No other city has dominated this millennium in professional sports like Boston.
2000-2025 has been a period of profound change for the Boston Celtics, the franchise who founded and defined the first and greatest dynasty in pro basketball. The team changed hands twice. They returned to championship glory after wandering the desert through the 1990’s, drafted two All-Stars, and hung two banners. But this stretch wasn’t without its low points: injuries, soured trades, and the loss of the one figure who had the Midas touch with everything green: Red Auerbach.
As 2025 draws to a close, WEEI.com ranked the 25 most significant moments for all four teams in town. That distinction of “significant” is key - not all moments of significance are covered in glory.
We’ll have rankings for the Patriots on Monday, Celtics on Tuesday, Red Sox on Wednesday and Bruins on Thursday.
With that said, here’s your 25 most significant moments since 2000 for the Boston Celtics:
25. Paul Pierce Game 1 of 2008 Finals (June 5, 2008)
Best remembered as the “Wheelchair Game.” Pierce left the court in the third quarter with an apparent knee injury and was photographed in a wheelchair. He came back, hit three 3-pointers, and fueled rumors forever.
24. Danny Ainge departs Celtics, Brad Stevens kicks upstairs (June 2, 2021)
Ainge led the Celtics’ front office for 18 years and hired his eventual replacement, Brad Stevens. There was much speculation over how a nice midwestern fella’ like Stevens could fill the shoes of such a hyper-competitive executive.
23. Game 3, 2018 Eastern Conference Semifinals (May 5, 2018)
What can affectionately be known as the “Confetti Game” against the Sixers, during which Philadelphia prematurely celebrated what would become one of the early big wins of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown’s career, clinched in overtime.
22. Ainge trades Antoine Walker (October 20, 2003)
Ainge’s first major move as Celtics GM was shipping one of Boston’s stars to the Dallas Mavericks in hopes of jumpstarting a rebuild. Walker would return to the Celtics in 2005.
21. Brad Stevens hired to replace Doc Rivers as head coach (July 3, 2013)
When Rivers went west, the Celtics took a chance on a 36-year-old Stevens, who had just led Butler University to two NCAA championship games. Stevens never saw a team to the NBA Finals, but developed the Jays early in their careers and eventually replaced Ainge.
20. Boston Basketball Partners buys Celtics from Paul Gaston (December 31, 2002)
Two crazy kids, Wyc Grousbeck and Steve Pagliuca, bought the Celtics from Gaston – who had owned the team since 1993. They paid $360 million at the time.
19. Ray Allen leaves in free agency for Miami Heat (July 11, 2012)
Creating one of the great rifts among champions in NBA history, Allen signed with the Celtics’ direct rival – the Heat – as a free agent. Thus, the second ‘Big 3’ era concluded, and Allen was only welcomed back into the fold by Kevin Garnett decades later.
18. Stevens trades Marcus Smart for Kristaps Porzingis (June 22, 2023)
Anyone who doubted Stevens could set aside his personal feelings for basketball business was set straight by an 11th-hour trade that sent the reigning NBA defensive player of the year to the Memphis Grizzlies as part of a three-team deal for Kristaps Porzingis. Stevens capped it off with another trade for All-Star Jrue Holiday. The chemistry of the Celtics team was dramatically altered.
17. Rick Pitino’s ‘Not walking through that door’ rant (March 1, 2000)
“All the negativity that’s in this town sucks.” Enough said.
16. Ime Udoka suspended; Joe Mazzulla promoted to interim head coach (September 23, 2022)
Udoka was suspended weeks before the start of the 2022-23 season for team policy violations. The Celtics promoted Mazzulla, an assistant. He went on to lead Boston to its second championship of the century.
15. Celtics draft Jaylen Brown (June 23, 2016)
Boston selected Brown with the No. 3 overall pick, prompting boos from some fans in attendance. Brown has gone on to win 2024 Finals MVP, second team All-NBA, and has been named an All-Star four times.
