Celtics Will Answer ‘Biggest Question’ By Playing For A Title

What is the biggest question surrounding the Boston Celtics with only a few days to go until the start of the regular season?

Bleacher Report’s Zach Buckley did an interesting NBA exercise this week. He came up with each NBA team’s “biggest question” now that the preseason is over.

For the Celtics, Buckley landed on, “What Are the Internal Expectations?”

“While Jayson Tatum hasn’t ruled out a 2025-26 return from the ruptured Achilles he suffered in May, the Celtics seem like they’re approaching this as a gap year,” Buckley wrote.

“They made a number of financially-driven subtractions this summer, which played a big part in Al Horford’s decision to jump ship and join the Golden State Warriors in free agency.”

“While Boston didn’t totally dismantle its roster—Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, Payton Pritchard and Sam Hauser are still around—this isn’t close to the super-stacked squad it had fielded in recent seasons,” Buckley continued. “And the most talented newcomer, Anfernee Simons, buzzed in trade talks almost as soon as he arrived. So, will the bottom line keep factoring into this club’s personnel decisions, or do the Celtics still see themselves as a viable challenger in the East?”

The answer to Buckley’s Celtics question is a resounding ‘yes’ — the Celtics definitely still see themselves as contenders in the Eastern Conference.

When you have players like Brown, White, Pritchard, and Hauser who have been to the mountaintop of a championship, thoughts of missing the playoffs or not being competitive simply aren’t arising.

We haven’t even mentioned head coach Joe Mazzulla, who is the last person on Earth interested in tanking.

Playing for a championship remains the goal in Boston, and the current group can get closer to the NBA Finals than most people realize, especially given the state of the Eastern Conference.

If Tatum actually returns in 2025-26, that’s another miraculous variable to consider amid what could become a surprisingly successful season.

Inside the Celtics locker room, though, no one will be surprised if this team contends.