The Boston Celtics are a legendary franchise, who have rostered some of the best players in the history of basketball.
Bill Russell, John Havlicek, Larry Bird, Paul Pierce and Jayson Tatum are just a handful of names that can fit into that category, all making their name as members of the Celtics. Boston has also been home to other superstars.
We’re talking about guys who spent just a small part of their careers with the Celtics, whether that be the back end, the beginning or even both. There’s a pretty solid list of players who fit those descriptions.
Let’s take a look, shall we?
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Blake Griffin
Okay, fine. You didn’t forget this one.
That doesn’t mean it won’t be weird when everyone looks back in 25 years to remember that Griffin, a six-time All-Star with the Los Angeles Clippers and Detroit Pistons, was the second oldest veteran on a team with NBA Finals hopes. Griffin spent the majority of his time hanging with the “Bus One Boys” whilst in Boston, appearing in just 41 games as an end-of-the-bench player. He sure was fun in spurts, though.
Shaquille O’Neal
The Celtics were doing anything they could to maximize their championship window when Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen were in town, even going as far as to sign a way-passed-his-prime O’Neal.
Shaq played the final 39 games of his career with the C’s, averaging career lows in points (9.2), rebounds (4.2), blocks (1.1) and minutes per game (20.3). In a career where he made 15 All-Star appearances, won an MVP, captured four rings and two scoring titles, none of those accomplishments came with Boston. The highlights were still awesome.
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Gary Payton
There is a generation of Celtics fans that only know Payton as the guy who presented Marcus Smart with his Defensive Player of the Year award in 2022. Their uncles remember Payton as a surprisingly effective 36-year-old point guard for Pierce and Antione Walker.
The Glove didn’t initially want to join Boston, but scored 11.3 points per game in a season where the C’s surprised. It was quite the 77-game stretch.
Chauncey Billups
We’ve talked a lot about players who spent time in Boston at the tail-end of their careers. This is the opposite.
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The Celtics drafted Billups with the No. 3 pick in the 1997 NBA Draft. They gave him approximately exactly 51 games to prove himself, before shipping him off to the Toronto Raptors at the trade deadline. That was life with Rick Pitino running the show. Billups would go on to make five All-Star appearances, winning the 2004 NBA Finals MVP as a member of the Detroit Pistons.
Artis Gilmore
There is a certain section of Celtics fans who might not even know who Gilmore is, so here’s a refresher. He was the Chicago Bulls before Michael Jordan came along.
The A-Train made four All-Star appearances with Chicago after leaving the ABA, where he is considered one of the league’s greatest-ever players. The Hall of Famer even went on to have a great career with San Antonio, making his final two All-Star appearances with the Spurs. It was a 61-game stint with Boston in which Gilmore ended his career, however, putting the finishing touches on his NBA-record 56.6% field goal percentage.
Joe Johnson
This is the guy we were talking about when we mentioned starting and finishing his career with the Celtics.
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In a story similar to that of Billups, Johnson was selected with the No. 10 pick before being dealt away from Boston at the trade deadline his rookie year. The seven-time All-Star would go on to have a tremendous career with the Atlanta Hawks and Brooklyn Nets (spending time with the Phoenix Suns, Miami Heat, Utah Jazz and Houston Rockets, as well) before returning to the Celtics to play his final game.
There was a 19-year, 305-day gap between his stints with the C’s, which is the longest gap in NBA history. The man known as “Iso Joe” finished up by showing that he never lost that ability to get a bucket.
Rasheed Wallace
Just like Shaq, this is an entry that we can thank the “Big 3” for.
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The man known as “Sheed” won a ring with Billups and the Pistons in 2004, before coming in and playing remarkably mediocre ball for the Celtics in his final full season in 2010 — scoring nine points per game across 79 contests in his lone season in Boston. The Trail Blazers and Pistons legend started Game 7 of the Celtics’ loss to the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2010 NBA Finals, the second-to-final game in his career.
Jermaine O’Neal
Wow, the Celtics really loved old guys in the late 2000’s-to-early 2010’s.
Jermaine O’Neal, much like Wallace and Shaquille O’Neal, joined Boston in hopes of being the perfect backup big to complement Garnett and Kendrick Perkins. He wasn’t, appearing in 49 contests across two seasons with the C’s. He was far from the player that made six All-Star appearances with the Indiana Pacers.
Bruce Bowen
Though he would go on to become one of the greatest players in Spurs history, Bowen’s NBA career didn’t start too hot.
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He scrapped to make rosters in the late 1990’s before finally catching on with the Celtics. He appeared in 91 contests across two seasons with Boston, showing off his three-point shot before eventually leaving in 1999. The C’s probably wish they held on to the eventual three-time champion and eight-time All-Defense member.
Dominique Wilkins
Yes, we’re talking about that Dominique Wilkins.
The nine-time All-Star technically won a gold medal at the 1994 World Championship of Basketball with Dream Team II as a member of the Celtics, but that’s about the only positive thing he did in Boston. He was a fine player still, averaging 17.8 points per game, but those teams needed a whole lot more than fine.
Oh yeah, he also scored the final Celtics basket at the old Boston Garden before it was replaced in 1995.
Tayshaun Prince
Prince got caught in the void that was the early Brad Stevens-era Celtics.
Just like his buddies from the 2004 Pistons, Billups and Wallace, Prince had a short run in Boston — appearing in just nine games in 2015. It was an unremarkable run.
Stephon Marbury
Marbury was never quite a “star” in the NBA, but boy is he legendary.
The two-time All-Star ended his career in Boston, playing a ton in their run throughout the 2009 playoffs. He averaged nearly 12 minutes per game in the postseason before bidding the NBA farewell for China.
Bill Walton
Your dad will remember this one.
Walton, the 1977 NBA Finals MVP and 1978 NBA MVP with the Portland Trail Blazers, joined the Celtics toward the end of his career in a new role — as their sixth man. He immediately paid dividends, helping them win the 1986 NBA Finals and taking home Sixth Man of the Year that very season. He averaged seven points and 6.4 rebounds per game with Boston — bringing plenty of good vibes with him.
Featured image via David Butler II/USA TODAY Sports Images