14. Game 2, 2017 Eastern Conference Semifinals (May 2, 2017)
Isaiah Thomas’ 53-point performance led the Celtics to a 129-119 victory over the Washington Wizards in overtime. Thomas played despite losing his sister, Chyna, in a car accident just days before. The game took place on her birthday.
13. Red Auerbach dies (October 28, 2006)
Perhaps the single most influential individual in all of Celtics history, Auerbach died of a heart attack at age 89. He had worked for the franchise through the previous season.
12. Kyrie Irving leaves in free agency for Brooklyn Nets: July 7, 2019
Irving’s departure for the Brooklyn Nets was the culmination of a brewing dysfunction within the Celtics’ locker room and left many fans with vitriol against the guard for years to come.
11. 2022 NBA Finals loss to Golden State Warriors (June 16, 2022)
Udoka sparked a defensive-led turnaround for Boston after an early exit from the 2021 playoffs, but losing the 2-1 lead over the Warriors felt like a major lost opportunity. There would be even more change in the years to come.
10. Ainge trades Isaiah Thomas, others for Kyrie Irving (August 22, 2017)
This blockbuster trade was arguably the biggest example of Ainge’s relentless commitment to talent, but it was hard to say goodbye to someone who played with the heart Thomas did. Irving’s stint with the Celtics was ultimately short-lived.
9. H. Irving Grousbeck sells family shares in team (August 13, 2025)
In a shocking plot twist, the elder Grousbeck engineered the sale of the team following their 2024 championship to an ownership group led by local Bill Chisholm for a record-breaking $6.1 billion.
8. Jayson Tatum tears Achilles (May 12, 2025)
The Celtics’ six-time All-Star ruptured his Achilles during a 42-point performance in Game 4 of the first round of the playoffs against the New York Knicks. What the injury means for his career is yet to be determined.
7. Ainge trades Pierce, Garnett to Nets (July 12, 2013)
Ever the roster architect, Ainge saw the chance to build the foundation for the next generation of champions and traded two beloved stars to the Nets for the draft picks that eventually landed Tatum and Brown.
6. Game 7, 2008 Eastern Conference Semifinals (May 18, 2008)
The legendary duel between Paul Pierce and LeBron James, (then, still in his first stretch as a Cleveland Cavalier), was a modern masterpiece of a Game 7. Pierce’s 41 points nearly matched James’ 45, and the Celtics punched a ticket to the Conference Finals.
5. Game 7, 2010 NBA Finals (June 17, 2010)
This night may have been the most heartbreaking loss during this millennium for Celtics fans, as Kobe Bryant found his game in the fourth quarter and ended the Big 3’s hopes of a second banner in three seasons.
4. Celtics draft Jayson Tatum (June 22, 2017)
Boston offered the No. 1 pick, swapped from the Nets, to the Sixers, and won four-time All-NBA first teamer Tatum with the No. 3 overall pick. Philadelphia chose Markelle Fultz. While drafting Brown was also a great move, this moment represents a risk that aged immediately well in Tatum’s rookie season.
3. Ainge assembles new ‘Big 3’ (July 31, 2007)
Ainge’s master stroke was the summer of 2007, in which he traded for Allen and signed Garnett. The trio led the franchise to an immediate, historic turnaround season, during which they hung a championship banner.
2. Celtics win Banner 18 (June 17, 2024)
The Jays’ greatness was immortalized in a five-game series against the Dallas Mavericks. Brown won the well-deserved honor of being named NBA Finals MVP.
1. Celtics win Banner 17 (June 17, 2008)
There’s nothing like beating the Lakers in the championship, especially when it ends a 22-year drought.
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
- Paul Pierce stabbed in Boston nightclub (2000)
- Jayson Tatum’s 46-point Game 6 in 2022 Eastern Conference Semifinals
- Game 3 of 2002 Eastern Conference Finals
- Ainge trades Kendrick Perkins (2011)
