“We did it,” screamed Jayson Tatum after the Boston Celtics forward captured his long-awaited first NBA title at age 26.
Tatum and company celebrated their title win on the parquet floor of TD Garden, which hadn’t seen a banner raised in over 15 years.
After the 2024 NBA Finals, Boston became a city of champions once more. Entering the following offseason, key players up and down the roster were under contract for years to come. The end of the 2023-24 season feels like it could be the beginning of a new era of Celtics dominance.
Fast-forward not even a year later — Boston is entering dangerous and murky waters. Several consequential decisions await in the 2025 offseason. Tatum is out for possibly all of the 2025-26 season. The members of last year’s championship-winning core have all but assuredly played their final game together.
Sports are volatile. The Celtics’ dreams of a dynasty seem to be dashed, not even a year after their inception. To understand how the NBA’s reigning champions arrived at such a moment, one must go back to their ascension to the league’s mountaintop.
Building a Champion
June 21, 2023 — The Boston Celtics respond to a disappointing defeat in the 2023 Eastern Conference Finals by trading away fan-favorite Marcus Smart in a three-team deal that brought Kristaps Porzingis to Boston. The move is an emotional one for Celtics President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens, who called it “really hard,” but it’s one that Stevens feels he needed to make. It’s clear that the Celtics are going to do all they can to capture the elusive 18th banner.
July 25, 2023 — The Celtics give Jaylen Brown the largest contract in NBA history, a five-year, $304 million deal, after a career year. Brown was named to the 2023 All-NBA Second Team, the first All-NBA selection of his career. Boston locks up one of its two young stars long-term as he is entering the prime of his career.
October 1, 2023 — Boston trades for veteran guard and defensive stalwart Jrue Holiday, sending Malcolm Brogdon and Robert Williams III along with two first-round picks to Portland. Holiday, an NBA champion with the Milwaukee Bucks in 2021, is a major get for the Celtics because of the poise he brings to a team that had recently struggled in big moments deep in the postseason.
April 10, 2024 — Boston signs Jrue Holiday to a four-year, $135 million extension. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski writes that because of the move, “the Celtics are destined to operate as a second apron team in 2024-25, restricting their free agency and trade options for exceeding the highest payroll threshold.”
Jayson Tatum when he found out Jrue Holiday had been traded to the #Celtics:
“At first I was like, ‘I can’t believe Milwaukee let this happen.’ So thanks to the Bucks.”
Adds he knew Boston had a really good chance to win the championship after adding Holiday. pic.twitter.com/Bkh9RECQeV
— Justin Turpin (@JustinmTurpin) July 10, 2024
Achieving Immortality
April 21, 2024 — With an NBA-best 64-18 regular season record, the Celtics enter the 2024 postseason as the East’s top seed, hungry for their first championship since 2008.
June 17, 2024 — Boston claims the NBA’s throne once again, ending one of the most dominant playoff runs in recent NBA history: Boston goes 16-3 in the playoffs en route to its 18th championship, the best single-season playoff record since Golden State went 16-1 in 2017. The NBA Finals MVP goes to Jaylen Brown, and a summer of celebration begins.
The Quest to Repeat
July 1, 2024 — The Celtics go all-in on their title-winning core. Jayson Tatum surpasses Jaylen Brown as the highest-paid player in the NBA with a five-year, $314 million supermax extension. Derrick White signs a four-year extension worth $126 million.
The vision is clear: Maximize the open championship window and do whatever is possible to retain the NBA’s crown.
July 21, 2024 — Boston isn’t done rewarding key contributors to its latest championship. Sam Hauser receives a four-year, $45 million extension. The Celtics become one of the most expensive teams in NBA history: Their $225 million projected payroll in 2025-26 is accompanied by a $210 million luxury tax penalty. The team’s 2032 and 2033 first-round picks are untradable as it prepares to enter its second consecutive season above the second apron.
October 22, 2024 — The Celtics’ title defense begins with a 132-109 season-opening rout of the New York Knicks. Jayson Tatum scores 37 points on 14 of 18 field goals, making eight three-pointers.
The four-time All-NBA First Team selection looks eager to repeat as champion after a controversial stint with the USA men’s Olympic team that saw him completely benched in two of six games. Jaylen Brown alluded to having extra motivation after being left off the Olympic squad, a snub in the eyes of many. Boston’s top two stars are fresh off their first title and are as hungry to win as reigning champions can be.
April 20, 2025 — The Celtics enter the 2025 playoffs after another 60-win regular season. The year was not without its ups and downs—notably an 8-8 stretch from Dec. 19 to Jan. 18—but Boston had rounded into form in the late stages of the season. The Celtics close the season having gone 19-3 since March 1—the best record in basketball in that span.
The Fall
May 12, 2025 — The Knicks lead the Celtics late in a critical Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals. Jayson Tatum is playing one of the finest games of his career. The superstar has 42 points on 16 of 28 field goals and seven three-pointers. Poised for his fifth consecutive All-NBA First Team selection at age 27, Tatum has done all he can to keep a trailing Boston team in a must-win game in which it led by as many as 14 in the second half.
The Celtics trail 111-104 with just over three minutes remaining. The threat of going down 3-1 in a series that many expected them to win without much trouble is looming. Tatum has the ball and passes to Jaylen Brown. The reigning NBA Finals MVP mishandles the pass, and the loose ball bounces in the direction of Tatum. Boston’s perennial All-Star lunges for the ball, but his right leg gives out. Tatum collapses to the hardwood in a raucous Madison Square Garden, visibly in immense pain.
New York wins Game 4 to go up 3-1 in the series; they would advance to the Eastern Conference Finals four nights later in a 119-81 blowout victory in Game 6.
After an agonizing 18 hours for Celtics fans, ESPN’s Shams Charania confirms what many had already come to suspect: Tatum had ruptured his Achilles.
BREAKING: Boston Celtics All-NBA star Jayson Tatum underwent surgery to repair a torn right Achilles tendon. Catastrophic season-ending injury for one of the NBA's young faces and the Celtics, with a long rehab awaiting. pic.twitter.com/6dx2sNJbOT
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) May 13, 2025
While no recovery timeline is currently available, the injury all but sidelines the six-time All-Star until the 2026 All-Star break at least. Tatum could miss the entirety of the 2025-26 season.
Uncertainty Ahead
The 2025 offseason was expected to see Boston make major changes before Tatum’s injury. Now that the Celtics’ best player is going to miss potentially an entire season, Brad Stevens has some incredibly difficult decisions to make.
Questions asked before Tatum’s injury were products of the financial calamity Boston is in: Who do the Celtics move to escape the second apron? Can they even get to that mark? Who will be back next year?
Now, with Tatum out, some far more worrying questions arise: Can the team contend without Tatum? Do the Celtics tank for a high draft pick? Can a Tatum-less Celtics team make the playoffs? Will Jaylen Brown be in Boston next year? Will the Celtics still be contenders when Tatum gets back, or has their window already slammed shut?
Boston’s path remains unclear, but this is almost assuredly the last run for this core in Celtics green. It was a nightmarish end to this season for them. Whether or not it is also the end of Boston’s championship window with Tatum remains to be seen.
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