The offseason has not been form to Boston Celtics followers, who’ve seen their staff gutted. They traded Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Vacation and misplaced Al Horford and Luke Kornet to free company, which has severely compromised the Celtics’ depth.
They can even be with out Jayson Tatum for all of subsequent season, that means they are going to be down 5 gamers from their championship staff. That roster change has led to them having a lackluster staff that appears far faraway from championship rivalry.
I feel it would make extra sense to begin Payton Pritchard, Anfernee Simons, Derrick White and Jaylen Brown at spots 1 by way of 4. And I am genuinely interested by Luka Garza with starter minutes. However…
…even with the East as unhealthy as it’s, might the Celtics miss the playoffs? https://t.co/pRftAUZ9An
— Andy Bailey (@AndrewDBailey) July 22, 2025
Even whereas they’ll nonetheless have Jaylen Brown and Derrick White, they could have a tough time making the playoffs, even within the embarrassingly unhealthy Jap Convention. There are a couple of silver linings.
They did acquire extra flexibility to make strikes in case they’re higher than anticipated. The Celtics additionally might use just lately acquired guard Anfernee Simons as a commerce chip to attempt to increase their roster.
Painful actuality Celtics followers should settle for this season
As is, the Celtics haven’t got a powerful sufficient roster to make noise within the East subsequent season. Possession most likely is aware of that, however the aim was to slash their wage and luxurious tax funds, they usually positively completed that, actually reducing these funds in half.
The tradeoff is that they are going to be a lot worse on the court docket subsequent season. To be honest to them, they weren’t going to be a juggernaut with Tatum out for subsequent season. Even so, is their core going ahead actually going to be Tatum, Brown, and White?
All three are excellent gamers, however the Celtics’ depth was a giant a part of their championship run. That is to not point out that gamers getting back from an Achilles harm traditionally are far worse than they have been pre-injury.
The Celtics had no selection however to intestine their roster
Boston has to hope that Tatum can beat the percentages and return to his peak ranges and provides the Celtics an opportunity to finally get again to the NBA Finals. That is not the most suitable choice, however it’s the one actual one they’ve.
In spite of everything, the ridiculous collective bargaining settlement was partly designed to interrupt up groups just like the Celtics, and it has clearly accomplished a fantastic job of doing so. They could not have saved the championship core collectively throughout a season wherein their greatest participant would miss, because of the repeater tax.
Had Tatum not gotten injured, they won’t have let these 4 gamers go, however right here we’re, and right here the Celtics are with a questionable roster heading into subsequent season.
