Boston fans know the team is in another golden age of contention.<\/p>\n
But how long can it last?<\/p>\n
The Celtics secured their fifth consecutive 50+ win season since 2021-22 with a 114-99 win over the Charlotte Hornets on Sunday night \u2014 the franchise\u2019s 38th season with 50+ wins and its fourth time hitting that mark at least five seasons in a row (the most of any team in the league.)<\/p>\n
That alone puts this run amongst some of the greatest prolonged stretches of contention in NBA history.<\/p>\n
I mean, sure, the team hasn\u2019t won 11 championships in 13 years like the Bill Russell Celtics or racked up 18 consecutive 50+ win seasons while winning five rings like the San Antonio Spurs.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, it is a rare accomplishment for NBA teams to win 50+ games in at least five straight seasons. Out of 30 teams in the league today, 14 have never done it (15 if you don\u2019t count the Seattle Super Sonics\u2019 history for the Oklahoma City Thunder.) That includes the New York Knicks and Atlanta Hawks \u2014 originally the Tri-Cities Blackhawks \u2014 despite being two of the league\u2019s 11 founding franchises alongside the Celtics.<\/p>\n
That includes historically bad teams like the Charlotte Hornets and the Washington Wizards, but it also features teams that have had dominant stretches over the years, like the Miami Heat, Denver Nuggets, Indiana Pacers and Houston Rockets.<\/p>\n
Overall, at least five consecutive seasons of 50+ wins has only been accomplished 22 times throughout NBA history. Only 11 of those instances featured runs of more than five consecutive seasons and only four were runs of at least 10 straight seasons with 50+ wins.<\/p>\n
The latter is topped by the Spurs\u2019 aforementioned 18-season run from 1999-00 to 2016-17, the Los Angeles Lakers\u2019 12-year stretch from 1979-80 to 1990-91, and the Dallas Mavericks\u2019 11-season run from 2000-01 to 2010-11. Boston\u2019s own 10-season run from 1958-59 to 1967-68 completes the list.<\/p>\n
The Celtics also recorded nine consecutive seasons with 50+ wins under Larry Bird from 1979-80 to 1987-88, starting with 61 wins in Bird\u2019s first season.<\/p>\n
While it may be outlandish to say the team\u2019s current five-season run could stretch on long enough to compete with the Spurs for the top spot, Boston\u2019s own franchise record could very well be within reach of the current core.<\/p>\n
Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown have been at the core of the team\u2019s current five-season run of 50+ wins since it began in 2021-22, when the Jays led the Celtics to 51 wins and the Finals for the first time under Coach Ime Udoka.<\/p>\n
Despite flaming out against the Warriors and losing Udoka to scandal, the run only ramped up the next year under the leadership of Coach Joe Mazzulla, who revamped the offense, unlocked Derrick White, and steered the team to 57 wins.<\/p>\n
After falling one win short of another Finals trip, General Manager Brad Stevens used some of his managerial magic to acquire Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzi\u0146\u0123is. The newly assembled team then rattled off 64 wins and won the 2024 NBA Finals.<\/p>\n
Boston again broke the 60-win threshold in 2024-25 with 61 wins, even though the Celtics struggled with injuries and diminished play in key roles over the year. The team then lost Tatum to a ruptured right Achilles tendon in the Eastern Conference Finals and offloaded Holiday, Porzi\u0146\u0123is and Al Horford in the offseason. Boston even lost backup center Luke Kornet to the Spurs in free agency.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s where this run of 50+ win seasons probably should have ended. But, as we\u2019ve seen this season, this team is simply too good for that.<\/p>\n
In lieu of Tatum for 62 games and four of the 2024-25 team\u2019s other top-nine players, Brown, Mazzulla, Pritchard and White still led the team to a 50+ win season. At the same time, Stevens brought the team below the second apron and repositioned it for future financial flexibility, all while maintaining every piece of the core.<\/p>\n
And now, Tatum\u2019s back \u2014 and dropping 32 points against a red-hot Hornets team on 52.2% shooting from the field and 50% from three-point range.<\/p>\n
So, if the team didn\u2019t fall short of 50 wins this year, when will it?<\/p>\n
Well, it could be a while. Maybe even long enough to meet or surpass the team\u2019s 9- and 10-season runs.<\/p>\n
The two biggest pieces of the core, Brown and Tatum, are still only 29 and 28 years old, respectively. They both have three guaranteed years remaining on their contracts after this season ends. Derrick White, who many may consider to be the third core piece, is 31. He\u2019s locked up for another two years and has a $34,844,000 player option for a third, at which point he\u2019ll be 34 and may no longer field offers of more than $30 million per year from other teams.<\/p>\n
Payton Pritchard and Sam Hauser are both 28 years old. Pritchard\u2019s contract extends through 2027-28 and Hauser\u2019s through 2028-29.<\/p>\n
If Stevens can find a way to lock up Neemias Queta when his current deal ends in 2026-27, the 26-year-old could be the Celtics\u2019 starting center for years to come. That may be difficult, given Queta\u2019s breakout this season and Boston\u2019s delicate financial situation, but it should be possible since the team will have the Bird rights to re-sign him.<\/p>\n
