One week ago, Brad Stevens was in New York, sitting on the Celtics’ bench alongside assistant general manager Austin Ainge, watching Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown go through their pregame warmups.
They probably felt like they were in a good spot. After falling behind 0-2, the Celtics responded with a 22-point win in Game 3 and had a chance to even the series, potentially stealing back home-court advantage.
They had no idea what kind of disaster was coming.
Flash forward one week. Instead of sitting at TD Garden ahead of a Game 7 with a chance to punch their ticket to the Eastern Conference Finals for a fourth straight year—and the seventh time in nine seasons—Stevens sat in front of the media for an end-of-season press conference that arrived much sooner than expected, and with far more questions about the future than anyone could’ve imagined just weeks ago.
There were more cameras and media members than usual as Stevens took his seat on the dais and spoke for nearly half an hour. As he prepares to navigate the Celtics through the most uncertainty they’ve faced in a long time—with Jayson Tatum potentially sidelined for a calendar year with an Achilles injury, a roster that will cost over half a billion dollars to retain, new ownership, and an early exit for a team with championship expectations—Stevens admitted he needed more time before offering clarity on what comes next in an offseason suddenly full of unknowns.
“I know there will be a lot of questions about what’s next, but I’ll talk, probably, more about that at the draft, when we have a better idea, after meeting with all the key stakeholders and everybody else, about what the next steps might be,” he said. “We’ll have more clarity as we take a deep breath, get a little bit more sleep than we have had the last three nights, and then figure out how to be the best version of ourselves here moving forward.”
Boston is staring down a record-setting $280 million luxury tax bill and what would be the first $500 million roster in NBA history. The starting five alone—Tatum ($54.1M), Brown ($53.1M), Holiday ($32.4M), Porzingis ($30.7M), and White ($30M)—will cost nearly $200 million.
And the financial strain comes with strict basketball restrictions. The Celtics won’t be able to send out cash in trades, aggregate salaries in multi-player deals, use a traded player exception, or sign waived players who made more than $14.1 million. They are $22 million over the second apron.
Only three players—Al Horford, Luke Kornet, and Torrey Craig—are set to hit free agency. The remaining 12 are under contract, meaning any path to cutting costs will likely come via trade, which are inevitable.
“The reality is that we have a lot of good players. We’re in a unique situation. They’re all under contract, and obviously, there are several basketball penalties that come with that amount of salary. So, we just have to weigh it all and make those decisions,” said Stevens. “But all of those guys have been told, my door’s open, my phone is on. Anything that I can do to talk through anything as we continue to move forward, I’m always open to that. And listen, we have an amazing group of guys. This is what makes it hard when you come up short. And I know people say that all the time, but the character in the room is just incredible. And they’re the kind of guys that can go to any gym anywhere and win any game. We just didn’t do it enough.”
It’s a new era of Celtics basketball, led by Stevens, backed by Bill Chisholm and his investors. And while Stevens deflected most questions about the team’s murky future, he did offer a few noteworthy insights. Here are five takeaways.
Jaylen Brown did indeed play through a partially torn meniscus in the final months of the season
Over the weekend, it was reported that Jaylen Brown finished the season with a partially torn right meniscus. Stevens confirmed that report, revealing that it was not a new injury.
“What was reported this weekend, that’s been something that he’s had for a while, and it’s been stable, and he’s played with it. That’s been several scans through and through,” Stevens said. “We’ve known that for a long time, and he’s known that for a long time. It just tells you these guys care. They care about winning. They care about playing. They care about playing well. He’ll drive that, but certainly, we’re thankful for how much and how hard he’s played, but he was definitely experiencing some discomfort there in March. But, you guys all watched it in the last couple of weeks, I thought it got better and better and better, and I think he actually felt better, or, at least, he told me he felt better at the end of the Knicks series.”
Brown received pain injections in the knee shortly before the playoffs. While his usual burst and athleticism weren’t quite there, the 28-year-old still averaged 22.1 points on 44.1% shooting (33.3% from three), 7.1 rebounds, 3.9 assists (a career high), and 1.0 steals per game. He led the team in scoring four times and recorded three double-doubles, a career high for a single postseason run.
Following Boston’s Game 6 loss, Brown said he planned to explore the next steps for his knee, which the team had previously labeled as a bone bruise and posterior impingement, including the possibility of surgery. Stevens said Monday that structurally, Brown’s knee is in a “good place.”
“Jaylen wants to play. Jaylen is a competitor. Jaylen is a warrior. Jaylen takes great pride in being out there. He saw our team docs and a couple of other people, and, as he even said a couple of weeks ago, the knee is in a good place structurally,” Stevens said. “So I think he felt comfortable getting out there and going after it, and, hopefully, he’ll feel better after being off of it for a couple of weeks here. The unfortunate part is we’re done in the middle of May, but some of these guys have some nicks, bruises, and other things that, you know, it’ll be good to get some rest.”
With Jayson Tatum expected to miss most, if not all, of next season, Brown will be asked to shoulder more of the offensive load. In 10 games without Tatum this year (including playoffs), Brown averaged 24.2 points on 47.0% shooting (34.5% from three), 6.9 rebounds, 6.7 assists, and 1.5 steals. The Celtics outscored opponents by a combined +128 with him on the floor in those games.
“I have full faith in Jaylen,” Stevens said.
Kristaps Porzingis was limited by post-viral syndrome
It was a brutal postseason for Kristaps Porzingis. He averaged just 7.7 points (a playoff career low), 4.6 rebounds (second-lowest in a postseason), 0.7 assists (tied career low), and 0.8 blocks (second-lowest). While he appeared in all 11 games, he was limited to a career-low 21.0 minutes per game and shot just 31.6% from the field (25-of-79) and 15.4% from three (4-of-26)—both career worsts for a playoff run. It was a sharp drop-off from his regular season, where he averaged 19.5 points on 48.3% shooting (41.2% from three), 6.8 rebounds, 2.1 assists, and 1.5 blocks over 42 games.
