NBA insider John Hollinger of The Athletic analyzed five teams on Wednesday that he believes will fall short of their preseason projections.
The Boston Celtics — projected for 42.5 wins this season by BetMGM — are among the quintet of squads that Hollinger discussed.
Hollinger also included the rival New York Knicks, defending Eastern Conference champion Indiana Pacers, Portland Trail Blazers and Washington Wizards on his list.
He noted that the Celtics still have some “good players left” following their busy offseason, including Derrick White, Jaylen Brown and Payton Pritchard. However, Hollinger said that the unknown status of injured superstar Jayson Tatum, plus the departures of Al Horford, Jrue Holiday, Kristaps Porziņģis and Luke Kornet makes Boston a “very different team.”
“I guess people are so used to the Celtics racking up regular-season wins that they didn’t get the memo: Boston’s biggest opponent this season is the luxury tax, not the other teams in the East playoff chase,” he wrote. “The other part of this equation is that Boston probably isn’t done. Anfernee Simons’ $27 million expiring contract seems likely to be on somebody else’s books by February, unless the Celtics can find a taker for Sam Hauser instead. Moving at least one of those two gets Boston all the way out of the CBA’s punishing repeater tax and sets the Celtics up to build back with a recovered Tatum a year from now.”
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Hollinger argued that the Celtics have “zero incentive to invest anything in their 2025-26 roster unless it has longer-term benefits.”
“They’ll probably chase the Play-In Tournament if they’re close, and this conference is certainly capable of keeping them in the race. But 42.5 wins? It feels like a lot of things would have to go right for Boston to pull that off,” he wrote.
Featured image via Winslow Townson/Imagn Images
