Boston Celtics Season Expectations and X-Factors

By: Ben Friend 10/15/25

Jaylen Brown looks to lead this year's Celtics team in absence of Jayson Tatum

For the first time in the last three years, the Boston Celtics are no longer heading into the season as a championship contender. During last year's Eastern Conference Semi-Finals, Celtics Star Jayson Tatum suffered a torn achilles late in the fourth quarter of a pivotal game 4 against the New York Knicks. The injury to Jayson Tatum came as a shock to many, as he has been one of the most durable players in the NBA since entering the league in 2017. For NBA players, an achilles tear is one of the most consequential and career-altering injuries. For many players such as Derrick Rose , achilles injuries have caused large regressions in performance and athleticism. However, there have been a select number of instances where players have made full recoveries, such as Kevin Durant after tearing his achilles in the 2019 NBA Finals.

Jayson Tatum's injury leaves many questions up in the air as he is just 27 years old , an age where almost no players have torn their achilles before, as well as having had surgery less than 24 hours after his injury, an unprecedented speed at which he was able to get the operation done. All of these factors make Jayson Tatum's recovery a mystery to many. As of recently, Tatum has stated that he still has intentions of coming back this season, and recently shared a video of him already back on court just four months after his injury .

Even with all these hopeful signs that point to Jayson Tatum making a return at some point in the season, the Boston Celtics are still a completely different team than last year. This offseason, Boston lost three key players in Jrue Holiday, Kristaps Porzingis, and fan favorite Al Horford. With Tatum out and championship caliber players missing, it is up to Jaylen Brown and Derrick White to be the main drivers of the Celtics offense and defense during the majority of this season. The Celtics still have other notable players returning as well such as Payton Pritchard who, coming off of a sixth man of the year winning season is expected to break into the starting lineup this year . Along with key returners, the Celtics made one very notable offseason acquisition by trading for Anfernee Simons. Simons averaged 19.3 points per game last season while also averaging a mere 5 assists per game . These offensive numbers are impressive, but it will be interesting to see how Simons will fit into a new role on the Celtics where his offensive usage will likely plummet a bit due to the likes of Jaylen Brown and Derrick White. While there are concerns with Simon’s defensive capabilities, he recently spoke out and said that he believes his defense is a matter of pure effort, and that Celtics head coach Joe Mazzula believes in his defensive abilities saying that he is “not as bad as people think I am.”

With all this change in the Celtics roster and expectations, it is hard to predict how they will look this season, but it is safe to say that they will not be the championship favorites they have been in the past. A realistic expectation for the Celtics would be a 35-45 win team that can fight for a play-in spot and a chance to make the playoffs. While this might look like a bleak outcome for many Celtics fans, the potential return of Jayson Tatum later in the season could bolster this roster to a true playoff team but for now, fans shouldn't get their hopes up too much.