In the six-game series against the Knicks, Porzingis totaled just 25 points on 6-of-25 shooting (24%) and 2-of-9 from three (22.2%), along with 22 rebounds, three assists, and five blocks across 93 minutes. His scoring total and minutes were the lowest for any six-game stretch of his career.
He was clearly winded and not himself—a result, Stevens said, of post-viral syndrome.
“I don’t think anybody was more frustrated than him. And I felt for him because the way it was described to me was just post-viral syndrome, which is just lingering effects of a long illness,” Stevens said. “I think we’ve seen that and probably all read too much about that over the last several years. I thought he had really turned the corner there towards the end of the regular season. We went to Madison Square Garden, and he was so good, even in the first round. And then, for whatever reason, he just didn’t feel as good there early in the next series, and never really felt great.”
Porzingis, entering the final year of his contract (worth roughly $30 million), is expected to suit up for Latvia in EuroBasket this summer, an international tournament that begins in late August.
“Our expectation is that, probably – these next couple of weeks will do him good to be off. But he’s going to play for Latvia,” Stevens said. “I think that’s a good thing. It’s good to be playing in EuroBasket, and I’m sure it’ll be well cleared up by then.”
A long road to recovery awaits Jayson Tatum
When Tatum ruptured his Achilles in Game 4, Stevens was waiting by the tunnel to help carry him off the floor. He also stayed in New York with Tatum following surgery to repair the torn right Achilles tendon.
Since entering the league in 2017-18, no player has logged more combined regular season and postseason minutes or games than Tatum. He’s missed just one playoff game in his career and has only been sidelined for two or more consecutive games on four occasions. His remarkable durability—rare for a player of his caliber—has made the injury even tougher for him to process.
“Obviously, that’s hard – super hard for Jayson, more than anybody. As has been well-documented, he loves to play. And I think even missing two games has been grueling for him,” said Stevens. “We know that there’s a long road ahead, and that there’s going to be several steps that he’ll have to take before he ultimately gets back out on the court.”
There’s no silver lining to a potentially career-altering injury that could cost Tatum his entire age-27 season. But there was one stroke of good fortune: it happened at Madison Square Garden—just over three miles from the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York and Dr. Martin O’Malley, one of the world’s foremost Achilles specialists. O’Malley performed Kevin Durant’s Achilles repair in 2019 and has operated on more than 150 professional athletes and consults for teams across multiple leagues.
“The positive was we were 15 minutes away from Dr O’Malley, who is a terrific surgeon, who has done a number of these,” Stevens said. “And Dr. Schena was on the phone with him before we left the building on Monday night, and he was out of the MRI, in consultation, and done with surgery by the time we had an injury report the next day, because there was real benefit to doing it early. And so, as tough as that injury is, and as tough as it was that night, just an amazing set of circumstances and an amazing thank you from our organization to all of the – Dr O’Malley, the nurses at HSS and everybody there and the hotel that we were staying in and the accommodations they made they made Jayson feel comfortable in. I thought it was about as good of a transition, and about a bleak of a feeling as you could have.”
No timetable is currently available for Tatum’s return, but he is expected to make a full recovery.
Stevens backs head coach Joe Mazzulla
Since Joe Mazzulla took over as head coach, the Celtics are 215-81, including playoffs. His .726 win percentage is the highest in NBA history among coaches with at least 100 games. Last season, he became the ninth-youngest coach to win a title—and the youngest since Bill Russell, who won one as Boston’s player-coach in 1969—claiming the championship at just 35 years old.
Since taking over, no one has more wins—regular season (182) or postseason (33)—than Mazzulla.
Despite the silly narratives that he can’t coach, Mazzulla will be back on the sidelines this season with full support from Stevens.
“Joe is great. Joe’s done a great job,” Stevens said. “We’re lucky that we have Joe here. We’re lucky that we have the staff we have here, and we’re thankful.”
Don’t expect fireworks in the Draft
As the media arrived for Stevens’ press conference, two draft prospects were getting into a black SUV out front of their Auerbach Center – neither Duke’s Cooper Flagg nor Texas’ Tre Johnson.
It was reported by Yahoo! Sports’ Kevin O’Connor that both Flagg and Johnson interviewed with the Celtics during the NBA Draft Combine, which raised some eyebrows given that Flagg is projected to go No. 1 overall and Johnson is expected to be a top-five pick.
With the Celtics holding the No. 28 and No. 32 picks, some speculated that Boston might be gearing up for a significant trade. But according to Stevens, that’s not the case.
“We can rank who we want to talk to. The people we know we can’t get into work out is how we decide who we want to talk to at the combine. Otherwise, we might not ever get to talk to them again,” Stevens said. “The only people that’ll come in and work out are people who think they’re in our range, or in the bottom of our range, whatever the case may be. So that doesn’t really have anything to do with any of that. Will there be fireworks on draft night? I can’t imagine. But again, who knows? I wouldn’t guess with us, no.”
Stevens, who’s only made one first-round pick as President of Basketball Operations—selecting Baylor Scheierman last year—said he’s open to trading up, trading down, or staying put. But moving into the Flagg or Johnson range seems unlikely.
“I think generally, one of the concerns with the new CBA was it might limit trade activity or movement, and I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t think, necessarily even big-picture, that’s the case. I think there are no specifics at all. But I wouldn’t be surprised to see movement continue to happen across the league. But as far as us and moving up to those levels in the Draft, I would guess that that is probably not a thing.”