Whether or not you name subsequent season a rebuild yr, a spot yr, a retool yr, or an analysis yr, subsequent season would be the first season since 2021 that profitable a title just isn’t a practical expectation for the Celtics.
Whereas competing for championships is all the time the objective, that doesn’t imply that subsequent season can’t nonetheless be enjoyable evening in and evening out and supply the inspiration for the following workforce that brings a title to Boston. The load of expectations can take its toll on not solely the gamers and coaches, however the followers as nicely. The playoffs all the time sound enjoyable till the Celtics lose Sport 4 of the 2022 Finals or go down 3-0 within the Jap Convention Finals to the Miami Warmth. A season of low expectations may very well be a welcome sabbatical from that postseason stress, particularly with a wholesome Jayson Tatum and a brand new rivalry window on the horizon.
Brad Stevens has approached this upcoming season appropriately. He may have leaned into extra veteran assist, bringing in gamers with confirmed monitor information and expertise; as a substitute, he’s leaning into youth and improvement. It will have been a travesty for the Celtics to finish up because the eighth seed, and their high minutes earner off the bench on the wing spot be Georges Niang.
Now, if the Celtics find yourself because the eighth seed, their high minutes earner off the bench on the wing spot will probably be whichever younger man amongst Baylor Scheierman, Jordan Walsh, Hugo Gonzalez, and Josh Minott wins the battle for these minutes — guys who might help the following iteration of the Celtics as Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown transfer into their 30s. It’s a win-win.
Because of this the Chris Boucher commerce was so necessary. It helped the roster fall into place in a manner that may assist the longer term Celtics. Boucher may very well be the beginning energy ahead for the Celtics on Opening Night time; nonetheless, he’ll play an enormous portion of his minutes on the 5 spot, opening minutes for the plethora of younger, unproven expertise on the Celtics bench.
Right now, we received’t spend lengthy deliberating how good the Celtics will really be within the 2025-2026 season. As a result of that’s the purpose. If the Celtics are a top-six seed, they’ll have exceeded expectations, and they’re going to have exceeded expectations in a manner that may support their quest for Banner 19. Alternatively, if the Celtics slip out of the playoffs, as many anticipate them to, the workforce will get the possibility to inject some much-needed youthful expertise into the roster by the use of the 2026 NBA Draft.
I’m conscious that there’s a big faction of Celtics followers who would really like the workforce to lean right into a tank subsequent season. I’ve discovered myself in that camp as a rule this offseason. Nevertheless, there are a number of eventualities through which the Celtics push their manner right into a top-six seed. The almost definitely consequence, in a Celtics playoff push, is that no less than certainly one of Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, or Payton Pritchard takes significant steps of their improvement.
Let’s begin with the reigning Sixth Man of the Yr: Payton Pritchard. Out of the Jaylen-Derrick-Pritchard group, Pritchard is the very best candidate to take a respectable leap subsequent season. Payton Pritchard goes into his age-28 season. Whereas it’s uncommon for gamers to interrupt out at this age, Pritchard has an opportunity to be an outlier.
The plain case for a late 20s breakout is Pritchard’s utilization up to now of his profession. Exterior of his rookie season, Pritchard has needed to take care of deep, proficient, and veteran guard rooms. Within the 2025 season, Pritchard performed a career-high 28.4 minutes per recreation, considerably up from his earlier excessive of twenty-two.3 minutes within the 2024 season. What did Pritchard do along with his alternative? He turned in the very best season of his profession.
By any metric, Payton Pritchard put up an outrageous scoring season. There have been 102 gamers who scored no less than 14 factors per recreation final season. Pritchard ranked eleventh in true taking pictures effectivity. And once you filter out bigs who solely shoot near the rim like Ivica Zubac, Jakob Poeltl, and Mark Williams, Pritchard strikes into eighth on that checklist.
I do know what you’re pondering. Pritchard performed an enormous chunk of his minutes with Jayson Tatum final season. It’s not reasonable to assume he can thrive to this extent with out Tatum’s gravity. Now let me inform you what Payton Pritchard did in his minutes with Jayson Tatum on the bench final season. The next numbers are per 75 possessions. In 1,033 minutes with out Tatum, Pritchard put up 22.1 factors, 5.7 assists, 5.5 rebounds, 1.6 turnovers on 65.1% true taking pictures. Examine that to Pritchard’s numbers within the 1,233 minutes he shared the court docket with Tatum — 16.8 factors, 3.9 assists, 4.9 rebounds, 1.2 turnovers on 61.5% true taking pictures. That’s nutty manufacturing from Pritchard within the non-Tatum minutes.
