Boston Celtics 2025-26 Season Prediction | Where Do They Stand Without Tatum, Holiday, Porzingis? ☘️
The Boston Globe reporting over the weekend that there’s mutual interest between Damen Lillard and the Celtics. Lillard released by the Bucks as he heads into a season that will likely be mostly, if not all, rehab for his Achilles injury. Jason Tatum going through the same thing and unsure if he will play next season either. Let’s bring in our John Gonzalez and Sam Quinn, guys. And John, I’ll start with you on this. Is it a good idea to bring another guy in with the same injury as Tatum and one that’s that’s really getting up there in age as well? No, the answer is no, Chris. I I don’t like this either way. I mean, for the Celtics, I would just hold on a second and just see what’s out there as uh you get Jason Tatum back the following season. And from Dame Lillard’s perspective, he’s going to be 36 coming off on Achilles. He had a really good year last year. I thought he was washed. He absolutely wasn’t. It just never clicked with him and Giannis and they never got as much out of him as they had hoped to. But if I’m Dame, so much can change a year from now, right? You’ve got to rehab anyway. I’d ra I understand the appeal of let’s latch onto a team, get some money, go and use their facility to rehab and all that stuff. But if I’m Dame, so much can change in a year. Let’s think about what happened this time a year ago, Kevin Durant played in Phoenix. This time a year ago, uh, Luca Donuch was coming off a finals appearance for the Dallas Mavericks and we thought was going to play the rest of his career there, right? I mean, uh, Miles Turner safely ensconced in Indiana. Tyresese Hallebertton had two functioning Achilles. Like a lot can change, right? So if you’re Dame, you know, who knows how much of his career he’ll have left after he comes back from this injury. I’d want to check out what the landscape looks like when I come back and try to optimize my odds for potentially winning a championship for the first time in my career. Latching on to the Celtics right now, I get it. It’s, you know, it’s a safe haven, like a safe harbor, but I would wait. Yeah, John, I’m with you. I I think the timing of this, there’s no really good reason for him to sign now, right? It’s not like he needs the money. Oh, I I’m sure Damen Lillard has access to all the medical care he’s going to need whether or not he’s with a team. So, if I were him, I’m not thinking about signing until February or March at the earliest. More more likely, I’d probably just sit this season out. Why gamble with your health at this stage? Take the whole season off. Do what Kevin Durant did. you know, he missed a whole season, came back at full strength the next year, and like has mostly been himself ever since. That being said, I wouldn’t sign with Boston this year, but a year from now, I’d consider it. Now, you’re right. There a lot can change in the time between now and next season, but I do think for the minimum, that makes a lot of sense for him, right? There’s so much other shot creation around him between Tatum coming back, Jaylen Brown, Derek White, there’s so much spacing, there’s so much defense, right? assuming they can get a center somehow that I do think that would be an easier situation for him to go into than somewhere that would really expect him to carry the offense. Now at 36 I don’t know if that team really exists. I think wherever he ends up it’s going to have to be with you know another star or two some so that he doesn’t have to carry that kind of offensive load. But as far as teams to join go especially if you’re making the minimum I do think Boston makes some amount of sense they can start him. There aren’t that many starting point guard jobs available in the NBA right now. You could move Derrick White to shooting guard and go from there. I don’t think it’s the craziest fit. I just wouldn’t do it now. Dame’s Achilles injury occurred just a couple weeks before Jason Tatums and what about six weeks before Tyrese Hallebertton’s and we got word today that Hallebertton is going to be out for the year. Sam, what do you think about the timeline for Jason Tatum’s return? Yeah, I would hope that they keep him out for all of next year. Right. I know there have been the rumblings. Oh, he got the surgery quickly. Maybe he can get back in March or April. Wide openen Eastern Conference. Let’s go for it. Guys, you got to think longer term than this, right? He’s still in his 20s. He still has a long career ahead of him. Don’t take any chances. Don’t bring him back early and risk having something happen that can affect the entire rest of his career. If anything, I would look at this season as such a gap year that like I’d want him out, right? I’d want to take the year and evaluate what what I have. I want to maximize my draft pick. Maybe not by tanking overtly, but the last two lottery winners have come from the playin tournament. If I’m Boston, going into the the play or the playin with like the number seven or number eight seed, that’s not the worst thing for me, right? You got to think longer term if you’re in a position like Boston where championships are realistic. They just won one. I just don’t see the the reward here as being great enough to justify the risk of bringing him back this year. Yeah, there’s no reason to bring him back this year. I I would expect, especially with the timing of the injury, that there’s probably not a realistic possibility of that happening anyway. So, let him rehab, bring him along slowly. As Sam mentioned, even in an Eastern Conference that’s up for grabs, this Boston Celtics roster, as I look at it right now, is not very good. Uh, I don’t expect that they’re going to be contending