Mobile Menu
HEADLINES

Celtics Rumors

Celtics’ Brown, Tatum Available For Game 3; Holiday Out

April 25th, 2025 at 5:20pm CST by Rory Maher

5:20 pm: After being upgraded from doubtful to questionable about an hour ago, Tatum will make his return on Friday for Game 3, tweets Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe. Brown will also be available, but Holiday has been ruled out.

2:24 pm: The Celtics could be shorthanded for Friday’s Game 3 in Orlando. In their initial injury report on Thursday, the team listed Jrue Holiday as questionable with a right hamstring strain and Jayson Tatum as doubtful with a right distal radius bone bruise, tweets Jared Weiss of The Athletic.

On Friday, reigning Finals MVP Jaylen Brown was also added to the injury report, having been listed as questionable due to a right knee posterior impingement (Twitter link via Weiss). Brown has been managing the knee injury for several weeks.

Tatum was sidelined for Boston’s Game 2 victory after injuring his right wrist in Game 1. It seems likely that he will miss Friday’s contest as well.

It remains to be seen if Holiday and Brown will be forced to miss tonight’s game, but it’s certainly not ideal for the Celtics that both players are battling injuries.

Brown is coming off an excellent Game 2 performance, finishing with 36 points, 10 rebounds and five assists. Boston currently holds a 2-0 lead in the first-round series.

A fourth Celtics starter, Kristaps Porzingis, sustained a cut which required five stitches Wednesday after being inadvertently elbowed by Goga Bitadze, per Baxton Holmes of ESPN. However, Porzingis was able to return to the game and downplayed the gash after the victory.

“Honestly, how can I not come [back] out?” Porzingis said. “Like, ‘Oh, I have five stitches, I can’t play anymore.’ My legs work, everything works, so of course I’m going to be out there. And you know me. I like these moments. Coming back out again, getting a little love from the crowd. It just happens within the game and this is not going to stop me. So I’m going to keep going.”

Retweet 0 Share 0 Send via email0

Jayson Tatum Out For Game 2 Due To Wrist Injury

April 23rd, 2025 at 5:25pm CST by Luke Adams

5:25 PM: Tatum has officially been ruled out for Game 2, per Tim Bontemps of ESPN (Twitter).

3:14 PM: Celtics forward Jayson Tatum has been listed as doubtful to play in Game 2 of the team’s first-round series vs. Orlando on Wednesday, as Jared Weiss of The Athletic tweets. Tatum’s injury designation is a right distal radius bone bruise.

The Celtics star injured his right wrist in the fourth quarter of Game 1 on Sunday when he drove to the basket and was met by Magic defenders Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Wendell Carter Jr. The Orlando duo collided with the Celtics star and sent him to the floor and into the basket stanchion (Twitter video link via ESPN).

Tatum grabbed his right wrist and remained on the floor for some time. He was eventually able to get up and remain in the game, but he seemed to be favoring that wrist for the rest of the night. Following Boston’s victory, the six-time All-Star underwent an X-ray, which he said came back clean.

While Tatum initially expressed optimism about his availability going forward, Shams Charania of ESPN reported today during a SportsCenter appearance (Twitter video link) that the 27-year-old underwent an MRI and was diagnosed with a bone bruise. Charania referred to it as a “pain tolerance” injury that could linger, adding that Tatum’s availability for Game 2 is “up in the air.”

Head coach Joe Mazzulla told reporters earlier on Tuesday that Tatum is considered day-to-day, per Souichi Terada of MassLive.com.

If Tatum is unable to play on Wednesday, the Celtics figure to lean more heavily on starters Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, Jrue Holiday, and Kristaps Porzingis for offense, with Payton Pritchard and Sam Hauser among the reserves who could see more significant roles.

Retweet 0 Share 0 Send via email0

Southeast Notes: Young, Rozier, Love, Magic, Wizards

April 23rd, 2025 at 4:00pm CST by Luke Adams

Asked during an appearance on The Dan Patrick Show (YouTube link) about Trae Young‘s future in Atlanta, NBA insider Chris Haynes said the Hawks guard has expressed to him that he’s “down with the process” and wants to see a young Atlanta team “turn the corner.” However, while Haynes hasn’t heard anything from Young’s camp to indicate that he’s seeking a change of scenery, he acknowledged that there are “definitely teams out there who are monitoring his situation.”

Within his preview of the Hawks’ offseason, John Hollinger of The Athletic also explores what’s in store for Young and the Hawks, noting that it’s hard to get a read on the team’s direction because there are already so many individuals who have some say in the front office, even before Atlanta hires a new head of basketball operations.

In addition to team owner Tony Ressler and his son Nick Ressler, executives who have a voice in personnel decisions include general manager Onsi Saleh, assistant GM Kyle Korver, and advisers Chris Grant and Chris Emens. Tony Ressler also sometimes asks for input from people outside of the basketball operations department, including minority owner Grant Hill. According to Hollinger, Hill is viewed by some sources as Ressler’s top choice to run the front office, but seems satisfied with his USA Basketball job.

While there has been “chatter” about the possibility of the Hawks entertaining a Young trade this offseason, it remains to be seen how strong his market would be, according to Hollinger, who suggests one possible reason the team traded Dejounte Murray instead of Young a year ago was because it would’ve been more difficult to extract value for Young.

