Celtics offseason outlook: Jayson Tatum's injury changes everything
When the Boston Celtics were down 2-1 to the New York Knicks, as they headed into Game 4, it was a fun little story due to the unexpected nature of it all. Most expected the Celtics to tie the series and, frankly, end the hilarity of the situation in six games.
After Game 4, however, no one was laughing.
Jayson Tatum, the best player on the team trying to defend its title, ruptured his Achilles, not only ending his season but raising questions about how he'll return from that injury, which is likely to be for the 2026-27 season.
The Celtics getting destroyed in Game 6 Friday night doesn't compare to the loss of Tatum, which could have ramifications for years down the line.
Everything is up in the air now. The Celtics are expensive, and without Tatum they might be too expensive to keep intact for next season. The assumption, for a while now, has been that this iteration of the Celtics, even with a healthy Tatum, had an expiration date due to the sheer volume of its continuous luxury tax bills.
Might the organization expedite said expiration date due to its new situation? It can't be ruled out.
This wasn't as strong of a year for the Celtics, as many had believed it would be. Jaylen Brown struggled with his offense for chunks of the season, and while Boston set 3-point record after 3-point record, it failed to establish secondary offensive options for when the 3 wasn't falling.
This isn't to say their primary strategy was wrong. The 3 is here to stay, and Boston launching 48.2 per night is perfectly reasonable.
What wasn't reasonable was the amount of opportunities they passed up throughout the season, as they essentially forgot the larger point of the outside shot: It opens up the floor, allowing for cuts, drives and interior scoring opportunities.
Only 17.9% of Boston's shot attempts this season came from within three feet of the rim, a mark that ranked 26th in the NBA.
This was additionally frustrating as they ranked third in the league in conversion rate on those close attempts, finishing 74.8% of those attempts.
As such, despite winning 61 games, the Celtics are now on the outside looking in, wondering how it all came crashing down so suddenly.
Record: 61-21, No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference. Lost to the New York Knicks in six games in the second round.
The play of Payton Pritchard, who won the league's Sixth Man award. The 6-foot-1 combo guard unlocked a new level to his game and was one of the most consistent creators on the team. The Celtics would frequently unleash his scoring prowess when they needed a boost, and Pritchard was more than happy to oblige. He played so well in fact, one could make the argument that he'll be difficult to keep out of the starting lineup, especially if he comes back next year having further improved.
Jayson TatumJaylen BrownJrue HolidayKristaps PorziņģisDerrick WhitePayton PritchardBaylor ScheiermanXavier TillmanSam Hauser
Al Horford (UFA)Luke Kornet (UFA)
$218,396,208
No. 28No. 32
Draft focus: Swing for the fences. If Tatum is out all year, and the Celtics begin to slowly remove key pieces from the roster to save money, drafting high-upside players is the right idea. These are late selections, so odds are low of finding real difference-makers, but that shouldn't prevent the Celtics from trying to find the highest-upside guys left on the board, positions be damned.
If the Celtics run everything back, they'll have very few ways to improve the roster, given that they'll be over the second apron. Of course, if they begin selling off pieces and can position themselves to get a bit under the second apron, they could have their tax MLE handy. But that seems like a lot of trouble for very little return.
This is a tricky one, because the goal is the same as this year, but with Tatum out, that expectation is unrealistic. If the Celtics are being honest with themselves, a year without Tatum means there's a chance to find a young wing whom they can give a ton of developmental minutes to and hope he takes a leap the following year when Tatum returns, possibly providing them with another crack at a title run.
