Celtics Offseason Recap and Season Preview: Tatum Leads Charge Amidst Eastern Conference Upheaval

It didn't take long for the Boston Celtics to make noise this offseason, as the historic franchise decided to trade former Finals MVP Jaylen Brown to the rival Philadelphia 76ers on July 6 for Paul George and a collection of future picks.

The trade came on the heels of the Celtics missing out on two-time All-Star Giannis Antetokounmpo , who was moved to the Miami Heat after a heavy pursuit from Boston at the start of the summer.

The Celtics will now be fully in the hands of Jayson Tatum , who returned late last season from a torn Achilles in the 2025 playoffs. Tatum will be joined by George and fresh signings Mitchell Robinson and Mike Conley .

Will the moves be enough for the Celtics to compete in the East? Or will moving on from Jaylen Brown prove too costly in a strengthened Eastern Conference?

ESPN's staff of experts is looking back at the offseason and taking an early look at the 2026-27 season for all 30 teams, with 30 pieces -- one for every team -- rolling out each weekday through Friday. We're answering the biggest looming questions, evaluating X factors and much more for all 30 teams.

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Offseason at a glance

Key additions: Paul George, Mitchell Robinson, Mike Conley

Key subtractions: Jaylen Brown, Nikola Vucevic

Key retentions: Neemias Queta , Jordan Walsh , Ron Harper Jr .

Boston responded to its first early playoff exit since 2021 by boldly trading Brown to the 76ers, ending his fruitful partnership with Jayson Tatum. The move should improve the Celtics' long-term flexibility to build around Tatum, but next year's iteration will require the aging George to discover the fountain of youth. The 36-year-old forward has played in 60 games just once in the past seven seasons.

Even so, this shouldn't be viewed as a gap year. The Celtics return a cohesive nucleus, and they added Robinson's defense and rebounding to shore up a frontcourt rotation that was overwhelmed in the postseason.

If Tatum returns to superstar form in his first fully healthy season since a May 2025 Achilles injury, the Celtics will have a chance to win at least 50 games for the sixth straight year. Securing Banner 19, however, will likely require finding a superstar replacement for Brown sometime down the road. -- Ben Golliver

Zach Kram's offseason grade : C-

The Celtics undercut the Knicks with their addition of Mitchell Robinson and signed Neemias Queta to a great extension. But their offseason will be defined by the stunning Jaylen Brown trade, which shocked the basketball world not because it happened but because it brought back such a light return from the 76ers ( Paul George , two first-round picks and two second-round picks) for the player who finished sixth in MVP voting last season.

So many aspects of the Brown trade -- from his fit in Philadelphia to the value of George's contract to what the trade says about analytics and the NBA's financial landscape -- will continue to be debated for months, if not years, to come.

President of basketball operations Brad Stevens might prove right in the long run. But right now, it seems like the Celtics reduced their 2026-27 championship equity without saving all that much money, so they receive one of my worst offseason grades. -- Kram

From Ben Golliver's offseason lessons piece : The second apron can break hearts.

The NBA's harsh second apron penalties and restrictions have caused multiple contenders to shed salary and lose talent. This summer, the 2025 champion Oklahoma City Thunder traded away Luguentz Dort, Aaron Wiggins and Isaiah Joe , and the reigning champion New York Knicks watched Mitchell Robinson leave in free agency.

But no apron-related move sparked an outcry like the Celtics' decision to trade Jaylen Brown to the 76ers for Paul George , two first-round picks and two second-round picks. The 2024 Finals MVP had spent 10 seasons in Boston, reached six Eastern Conference finals, earned five All-Star selections and fostered deep connections with the local community. With that track record, it was hard for fans to view Brown as just another line in the spreadsheet.

But NBA commissioner Adam Silver was unsentimental when asked about the second apron's impacts in Las Vegas last week. Silver said that moves like the Brown trade were "certainly not an unintended consequence" of the apron rules, adding that "people need to manage budgets" and teams "can't have unlimited resources." In other words, any upset Celtics fans should wipe their tears and deal with the league's new economic reality. -- Golliver

Brown peaked as an offensive force while carrying the Celtics through Tatum's absence for much of last season: He averaged career highs in points, shot attempts, and assists, and his 36.2 usage rate ranked second in the NBA. Even though Tatum played only 16 games, Boston finished with the league's second-best offensive rating.

A healthy Tatum will help fill some of the void created by Brown's departure, but Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla will also seek to craft the right roles for George and Payton Pritchard within an offensive system that generates lots of three-point attempts and limits turnovers.

George's reliable outside shooting should ease his transition to Boston, which ranked fourth in three-point attempts last season and is sure to give him the green light. Expect Pritchard, a nifty scorer who shifted between starting and bench roles last season, to build on his career year in 2025-26 with expanded opportunities. -- Golliver

Here are the predicted Net Points per 100 possessions for the Celtics' top seven players for the 2026-27 season:

If you never lose more than three games in a row, players are going to listen to you. That's what Joe Mazzulla has accomplished as coach of the Celtics for three years now, despite so much turnover in their rotation. Losing streaks eat at players and coaches, allowing some nasty inner voices to surface. But three games? That's a blip that they can all move past really quickly and keep focusing on the process. -- Dean Oliver

Read about how Net Points works here .

Mitchell Robinson

Due to a focus on winning the possession battle, by avoiding turnovers and crashing the offensive glass, the Celtics led the league in shot attempts per 100 possessions last season. And now they've added the best offensive rebounder in the NBA, with Robinson crossing sides in the Knicks-Celtics rivalry in free agency.

Robinson's health will always be a concern, but when he's on the court in Boston, he should help Joe Mazzulla's team strengthen its possession focus and generate plenty of open 3-pointers when he kicks out to the perimeter after grabbing offensive boards. -- Kram

Fantasy insight ahead of the season: The Celtics had led the NBA in 3-point attempts and 3-pointers made for two straight seasons before last season, when they finished fourth in attempts and third in makes. Their drop from 48.2 3-point attempts per game in 2024-25 to 42.1 3PA/G last season was likely influenced by the injury absence of Jayson Tatum (9.1 3PA/G for last three seasons) for most of the season with the offense built more around Jaylen Brown's mid-range game (5.7 3PA/G for last three seasons). But Tatum is back full time, and Brown was traded this offseason for Paul George (8.0 3PA/G over the last eight seasons). Expect the Celtics as a team to bounce-back to the league lead in 3-pointers, with all of their fantasy contributing shooters maximizing their 3-pointers made. -- Andre Snellings

Odds by DraftKings Sportsbook at time of publication.

_Originally reported by [ESPN](https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/49939898/boston-celtics-offseason-recap-early-2026-27-season-preview-jayson-tatum)._