There are 27 days remaining in the 2025-26 NBA regular season. The Boston Celtics have 15 more games to prep for the postseason. So, what should be near the top of their to-do list before the playoffs arrive?

Here are five storylines we’ll be watching:

1. Reps for Tatum … especially with Queta

Jayson Tatum’s minutes are already on the rise after four games back on the floor. The All-NBA forward shedding rust and getting comfortable again is clearly the biggest priority for the Celtics over this final month.

And while Tatum has plenty of institutional knowledge from extended floor time with Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, Payton Pritchard and Sam Hauser, it feels important for him to log as much time as possible with center Neemias Queta.

While Queta was part of that 2024 title team, he has had limited reps with Tatum over the previous two seasons. The duo shared the floor for only 529 minutes over 51 regular-season games before Tatum’s injury. 

The encouraging part: The duo has put up elite advanced numbers throughout their time together. 

Through Tatum’s first four games, Queta tops his list of assist finishers, with Queta accounting for six of Tatum’s 18 helpers. If Queta finished a few more looks at the rim in Tatum’s season debut against Dallas, then Tatum might have even notched a triple-double in that game. 

It’s clear that Boston can benefit from Tatum and Queta running pick and rolls together. Queta’s relentless screening can free up Tatum for clean looks, and Tatum’s ability to read the defense will lead to plenty of scoring chances for Queta on the roll.

“It’s been getting better,” Queta told reporters of the pick-and-roll chemistry after Saturday’s win over the Wizards. “I’ve been figuring out how to give him open looks, how to give him space to attack certain mismatches. It’s a work in progress and I feel like we’re trending in the right direction.”

Added Tatum: “Just communication. Talk it out during the game, timeouts, after the game. And, as we get more reps, we’ll get more comfortable, just knowing where each other is supposed to be.”

2. Planting seeds

Scoreboard watching is already in full effect, but the big storyline over the final month might be whether Boston can hold off the Knicks for the No. 2 seed.

Basketball Reference’s Playoff Probabilities report — which runs 10,000 daily simulations of the remainder of the NBA season — gives the Celtics a mere 1.4 percent chance of catching Detroit, which now has a 98.2 percent chance of securing the top seed in the East with a 4-game lead.

It’s still a bit of a coin flip for the No. 2 seed, with Boston (54 percent probability) holding a slight edge over New York (42.3 percent).

The Celtics have a decidedly more difficult schedule over the final 15, slotting with the sixth-toughest remaining strength of schedule in the league (opponent winning percentage of .530). The Knicks have the fifth-easiest remaining stretch of schedule (opponent winning percentage of .458). 

A final head-to-head matchup in New York on April 9 could go a long way toward deciding how the No. 2 seed shakes out. The Knicks hold the edge on potential tiebreakers, having already won two of three matchups and owning a two-game advantage in division record.

3. Reps for Vucevic?

Trade deadline acquisition Nikola Vucevic underwent surgery to stabilize a fracture in his right ring finger on March 7. The team said he would be reevaluated in three-to-four weeks, which might allow him to return to the court for part of April.

The Celtics also will have nearly a full week off between their final regular-season game (vs. Orlando on April 12) and the start of Round 1, which will afford Vucevic practice reps regardless of how much game time he logs. 

Even as a 15-year veteran, every game rep feels important. Vucevic played only 12 games with Boston after his arrival. His finger injury came just two minutes into Tatum’s return game.

Getting a chance to watch and study for a month can help Vucevic determine where he fits on the floor, but reps will further help him earn trust that he can hold up defensively in the postseason.

4. Does the rotation shrink in the playoffs?

One question that we likely won’t get a true answer to until the postseason arrives: How deep will head coach Joe Mazzulla dip into his available rotation when the games matter most?

Over the past two seasons, the Celtics leaned heavily on an eight-man playoff rotation, with one other player’s minutes typically fluctuating depending on health and availability. Last week, despite playing three games against elite competition, we didn’t get too many hints about playoff-like rotation, especially when Boston rested two starters against Oklahoma City. 

Last Sunday’s tilt in Cleveland did see Boston rely mostly on eight players, with Hugo Gonzalez making a seven-minute cameo as the ninth rotation body. That day, Jordan Walsh and Ron Harper Jr. did not muscle into the wing rotation. 

Boston’s wing players have a month left for final auditions.

Baylor Scheierman has clearly won Mazzulla’s trust, first thriving as a starter and now shuffling to a hefty bench role after Tatum’s return. Will Mazzulla lean on rookie Gonzalez as a chaos-infusing, X-factor in the postseason? Can Walsh or Harper Jr. make a case for minutes? How does a healthy Vucevic impact Garza’s minutes and the split at the big-man position?

As the Celtics pace core players to the finish line of the season, there will be opportunities for those without guaranteed playoff roles to make a final case for playing time. 

5. Finishing up the roster

The Celtics needed to get back to 14 roster players over the weekend and did so by 1) elevating rookie two-way player Max Shulga to the parent roster, and 2) signing veteran big man Charles Bassey to a 10-day contract.

Bassey, a summer league hero, offers emergency big-man depth while Vucevic is sidelined. The expectation is that Ron Harper Jr. will elevate to the 14th roster spot near the finish line of the season as the Celtics navigate the cap gymnastics to stay under the luxury tax.