A major goal for the Celtics during their 2025 offseason was to get beneath the NBA’s second apron, a threshold that — if passed in consecutive seasons — brings harsh team-building punishments to an organization. In an attempt to avoid those penalties as a repeat offender, key pieces to Boston’s 2024 championship were moved for cheaper options that create financial flexibility for the following season.
With major components of their roster now in place for the 2025-26 season, the Celtics will need to learn how their new pieces work together to extract their full value to remain competitive in the Eastern Conference.
That task was already difficult with a new core. Combined with the uncertainty of Jayson Tatum’s health after he tore his Achilles during the 2025 playoffs, makes the objective that much more strenuous — even with maintaining some players, including Jaylen Brown and Derrick White. Whether Boston’s superstar plays this year or misses it completely remains to be seen.
What is known is that a slew of new Celtics will be deployed when they open their season on Oct. 22 against the 76ers.
Headlining the list of newcomers is guard Anfernee Simons, who was a part of a trade that sent Jrue Holiday to Portland. Simons, now an eight-year veteran, spent his entire career with the Trailblazers, averaging career stats of 15.0 points, 4.8 assists and 2.7 rebounds. He received his most usage a season ago, starting in a career-high 70 games.
The Celtics will likely need Simons to increase his 3-point shooting, which was a 36.3 percent clip in 2024-25. His production from deep was better before then, posting 37.7 percent and 38.5 percent marks in each of his prior two seasons. Head coach Joe Mazzulla will likely need to extract similar performances to increase the production of Simmons, who has only one year left on his deal.
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Anfernee Simons
Josh Minott will likely face similar hurdles to Simons, albeit as an unproven third-year player. Minott, who signed a two-year deal with the Celtics after spending three seasons in Minnesota, has never averaged more than seven minutes a game. In his limited playing time, Minott has posted 2.3 points, 1.0 rebounds and 0.3 assists per game. Certainly not glimmering statistics, but his per-36 minute stats projected a career 16.7-point scorer with 6.1 rebounds per game.
Still seems like another gamble for the Celtics.
A major component of maintaining their lethal 3-point shooting that has become a staple for the Celtics will be a big man who can provide a threat behind the arc. With the departure of Al Horford to Golden State, Chris Boucher could be a potential fix for the role. Boucher had a breakout year from deep a season ago, knocking down 36.3 percent of his 3-pointers on 3.9 attempts. It was an increase from his 33.0 percent in the prior season and marked the second time in his career that he averaged more than three 3-pointers in a season. His shooting from deep does not create a major liability for opponents, but he could be just effective enough to make teams respect his shot-making ability.
First-round draft pick Hugo González could also fill a similar role, but he will likely need vast improvement. González made only 30.4 percent of his 3-pointers in four summer league games while taking 5.8 attempts per game.
Protecting the rim and cleaning the glass will likely fall on Boucher and 6-foot-10 center Luka Garza. Boucher’s 6-foot-9 frame allowed him to average 5.1 rebounds throughout his career. Garza, who has appeared in 124 games and struggled to receive minutes, has averaged 2.0 rebounds through his four-year career. He showed promise as a rookie in Detroit, grabbing 3.1 boards in 12.2 minutes — both of which are career bests — in 32 games.
The Celtics’ first preseason game is Wednesday, Oct. 8 at Memphis. It’ll be the first chance for fans to see how well they are meshing through training camp.
It will also be the first marker for Boston to see how large of a payout it can expect.