NEW YORK — The Celtics’ title defense season ended on a flop. They ran out of gas and were run off the court by the Knicks in Game 6 at Madison Square Garden. It was never particularly close when the Knicks went up big, and the Celtics never mounted a serious comeback attempt to keep their season alive. That sealed a 4-2 series victory for New York.
So, the Celtics enter a transformational offseason. They fell short of their goals to go back-to-back. Jayson Tatum’s ruptured Achilles tendon injury also cast a shadow over the organization as the C’s front office has a lot of decisions to make this summer. It’ll be difficult, but at the very least, the Celtics have Banner No. 18 to show for their efforts the past two seasons.
Even before Tatum’s injury, the cracks started to show for the defending champions. Losing the first two games at home to the Knicks left them with little margin for error. Then once Tatum went down, their fate was sealed. While the C’s showed some life in a blowout Game 5 victory, they were embarrassed in a massive Game 6 loss.
The summer should be an interesting one for the Celtics. Realistically, with Tatum missing a significant portion of next season or potentially even all of it, their ceiling will be limited. But this is still a talented-albeit-expensive roster, so how the front office molds the team will be a key factor once Tatum is healthy and back.
Here are three key, pressing questions for the Celtics for this offseason:
How could the roster shake-up look this summer?
The Celtics were long expected to face a reckoning this summer considering their roster and a projected luxury tax bill at roughly $500 million. With a new ownership group coming for the organization, it was always going to be difficult to keep this roster together past this season. Plus, Tatum’s injury makes it so that the Celtics will miss their first-team All-NBA talent for a significant portion of next season.
So, the front office will have some work ahead of them when it comes to moving pieces. But trading each player comes with its own challenges. Guys like Kristaps Porzingis, Jrue Holiday and Sam Hauser are potentially-movable contracts. Brad Stevens’ front office has not been afraid to swing big moves for the sake of the future, so how they navigate this offseason will set up the franchise for years to come.
What about the free agents?
Of the notable games hitting free agency this summer are Al Horford and Luke Kornet. While it’s sounded like Horford wants to come back for his 19th season at 39, with Tatum out, that could change the equation. That’s all still uncertain, though. Kornet is also an unrestricted free agent, and after what he showed this season, he could get a nice payday after playing this past season on a minimum contract.
Considering Porzingis is potentially movable, the Celtics could have to revamp their entire front court going into next season. At the very least, it’ll likely look different. Replacing Horford and his production was always going to be inevitable considering his age. The C’s do have Kornet’s Bird Rights, so they could offer him whatever they want. But those are all decisions the front office will have to make when it comes to their rotation players and free agents.
Why could the draft be even more important?
The Celtics enter the 2025 NBA Draft in an interesting position. They have the 28th and 32nd overall picks in the draft, which will take place over two days from June 25-26. Those are two solid picks as the Celtics will have a chance to nab a rotation player for the future. They’ve been successful finding and developing guys into contributors (Pritchard was picked 26th overall in 2020 and Hauser was undrafted in 2021).
So the draft could be a way for the Celtics to find cheap-yet-productive talent, pending they actually land on some hits. Baylor Scheierman, while he didn’t get playoff minutes, did look solid down the stretch of the season. He was picked 30th overall by the C’s last summer as the organization needs those sort of guys for the future. So the draft will have renewed importance even if the C’s aren’t picking at the top of the board.