The 2024-25 NBA Playoffs did not go the way the Boston Celtics or their fans hoped. Aiming to be the first back-to-back champions since the Warriors in 2017 and 2018 was an achievable goal. The roster and coaching staff were largely the same. Plus, the Celtics were playing with championship intensity. There were never guarantees, but they had a shot at winning again.
Then the worst case scenario happened. In Game 4 of their second round series against the Knicks, Jayson Tatum suffered a non-contact Achilles tendon tear. He was in surgery the next day and missed what was left of the playoffs as the Knicks would go on to win the series. Fans were left wondering what might have been had that moment played out differently.
While some are more optimistic, Tatum will likely be missing the entire 2025-26 season. Yet, the Celtics have bet big on him, losing several key and clutch players in order to keep their superstar trio of Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Derrick White together. If Tatum doesn’t come back the same, and it happens with big injuries, this house cleaning may have been for nothing.
Big changes to keep Jayson Tatum
Everyone in basketball and in the general orbit of the NBA knew the 2025 off-season was going to be rough on the Celtics’ championship roster. Multiple player contracts were going to start costing big money, meaning salary cap room was going to have to be made to keep from being penalized by the NBA. In that regard, the team was quite successful.
Kristaps Porzingis was traded to the Atlanta Hawks. Luke Kornet headed to San Antonio in free agency. Jrue Holiday was traded to the Trail Blazers. Georges Niang and JD Davison are also gone, with Jordan Walsh heading to the G-League. Plus, Al Horford is apparently trying to decide between playing with the Warriors next season and retirement.
Some of these players are bigger losses than others, and there are new players like Luka Garza, Anfernee Simons, Chris Boucher, and Josh Minott in Boston. That doesn’t change the fact that the Celtics have lost a significant portion of their 2023-24 NBA Championship DNA. Making the playoffs in 2025-26 is a long shot, and what comes after could be worse.
Jayson Tatum might be a lot different
Much like Tyrese Halliburton and Damian Lillard, Tatum is expected by most to miss all of the 2025-26 season due to his Achilles injury. The question is who will he be when he returns. It’s not outside the realm of possibility that Tatum will never be the caliber of player he was before the injury. A prime example is Ben Simmons, who was injured during his rookie season and has all but languished since.
It could also turn out to be an Embiid situation where Tatum becomes injury-prone and doesn’t play as much or as consistently as he used to. An ankle injury knocked Tatum out of a pivotal playoff game in 2023 as well. The team needs to keep a close eye on this, as two ankle injuries to the same key player costing them two playoff runs is the beginning of a pattern.
The Celtics have put a lot of eggs in the Tatum/Brown/White basket in the hopes of it paying off in a big way once Tatum returns. Still, there are a lot of big “ifs” surrounding his status. The problem is that the franchise has stripped down a championship team without addressing those “ifs” in the least. The potential for all of this to go very wrong for Boston is much higher than they want to admit.
