The Celtics are calling up some additional depth for their center position for Wednesday’s game against the Pistons and potentially beyond. With starting big man Neemias Queta (sprained ankle) ruled out, the Celtics are activating two-way center Amari Williams. The second-round pick in the 2025 NBA Draft has spent the majority of the season with the Maine Celtics, where he has appeared in seven games.
Williams is averaging 12.7 points, 10.9 rebounds and 4.4 assists over 31.1 minutes per game and is leading the Maine Celtics in blocks per game with 1.9.
Williams will provide some extra depth for Boston at the center spot after the team selected him at No. 45 overall in June following a trade with the Orlando Magic. The 6-foot-11 big man signed a two-way contract after playing in Summer League for Boston and has appeared in two NBA games thus far, playing seven minutes of garbage time against the Knicks and Rockets.
Without Queta, Joe Mazzulla has a tall task on his hands to prepare for some challenging front courts starting with the Pistons on Wednesday night. It’s unclear how long Queta will be sidelined with his sprained ankle but increased roles will be expected for Chris Boucher, Luka Garza and Xavier Tillman with Williams providing some emergency depth in all likelihood. Boston could also play smaller wings at center like Josh Minott or Jordan Walsh as we saw in Sunday’s win over the Magic.
No matter what direction Mazzulla goes in, Derrick White knows the Celtics will need a team effort to replace Queta.
“We don’t really have a guy that like replaces what Neemi does for us,” White said at practice Tuesday. “It’s gotta be just a group effort, obviously [Xavier], Luka, Chris, like they’re gonna get a bigger chance and,we’re gonna need a lot from them, but it’s also on us. We don’t have Neemi back there to kinda take out some of the problems or the mistakes we make on the perimeter. It’s gonna be a team effort, rebounding and everything. Hopefully he comes back as quickly as possible, but we all got to step up.”
The Celtics host the Pistons at 5 p.m. Wednesday at TD Garden in their first game of the season without Queta.