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When Boston Celtics All-Star Jayson Tatum ruptured his Achilles in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals against the New York Knicks, it undoubtedly altered the trajectory of the 2024 champion's core. With Tatum out for the majority of the 2025-26 campaign, the Celtics front office deemed its team, including All-Star Jaylen Brown, was no longer a championship contender.
Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens traded starters Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis. He also deemed the team's possibility of re-signing veteran Al Horford, an intregal piece to the 2024 championship team, as unlikely, while completing trades that would get the Celtics payroll out of the luxury tax's second apron. Now, with Celtics All-Star Jaylen Brown leading the ship of a revamped team, how good is Boston?
Still a playoff team in the Eastern Conference, but not a championship-contending squad, at least, on paper. As we saw last season in the Indiana Pacers' unexpected run to the NBA Finals, a lot can happen between now and the end of the regular season. Teams can find its momentum at the right time. For the Pacers, that momentum translated to winning the Eastern Conference Finals against the New York Knicks.
They also were one-win away from a title in Game 7 of the NBA Finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Could the same happened to the Celtics in 2026? It's still too early to say, but here are three reasons for Celtics fans to be optimistic about the 2025-26 squad.
1. Jaylen Brown is entering his prime
While talk around the NBA world says the Boston Celtics are punting the 2025-26 campaign while Jayson Tatum recovers from a ruptured Achilles, Jaylen Brown is taking it all in. He watched the Celtics front office split the 2024 champions' core by trading Jrue Holiday to the Portland Trail Blazers and Kristaps Porzingis to the Atlanta Hawks. In doing so, the message to Jaylen was clear: this team can't compete for a championship without Tatum.
Even Celtics Hall of Fame guard Bob Cousy reminded Brown he's no Tatum. Expect Brown to respond to that notion in a significant way on the basketball court in 2025-26. He's already proved to be the Most Valuable Player in the postseason and in the 2024 NBA Finals with Tatum, it's time to show the world what he can do without his All-Star teammate, as a lead. This should be Brown's most productive season of his career.
With a strong starting backcourt in Derrick White, Payton Pritchard, and Anfernee Simons, the Celtics are still a playoff team in the Eastern Conference. However, reaching the upper echelon with team such as the Cleveland Cavs and the New York Knicks is most likely out of reach. Instead, chances are Brown and the Celtics will be jockeying for positioning with the Milwaukee Bucks and up-and-coming squads such as the Orlando Magic and the Detroit Pistons.
2. Derrick White, Payton Pritchard backcourt tandem
When the Celtics traded Jrue Holiday to the Portland Trail Blazers, it helped the front office out of the luxury tax's second apron and paved a path for Payton Pritchard to start alongside Derrick White. Pritchard took a significant leap last season, with the kind of production that made him undoubtedly the best Sixth Man in the league. And now, Pritchard's earned the opportunity for a starting job. He averaged 14.3 points on 47.2%/40.7%/84.5% splits.
Those numbers aren't far off from what White provided last season, when he averaged 16.4 points on 44.2% shooting, including 38.4% from deep, and 83.9% from the charity stripe. Both White and Pritchard will take on increased roles next season to provide the kind of support Brown needs to help keep the Celtics out of the Play-In Tournament. While Anfernee Simons' future still remains unclear, he could replace Pritchard as the team's new sixth man.
However, that's depending on how he fits in within Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla's system, which pan out with him staying or watching the Celtics trade him at some point between now and next season's trade deadline.
3. Jayson Tatum's return
Celtics fans watched All-Star Jayson Tatum walking without a boot as an encouraging sign for his long recovery from a ruptured Achilles. No timetable is set for his return. However, considering Tatum suffered the injury in the Eastern Conference semifinals against the New York Knicks, he could return to the floor before the end of the regular season. Perhaps March is the best case scenario.
Can we expect All-Star Tatum to emerge after sitting out for 10+ months? Absolutely not. However, getting him back into the swing of things six weeks before the playoffs could be a significant boost for a Celtics team fighting for playoff positioning. In a weaker Eastern Conference, momentum is key, which helped the Pacers last year when they became one of the hottest teams post All-Star break.
Perhaps the Celtics pull of something similar to galvanize an unexpected deep playoff run that no one anticiapted ahead of the 2025-26 campaign.
