It’s going to take a long time for the sting of the Jaylen Brown trade to wear off. To be honest, it may never go away. It’s the type of deal that lingers in the air around an organization for years. A stench that will only wear off if hindsight has its way with it. And that would take a Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce trade-esque shift in narrative.
Nothing will take away from that. Nothing can take away from that. But life goes on. NBA basketball will tip off again in October, as it does every year. The Boston Celtics will be back.
So, that’s what we’re going to discuss. Put the Brown trade — as unfathomable as it is — to the side for a moment. Because the Celtics are going to roll out a rotation without Brown in it for the first time in a decade. That lineup will take the floor no matter how you feel about the trade. And that lineup will still be one of the best in the East. So, let’s take stock.
Here is what the Celtics’ rotation projects to look like next season, barring another trade before the beginning of the 2026-27 campaign:
PG: Payton Pritchard, Ron Harper Jr., Mike Conley Jr.
SG: Derrick White, Hugo Gonzalez
SF: Paul George, Baylor Scheierman
PF: Jayson Tatum, Sam Hauser, Jordan Walsh
C: Neemias Queta, Mitchell Robinson, Luka Garza
End of bench: Chris Cenac, Dillon Mitchell (TW), Amari Williams (TW), Dalano Banton*
*Dalano Banton is on a non-guaranteed contract. If I had to guess, he won’t be on the roster on Opening Night.*
Again, it’s impossible to ignore the Brown-trade-sized elephant in the room, but for the sake of looking forward, let’s hide the elephant behind a lamp and discuss. Because this roster is better than the one the Celtics walked into last season with.
By all accounts, this is the exact same team, but with Tatum in place of Brown, George in place of Anfernee Simons, Conley in place of Josh Minott, and Mitchell Robinson in place of Chris Boucher and Xavier Tillman.
Even if you believe Tatum and Brown are truly equals, all of those other swaps — purely from a basketball perspective — are upgrades. George (again, contract aside) is better than Simons. Robinson is better than Boucher and Tillman. There’s an argument to be made for Minott, but the Celtics have plenty of wings and forwards better than him, and Conley is a great veteran voice.
Jayson Tatum‘s health will play a major role in how good the Celtics are next year. But based on everything we saw from him down the stretch of last season, he was heading in the right direction, and probably ahead of schedule.
Payton Pritchard‘s progression as a player will also be crucial. I’m very high on what he can be moving forward. The same goes for Hugo Gonzalez, Baylor Scheierman, Ron Harper Jr., Neemias Queta, and Jordan Walsh. Boston has plenty of young players who will have a chance to showcase their potential next season.
In fact, every player on Boston’s roster has a chance to take a leap next year. So, in just two sentences, what’s the best- and worst-case scenario for how next season could go for every player on the roster, and for the team as a whole in the post-Brown world?
Jayson Tatum: A return to the All-NBA First Team player he’s always been, and perhaps even an improvement upon that. Or the injury truly derails his season, preventing him from staying on the court and playing like himself.
Paul George: The injuries subside, and George is able to show glimpses of the MVP candidate version of himself for the first time in years. Or he can’t stay on the court — as has been the case for years — and the Celtics get little to no production out of him.
Payton Pritchard: All of the offensive growth that Pritchard showed last year takes
