Pritchard as an impact reserve and give the nod to newcomer Anfernee Simons, who started for the Trail Blazers for the last three seasons?
Simons, like Pritchard, is an accomplished scorer and high-volume 3-point shooter who should fit in well with the Celtics’ offensive philosophy. He’s been a poor defender throughout his career, however. How willing Mazzulla is to accept Simons’ shortcomings at that end could dictate the 26-year-old’s role.
Though Pritchard has shown significant improvement defensively over his Celtics tenure, he also can’t match Holiday’s impact in that area. Regardless of who starts, expect some regression from a Boston defense that ranked top-four in the NBA in each of the last four seasons.
3. Can the frontcourt exceed low expectations?
So long, Porzingis, Horford and Kornet. Step on up, Neemias Queta, Luka Garza, Chris Boucher and Xavier Tillman. The Celtics’ new big man rotation might be the least inspiring in the league, featuring a collection of players who have never been full-time NBA starters.
The success of this group could hinge on the talented but inconsistent Queta, a frequent target of Mazzulla’s wrath over the last two seasons. The Portuguese 7-footer has fans in the Celtics’ locker room, but it was telling when Porzingis, asked after a recent EuroBasket game whether Queta is ready for a starting role, replied: “Good question. Who else is there? I don’t know.”
Offseason pickups Garza and Boucher should have rotation roles, with Tillman a wild card after he hardly saw the floor last season.
4. Will any of the recent draft picks emerge?
Is this finally the year Jordan Walsh cracks the rotation? Can Baylor Scheierman build on his promising end to his first pro campaign? Is 2025 first-rounder Hugo Gonzalez ready for real NBA minutes as a 19-year-old rookie?
All three should have a much greater opportunity to contribute than Boston’s young players had in previous years, when the team was stacked with All-Star-caliber veterans and contending for championships. Breakthrough seasons from any of them would give this top-heavy roster some much-needed depth.
The Celtics also have second-round picks Amari Williams and Max Shulga and undrafted rookie RJ Luis Jr. on two-way contracts. Expect them to split time between Boston and Maine.
Boston, MA - April 23 - Derrick White #9 of the Boston Celtics talks with head coach Joe Mazzulla during the third quarter of Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals at the TD Garden. (Photo By Matt Stone/Boston Herald)
Boston, MA - April 23 - Derrick White #9 of the Boston Celtics talks with head coach Joe Mazzulla during the third quarter of Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals at the TD Garden. (Photo By Matt Stone/Boston Herald)
5. How will Joe Mazzulla coach this depleted roster?
Any questions about Mazzulla’s job security in the wake of Boston’s second-round playoff flop were answered when the team signed him to a multi-year contract extension this summer. Now, he’ll be tasked with leading by far the least talented roster of his head-coaching career.
How Mazzulla handles that change both tactically (will the Celtics look to ramp up their pace the way they did in Summer League?) and emotionally (the notoriously intense coach has said in the past that he takes losses hard) will be a major storyline this season.
6. What impact (if any) will new ownership have?
When the Celtics finalized the sale of the franchise to Bill Chisholm’s investment group last month, Chisholm immediately assumed control as team governor. Wyc Grousbeck is staying on as co-owner, CEO and alternate governor, and he and Chisholm have said they’ll run the team together.
But Chisholm now is Boston’s lead decision-maker — a change that, in the original transition plan, was not supposed to occur for another three years — and as a first-time sports owner, it’s hard to predict how hands-on the Georgetown, Mass., native will be in that position.
7. Will Jayson Tatum return this season?
Four months removed from his Achilles surgery, we still don’t know how much time Tatum is expected to miss.
The Celtics have declined to announce a timeline for their All-NBA superstar’s return. They also have not publicly shut him down for the season, as the Indiana Pacers did after Tyrese Haliburton suffered the same injury six weeks later.
The safest (and most likely) bet would be to shelve Tatum until 2026-27, with the goal of him returning at close to peak form with a stronger roster around him next fall. But if he is fully healed by, say, March, and the Celtics are in the thick of the playoff race in a watered-down Eastern Conference, would they consider activating him for the stretch run? Until he’s officially ruled out, that remains a possibility.
8. Is this still a playoff team?
The Celtics have reached the conference finals, won 60 games or both in each of the last four seasons. Few expect that streak to continue.
Sportsbooks have their over/under wins total pegged at 40.5, which would be the franchise’s fewest in a non-COVID-shortened season since 2014-15. Their NBA title odds entering last season were +375. Now, they’re +6000.
This is not a championship-caliber roster. But it’s also far from the weakest in the mediocre East. Anything in between — competitive playoff team, fringe play-in team or draft lottery team — seems like a realistic outcome for the 2025-26 Celtics.
Originally Published: September 15, 2025 at 9:12 AM EDT