in the East, even if you did get Jason Tatum back on the back end. And with apologies to Jaylen Brown, that’s the face of your franchise, right? So, no reason to risk it. Take your gap year. uh maybe optimize your lottery odds, your your draft pick odds in a draft that’s supposed to be really good again. And then you try to uh live to fight another day this season after this one. Every offseason teams want to know what’s what’s our biggest addition. It might be tough for Boston because you don’t have a lot of additions, but maybe somebody that can help you this season in that gap year and down the road. John, who would that be? Yeah, when I was asked this question, I I started laughing and I was like, additions, it’s mostly been subtractions for the Boston Celtics. I mean, at first I was like, am I really going to say George Nyang? You know, we all love uh the mini bus there, but uh I guess it’s Anthony Simons by default, right? I mean, Anthony Simons is a young player. He’s a bucket. With the way that the Boston Celtics play, he’s going to get a million threes. He’s just going to jack up as many shots as he possibly can handle. And they’re going to need the offense because they’re super limited now that they’re not going to have Jason Tatum. Chris Porzingis plays in Atlanta. Drew Holiday now plays in Portland. I mean, it’s going to be the Derek White, Jaylen Brown, and I guess Anthony Simons show. So, Anthony Simons, congratulations. You win this question by default. And for biggest loss, there’s all kinds of options, including Holiday and Porzingis, the two big names who were traded away, but you guys are both going elsewhere. Sam, who would you say the biggest loss off this team is? It’s Luke Cornet because he’s the only guy who’s young enough and healthy enough to feasibly be a part of the next great Celtics team. Right. Drew Holiday’s 35. By the time Tatum was ready to win again, he wasn’t going to be the significant player he was during their last run. Chris Porzingis is such a medical question mark that I don’t think they could have justified an extension for him. Al Horford’s about to turn 40, right? Luke Cornet might not be a star. He might not even be a starter, but he was one of the best backup bigs in the NBA. They could have eased him into a bigger role with Al Horford gone, but now he’s in San Antonio and you have no centers on your roster, right? I don’t think you ever could have played Luke Cornet 30 minutes, but having him around would have been pretty helpful with all the other losses that they’ve had. Yeah, I’m going to go with the other big. It’s going to be Al Horford for me. I mean, Chris Porzingis on paper is a better player, but he’s never available, right? He’s he’s only played 66 games one time in his career, and that was his rookie year. After that, he’s just, you know, you check around and he’s on the men from some recent malady. Al Horford, despite the fact, and by the way, Sam, I’m pretty sure he just turned 39. I think you aged him up a year. Uh but anyway, Al Horford, yes, towards the back end of his career, but still a really useful player. And I think if he signs with Golden State, which a lot of people expect him to do, that’s a great landing spot for him. He’s a perfect fit for that team. He protects the rim. He spaces the floor cuz he can shoot threes, can let Draymond be Draymond. You don’t have to worry about the fit with him and Jimmy. He’s going to work out nicely with Steph Curry. And also, he’d have a chance, yes, the Western Conference is absolutely loaded, but a much better shot at winning something with Golden State than winning nothing with the Boston Celtics this year. So, another blow for the Celtics. They’ve lost so much, but they’re in an a conference that appears to be open. So, what is the expectation for the season for the Boston Celtics in this quote unquote gap year? Sam, I’m picking them as a playin team, right? I mean, I think the Eastern Conference is weak, but it’s not like bad, right? You know, you feel pretty good about the Knicks, the Cavs, the Magic at the top. The Pistons should improve. They’re really young. Like John said, the Hawks are in a really good place. I think the East is good enough at the top that without their best player, Boston is probably just sort of in the middle of the pack, right? Like I guess you could say maybe Philly has so many injury issues that Boston could sneak into the top six that way or maybe there’s some other calamity that strikes one of these teams at the top. Ultimately though, like remember, it’s not just that they don’t have Jason Tatum. They don’t have Jason Tatum before the season even begins. More injuries are presumably going to follow because that’s what happens in the NBA. Nobody makes it through a whole season healthy. If they lose Jaylen Brown for any extended period of time, if they lose Derrick White for any extended period of time, if they make any more significant trades, like things can get harder very, very quickly. So, I just don’t see any upside beyond the playin for them. Sam Quinn and John Gonzalez both agree that it’s playin tournament the expectation for the Boston Celtics this season and the odds suggest that they will be there. The Celtics with the seventh shortest odds to win the East 7 through 10 go to that playin tournament. Knicks and Cavs close to co-favorites right now.
John Gonzalez and Sam Quinn join CBS Sports HQ to break down their predictions for the Boston Celtics’ 2025-26 NBA season.
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[00:00:00] – Damian Lillard Eyeing Celtics
[00:03:23] – Jayson Tatum’s Road to Recovery
[00:05:15] – Biggest Offseason Additions
[00:06:09] – Biggest Offseason Losses
[00:07:51] – Season Predictions
#NBA #Celtics
