The waiting game? Five takeaways from Stevens’ end-of-season debriefing originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
If you were hoping for hints on how the Boston Celtics might navigate a murky path forward, then Brad Stevens’ end-of-the-season debriefing provided little in the way of guidance.
Stevens opened his podium session by politely asking to table questions about roster construction, noting the team wanted to let things breathe a bit following a disappointing second-round exit. Cost-cutting changes are inevitable as the rent comes due for Banner 18. But Stevens wasn’t about to roll out the blueprint for what comes next.
So what did we actually learn about the team’s future? Here are five takeaways, including some nuggets from our exclusive chat with Stevens after his group session:
1. Celtics won’t rush Tatum’s Achilles rehab
The Celtics did not set a timeline for Jayson Tatum’s return to basketball activity after his Achilles surgery last week, and Stevens suggested that the team will err on the side of caution before Tatum is back on the court for an NBA game.
“This is about full recovery,” Stevens said. “And helping him get back to feeling like himself ASAP. And ASAP can be as long as it takes.
“There is no timeline. There will be different steps along the way that we’ll then say, ‘OK, you can move on to the next step. You can move on to the next step.’ But, ultimately, I think that’s the most important thing. Let’s let this thing heal. Let’s rehab appropriately and it takes what it takes.”
Stevens offered appreciation for how quickly the team was able to get Tatum into surgery, and how being in New York allowed him to be operated on by Dr. Martin J. O’Malley — the same surgeon who did Kevin Durant’s Achilles repair — at the Hospital for Special Surgery,
Could Durant’s timeline offer a hint on Tatum’s recovery? Durant ruptured his Achilles in June of 2019. He sat out the entire 2019-20 season, including the pandemic Bubble restart. Durant returned to the court in December of 2020. Not rushing the process might have helped Durant come back looking much like his pre-injury self.
If Tatum were to sit out the entire 2025-26 season, his return at the start of the 2026-27 season would essentially be 17 months away from game action.
“We know he’s going to be stir crazy. He just loves basketball,” said Stevens. “He’d be stir crazy even though our season’s over and somebody else is playing. He hasn’t missed a summer of playing for [Team] USA since I can remember. The guy just loves to play. And so, yeah, that’s going to be hard for him and it’s going to be a challenge.
“I’m thankful we’re on the other side of the surgery and we are only up from here.”
2. Focus on apron, tax remains the top storyline
The big summer question as the Celtics chart a path forward is whether Boston will make moves with a goal of simply getting below the second apron, or whether the team might yearn to get out of the luxury tax entirely given the potential for a possible bridge season as Tatum recovers.
The Celtics are already $20 million north of the second apron line for next season, and that’s before deciding the future of free agents Al Horford and Luke Kornet. Asked in general how a GM might balance the penalties of the apron versus the tax, Stevens said his immediate focus will be on the apron, given the handcuffs it places on long-term roster building.
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“I start with the basketball penalties part, which is the second apron, and then you weigh those against your chances of being a championship contender,” said Stevens, who got ahead of the curve by both acquiring and extending both Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday in the summer of 2023.
Now, staring at not only a gaudy tax bill but limited in ways to tweak this roster, Celtics brass have acknowledged the inability to keep all their talent moving forward.
But even if this core is overhauled, the Celtics like the potential with what should remain.
“I think one of the best things that we have going for us is we have a lot of good players on good contracts,” said Stevens. “And guys that everybody knows, if we put all those guys out on the floor, you have a chance to win the next game, even without Jayson.
“It becomes a lot harder to be sustainably good without a guy of Jayson’s caliber, but I do think that we just have a lot of winners in our group. And so we’re lucky in that regard.”
3. C’s stung by missed opportunity
Stevens admitted there’s been a few restless nights in the aftermath of Boston’s second-round exit against the New York Knicks. The Celtics spent the season as favorites to repeat, and it hasn’t been easy to digest the early exit given the way the team fumbled away big leads in both Games 1 and 2 against New York.
“Every year that you don’t end up on top it hurts, and especially when you have a great shot,” said Stevens. “Certainly it stings — we are all stung by it. But we’re all thankful for the journey that these guys did take us on. There’s work to do and that’s the way that you look at it when you’re in my shoes.”
Stevens was asked what he’d take from the past two seasons with this championship core, and even then he admitted it’s hard to get past the recent exit.
“The loss stings way worse than the championship feels good,” said Stevens. “And that’s just the sick and twisted way I live.”
4. Vote of confidence for Mazzulla
Stevens repeatedly offered praise for third-year coach Joe Mazzulla and said the team is fortunate to have him as their coach. What guidance will Stevens given Mazzulla in the offseason?
“He did a good job,” said Stevens. “We love Joe and we’re glad he’s here. My thing with Joe will be the same as it is every year: We’ll see how [the roster] all shakes out, and then you’ll see what you can do to put everybody in the best position to go compete like hell.
“And that’s what we’re always going to try to do. We’ve got so many good players and so many good people that I trust that we’ll be in good shape.”
5. Eyes on NBA Draft, NIL impact
Asked to assess this year’s draft class, Stevens noted that the depth of this year’s available players could be impacted more by NIL money than any other in his tenure.
Stevens noted how the back half of the 2025 NBA Draft could be weakened if players elect to take lucrative NIL money that might be greater than what they can earn as an NBA rookie.
With his team slated to pick at No. 28 and No. 32, Stevens could have some interesting choices depending on which players elect to stay in the draft. If the talent pool is thinned, might the team try to shimmy up, or move out of the draft entirely in order to push those picks into more talent-filled drafts down the road?
Like the roster as a whole, we’ll have to wait for draft night for real answers.