In fact, now we have to caveat this by highlighting that Pritchard would have been sharing the court docket with Al Horford, Jrue Vacation, Luke Kornet, and Kristaps Porzingis within the overwhelming majority of those minutes. Alas, I believe it’s nonetheless notable that Pritchard not solely maintained his manufacturing with Tatum on the bench, however he supercharged it. The dream situation is for Payton Pritchard to take a Jalen Brunson-esque leap. Realistically, a leap right into a top-12 participant just isn’t on the playing cards. That being stated, if now we have learnt something about Payton Pritchard in his five-year NBA profession, it’s that he’s going to squeeze each drop of potential out of himself.
There’s one other participant on the Celtics roster who I’d not need to wager towards taking a step ahead subsequent season: Jaylen Brown. I don’t assume Jaylen has the identical developmental upside as Pritchard at this level in his profession. Nevertheless, I stated the identical factor after the 2023 season ended with Jaylen melting right into a puddle of his personal turnovers towards the Miami Warmth. Then, Jaylen got here again and performed the very best season of his profession on the best way to a Finals MVP.
Jaylen has expressed his perception that he generally is a true primary on this league. I’m skeptical. The playmaking and ball dealing with are key differentiators between him and the highest choices on contenders on this league. Secondarily, Jaylen’s rebounding and protection have by no means reached the impression of Tatum’s, however he’s additionally by no means been requested to hold any such load. I imagine Jaylen desires this burden and believes he can thrive and push himself to new heights this upcoming season. If Jaylen is ready to unlock a brand new stage, the Celtics may discover themselves with two top-10 gamers on their roster. If that have been to occur, every other questions concerning the future turn out to be irrelevant as a result of when you’ve got two high ten gamers that may do as many issues as Jaylen and Jayson can do on a basketball court docket, you can be within the hunt for a championship each season — even when the Celtics should roll me on the market as their start line guard.
We transfer to Derrick White. Out of Jaylen, Payton, and Derrick, Derrick feels the least more likely to make the kind of impactful leap like I’ve outlined for Brown and Pritchard. This seems like a very good time to say that since becoming a member of the Celtics, Derrick White has developed from a shaky three-point shooter into one of many league’s most potent weapons from past the arc.
A fast reminder of how good a shooter D White is now. Per Shane Younger, within the playoffs, there are 5 gamers in NBA historical past to shoot no less than eight or extra three pointers per recreation, and shoot no less than 40% on these makes an attempt (minimal 15 playoff video games): Steph Curry 3 times, Klay Thompson, and Derrick White. That’s the checklist. So, if we’re in search of indicators that Celtics gamers may take leaps into unexpected territory, Derrick White has already executed it as soon as with the Celtics. Can he do it once more? Most likely not. But when he does, the Celtics have a 3rd All-Star on the roster locked up on a discount contract.
Transferring on to the beforehand talked about younger, unproven expertise on the Celtics roster. Relying on the place your cutoff for “younger” is — let’s make it 28 years previous) — then all the Celtics roster outdoors of Jaylen Brown (29), Derrick White (31), and Chris Boucher (33) would fall in our “younger” class. Let’s run by what it appears to be like like in a Celtics-make-the-playoffs situation:
It’s actually exceptional how a lot unknown there may be on a roster that returned all the 2024 championship workforce.
For enjoyable, let’s say that for the Celtics to succeed in their high-end consequence of a top-five or top-six seed, they’ll want one of many Jaylen/Derrick/Pritchard eventualities to hit, they usually want two of the position participant eventualities to hit. If I received to select probably the most enjoyable manner for it to play out, give me a Pritchard leap, a Josh Minott revelation, and a Jordan Walsh renaissance.
Now, if we’re being realists, and we have a look at every of those eventualities one after the other, they’re all unlikely to occur. And if none of them come to fruition, the Celtics will possible be taking a look at a lottery decide. So irrespective of how subsequent season performs out, there will probably be purpose for hope as we proceed our journey within the NBA abyss.