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The NBA is the only league where fans are concerned and consumed about television ratings. When the Diamondbacks faced the Rangers in Advertisement Would the NBA prefer the Knicks or the Celtics reach the Finals? Perhaps, but the Pacers and Thunder offer hope to small- and medium-market owners that they can win if well managed. 'I remember when I first joined the league, David [Stern] used to joke early on in his tenure, David Stern, as commissioner, he said his job was to go back and forth between Boston and LA handing out championship trophies,' Silver said. 'I think it was very intentional. It didn't begin with me, it began with David and successive collective bargaining agreements, that we set out to create a system that allowed for more competition in the league, with the goal being having 30 teams all in position, if well managed, to compete for championships. That's what we're seeing here. 'I've said before, the goal is that market size essentially becomes irrelevant. I'd say the reason I wanted to talk a little bit about technology earlier, in part, it's the successive collective bargaining agreements, and thank you to the players because I think they all recognized we had an interest in serving the fans. Fans in every city want to see their team be competitive.' Can the NBA be financially successful when the Lakers, Knicks, Celtics, Bulls, Warriors, Mavericks, and 76ers are left out of the Finals? The Spurs, Magic, and Pistons are among those building teams to compete for championships in coming years. The Trail Blazers, Grizzlies, and Nets are putting together young rosters to eventually do so. 'There is, I don't know, roughly 700,000 [people] in Oklahoma City, I think around 900,000 in Indianapolis. Not such small markets,' Silver said. 'Even if there were another million people or so in a city, when you're talking about a global market in a sport like the NBA where we're being followed by billions of people around the world, those incremental changes become pretty meaningless. 'I can't say standing here that I'd envision we would have seven different champions over seven years. I would only say the goal isn't necessarily to have a different champion every year. As we said, it's to have parity of opportunity. Hats off to Oklahoma City and Indianapolis, two incredibly well-run franchises, top to bottom, that deserve to be here. Whichever team were to win, if they were to repeat, I wouldn't then be saying this, therefore, isn't working because I didn't go to a different city to hand out the trophy. I'd be saying that's the system we wanted to create, as long as there's a level playing field. 'What we're focused on is on the process that goes into building the team, not the outcome. So the outcomes will be whatever they are.' 'Obviously their results speak for themselves," NBA commissioner Adam Silver said of the Celtics' ownership group. Nate Billings/Associated Press WILD ASCENTS Carlisle came from out of nowhere While Cooper Flagg is already perhaps the most heralded player to come from Maine, Indiana coach Rick Carlisle played two years for the Black Bears before transferring to Virginia and being drafted by the Celtics in 1984. Carlisle grew up in Lisbon, N.Y., in the north central part of the state bordering Ontario. They don't produce basketball players in Lisbon. They produce hockey players. That didn't dissuade Carlisle, who had a friend, Hal Cohen , from nearby Canton who served as his basketball role model. 'He was the greatest player to ever come out of the North Country,' Carlisle said. 'He got a scholarship to Syracuse University. He got a scholarship to a big-time basketball program. I grew up playing with him all the time, competing. It was one of the reasons that I ended up having a chance to get a Division 1 scholarship.' Related : As Carlisle noted, he had to go to Worcester Academy for a year to get it, and his lone Division 1 offer came from Maine. 'Through a series of connections and relationships, was able to transfer to University of Virginia and play with Ralph Sampson for a year. That changed my life forever,' Carlisle said. 'Had great coaching and a lot of things that were very fortunate. Ended up getting drafted by Boston in a round that no longer exists in the draft. A lot of things fell my way. But I worked hard, too. 'You know, seeing Hal Cohen do that was something that gave a lot of people, a lot of guys in the North Country, a lot more belief about being able to go to higher levels, not just in basketball, but other sports.' Carlisle has built a roster in Indiana without a top 15 starter. Tyrese Haliburton has approached that level in the past few seasons, while Pascal Siakam may be the most underrated player of this generation. Carlisle said the NBA is becoming more of a team league than a star league, evidence by a Finals of deep, talented rosters. 'It was Larry [Bird] and Magic [Johnson] , then it was Michael Jordan for a few years. Things are changing,' Carlisle said. 'The roster construction seems to be evolving in a slightly different direction, if not a pretty significantly different direction. There are always going to be stars. Identifying with teams may become more of a significant thing than just the star aspect of it. 'It's such a dynamic business and it's so quickly changing. It can change in a moment, much like a playoff series can. I just think the league is so healthy right now because there are so many young, great young players that have personality, that are such great promoters of the game simply by virtue of how they play the game, with their joy, with their love,' he added. 'It's moving away from an isolation league to really more of a team-type game. Oklahoma plays that way. We try to play that way. So, time will tell.' Layups The Celtics have until June 29 to pick up the nonguaranteed club option on guard Drew Peterson . Davison's contract will be guaranteed for 2025-26 if he's on the roster by next Jan. 10. Because the Celtics are in the second apron, they cannot aggregate contracts to make a trade, meaning they could not throw in Davison's contract as a sweetener of a bigger deal ... David Adelman was Jamal Murray , who did not report to camp in premium shape after looking sluggish during his Olympic stint with Team Canada. Murray eventually turned into the player who has been the Nuggets' second-best scorer, but got off to a painfully slow start, especially from the 3-point line. Murray is beginning a four-year, $207 million contract as the Nuggets look to remain relevant in both his and Nikola Jokic's prime. Denver doesn't have much salary wiggle room or free-agent opportunities since it is approaching the second apron with Murray's bump in salary … LeBron James has a player option for 2025-26 that he's fully expected to exercise as the Lakers prime for a championship-contending season. The club is seeking an impactful center and have several expiring contracts they can use to nab a big man. Rui Hachimura , Dorian Finney-Smith , Maxi Kleber , and Gabe Vincent all are entering the final years of their contracts, while Austin Reaves , who could be their most attractive player, is owed just $27 million over the next two years on a reasonable deal. The Lakers will have to decide whether they are going to use rookie Dalton Knecht , who got off to a rousing start and then was nearly traded to the Hornets, in any offseason deals. Knecht was a part of the rotation as a knockdown 3-point shooter, but then was relegated to the bench after a slump. He played just four minutes in the Lakers' first-round playoff series against the Timberwolves, and could be an attractive piece for a younger team looking for a shooter. Gary Washburn is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at