The team also features a deep bench full of young players who could prove vital to Boston\u2019s future success. Baylor Scheierman, 25, Hugo Gonz\u00e1lez, 20, and Jordan Walsh, 22, have all shown their worth this season and could grow to become important complementary pieces.<\/p>\n
Even Boston\u2019s leadership is relatively young. Mazzulla is 37 years old and the youngest coach in the NBA. Stevens is 49 years old, which isn\u2019t exactly young for the role, but young enough to foresee years to come with him at the helm. As made apparent this season, both remain at the top of their games.<\/p>\n
In order to meet or surpass the franchise record for consecutive 50+ win seasons, the team needs to string along another five seasons following this one.<\/p>\n
Age shouldn\u2019t be a problem. While White will be 36 in another five years, Brown and Tatum should be 34 and 33, respectively. The Jays will have the rest of their athletic primes to pursue the record over the five seasons before that, then a couple more years of elite play to potentially surpass it before aging out of stardom. Mazzulla will be just about as old as the average NBA head coach by then.<\/p>\n
Reaching 50 wins with the Jays in their primes shouldn\u2019t be too much to expect, either. Hell, the Celtics only had one of them for the majority of this season and the team may still finish it with almost 60 wins (58 if they win out.) If Stevens can retain them when their contracts expire and maintain a decent roster around them, 50 wins should be within reach every year they remain at an elite level.<\/p>\n
However, despite the team\u2019s seemingly sturdy footing halfway through the trek to 10 consecutive seasons of 50+ wins, any Celtics fan who watched the 2007-08 season knows that, as Kevin Garnett screamed after winning the Finals, anything is possible \u2014 and not always in a good way.<\/p>\n
There is a reason five consecutive seasons of 50+ wins has only occurred 22 times in all of NBA history. Between injuries, free agency, financial complications and the natural decline of aging players, teams need to be both well-piloted and outright lucky to make such a streak happen. For this team to match the franchise record, it would need to accomplish that rare feat twice in a row.<\/p>\n
The biggest questions for the Celtics moving forward will be: 1) can Stevens continue to maintain a competitive roster while walking the veritable financial tightrope that is the 2023 Collective Bargaining Agreement? and 2) how much will Tatum\u2019s Achilles injury impact his availability and effectiveness in future seasons?<\/p>\n
In answering the first question, I think this year works as a perfect demonstration that Stevens is up for the task. He piloted the Celtics out of the second apron while maintaining a roster that can compete for a chip. Assuming Boston remains under the luxury tax next season, the repeater tax will reset and Stevens will be free to once again spend on a contending team.<\/p>\n
As for the second question, only time will tell. Despite struggling with efficiency, Tatum has looked impressive since his return. He\u2019s racked up rebounds at an even higher rate than he did before his injury and stepped right back into his role as floor general, using his ever-present gravity to lure help defenders before stringing a pass to an open man. On top of that, Tatum has had multiple stretches where he has caught fire from the field, dropping midrange shots and step-back threes reminiscent of his best days before the injury.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, Achilles injuries have notably impacted other players\u2019 longevity over the years. Even Kevin Durant, the model of how to return from an Achilles injury, has averaged almost 16 fewer games played per season than he did before his return (not counting this year.) On a positive note, Durant has played 71 games so far this season and 75 in 2023-24. But, if Tatum misses more time moving forward, it will at the very least reduce the team\u2019s margin of error for reaching 50 wins per season. If Brown suffers a long-term injury and Tatum can\u2019t be his usual workhorse self, Boston\u2019s 50+ win season streak would be at high risk of snapping.<\/p>\n
Whether this Celtics core reaches the franchise record or not, their run of five consecutive 50+ seasons is already cemented in history amongst only 21 others, and fans should be happy to know that they may be watching one of the greatest prolonged stretches of contention in NBA history.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Boston fans know the team is in another golden age of contention. But how long can it last?…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":691815,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3766],"tags":[7,45,75,37650,3798,46,21388,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-691814","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boston-celtics","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-boston","10":"tag-boston-celtics","11":"tag-boston-celtics-articles","12":"tag-bostonceltics","13":"tag-celtics","14":"tag-celtics-news","15":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116329415515650782","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/691814","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=691814"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/691814\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/691815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=691814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=691814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=691814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}