Neemias Queta’s Importance To Celtics Is More Massive Than Expected

Neemias Queta is indispensable to the 2025-26 Boston Celtics. For a team without great depth down low, Queta’s energy, rebounding, and shot-effecting presence allow Boston to hold down the fort defensively, but when he’s off the court, everything seems to fall apart.

Queta was really good for the Celts on Wednesday in their 29-point rout of the Washington Wizards. The Portuguese big man finished with 15 points, 12 rebounds, and five assists on 7-of-7 from the field, becoming the first player in Celtics history to log a game with 15 points, 10 boards, five dimes, and a perfect field goal percentage.

Queta was +23 against the Wizards and leads the Celtics in plus/minus this season with a +75 overall and a +8.3 per game average. This speaks to how important Queta is to Boston, and the eye-test reveals the same truth: when Queta’s on the floor, the Celtics feel like a complete, winning unit. When he’s on the bench, things go downhill.

Queta’s averaging 22.9 minutes per game for the Celts this season (why isn’t Joe Mazzulla playing him a bit more?), and he’s averaging 9.1 points, 8.1 rebounds and 1.7 assists through nine games.

He’s still just 26 years old. It’s pretty incredible to think how much Queta has improved over the last two to three years. He developed a ton in the G League and is coming up huge for Boston right now during a time when they desperately need him.

There’s still a ton of room for growth for Neemy, but to dismiss him as a someone who could never be the starting center of a winning team (as many have done) feels over the top.

He’s not Nikola Jokić or Victor Wembanyama, but Queta is more than enough for the Celtics right now; in fact, they wouldn’t be surviving without him.