We have more from around the Southeast:

  • Terry Rozier (ankle sprain) and Kevin Love (personal reasons) will be unavailable for the Heat in Game 2 of their series vs. Cleveland on Wednesday. Head coach Erik Spoelstra says he “feels” for both players, praising Rozier for maintaining a good work ethic even when he’s out of the rotation and adding that the team is there for Love during “what he’s going through,” per Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald.
  • Rozier told reporters that he’s “super frustrated” about injuring his ankle in a scrimmage, but he said the injury is already improving and didn’t require an MRI, according to Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel. The Heat guard described his status as “day to day.”
  • The Magic aren’t bothered by Al Horford‘s complaints about Orlando’s “extra” physicality in Game 1, including a hard foul by Kentavious Caldwell-Pope that resulted in Celtics star Jayson Tatum injuring his wrist. According to Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel (subscription required), head coach Jamahl Mosley said he didn’t think Caldwell-Pope deserved to be called for a flagrant foul on that play, while guard Cole Anthony said the Magic play “the right way” and aren’t trying to hurt anyone. “We’re going to keep mucking it up,” Anthony added. “You’re just giving us good feedback.”
  • The Wizards were voted the NBA’s second-worst organization in The Athletic’s latest player poll, with Brian Keefe receiving the most votes for the league’s worst coach. As Josh Robbins of The Athletic writes, those results suggest the Wizards have work to do to adjust the outside perception of the team, though veterans like Malcolm Brogdon and Khris Middleton have said since arriving in D.C. that they’ve been pleasantly surprised by how the organization functions.
Retweet 0 Share 0 Send via email0

Eastern Notes: Bucks, Lillard, Pritchard, Holiday, Beasley

April 23rd, 2025 at 2:57pm CST by Luke Adams

After seeing his starters get thoroughly outplayed in the first two games of their first-round series vs. Indiana, Bucks head coach Doc Rivers is considering the idea of tweaking the lineup for Game 3, according to Eric Nehm of The Athletic. Whether it’s the personnel or the approach, something has to change on Friday, Rivers acknowledged.

“We’ve gotten off to two poor starts, and we’ve got to make an adjustment there, for sure,” the Bucks said following Tuesday’s Game 2 loss. “We’ll just see. We have time. We have 48 hours. I’m not gonna tell you what I’m doing right now because I don’t know, but we’ll figure it out, I’m very confident about this series. Very.”

The Bucks started Giannis Antetokounmpo, Brook Lopez, Kyle Kuzma, and Taurean Prince alongside Ryan Rollins in Game 1, with Damian Lillard replacing Rollins in Game 2. Those two units were the most frequently used Milwaukee lineups after the All-Star break, but they haven’t been effective so far in the playoffs — the starters were outscored by 15 points in about 17 minutes in Game 1 and by nine points in 16 minutes in Game 2.

“We don’t want to put ourselves in a hole early in the game,” Antetokounmpo said. “I think we’ve done it in two games. We also did it in the third quarter. It’s hard to play from behind. We just gotta be smarter the way we play, be more urgent when we start the game; hopefully we can be the one to set the tone and not them.”

Here’s more from around the Eastern Conference:

  • In his first game back after being sidelined for over a month due to a blood clot, Lillard played 37 minutes on Tuesday and said he “felt pretty good,” though he acknowledged he still needs to work a little more on his cardio, per Michael Marot of The Associated Press. “I got a little winded, but I think everyone got a little winded,” said Lillard, who had 14 points and seven assists in the Bucks‘ Game 2 loss. “I wasn’t really thinking about if I was tired, it was just like I’m out here and I’ve got to do what I got to do.”
  • Celtics guard and newly minted Sixth Man of the Year Payton Pritchard made a compelling case for an increased role by scoring 19 points on 6-of-8 shooting in 25 minutes of action in Sunday’s Game 1 win, writes Brian Robb of MassLive.com. Pritchard is a strong candidate to get a minutes bump in Game 2 on Wednesday with Jayson Tatum considered doubtful to play.
  • Whether or not Tatum is available, the Celtics would like to see more of the Jrue Holiday they got in Game 1, according to Jay King of The Athletic. Holiday took another step back on offense this season, posting his lowest scoring average (11.1 PPG) since his rookie year in 2009/10, but he has found many other ways to contribute. On Sunday, he made a trio of three-pointers and racked up three steals, prompting teammate Al Horford to tell reporters that Holiday “changed the game” with the energy he brought in the third quarter. “That’s the Jrue I love, you know what I mean?” Jaylen Brown added. “That’s the Jrue I remember competing against.”
  • Pistons wing Malik Beasley has been sued by Daniel Hazan, his former agent, tweets Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic. The lawsuit alleges that Hazan’s agency paid Beasley a $650K advance on future marketing revenue and that the veteran swingman breached their agreement by signing with a new agency in February, Vorkunov explains, adding that Hazan is seeking $1MM.
Retweet 0 Share 0 Send via email0

Celtics’ Payton Pritchard Named Sixth Man Of Year

April 22nd, 2025 at 6:11pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Celtics guard Payton Pritchard has won the Sixth Man of the Year award, the NBA announced on Tuesday (Twitter link).

Pritchard beat out the other finalists, the Pistons’ Malik Beasley and the Cavaliers’ Ty Jerome, for the honor. Pritchard received 82 of a possible 100 first-place votes and recorded 454 total points. Beasley notched 13 first-place votes and 279 points, while Jerome earned two first-place votes and 91 points.

Pritchard posted career-high numbers across the board for the defending champions, averaging 14.3 points, 3.8 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and 0.9 steals in 28.4 minutes per game.

Pritchard, who played 80 regular season contests, shot 47.2% overall and 40.7% from distance. He’s in the first year of a four-year, $30MM contract that he signed in October 2023, which now looks like a major bargain.

Beasley, playing on a one-year contract, averaged 16.3 points, 2.6 rebounds, 1.7 assists, and 0.9 steals in 27.8 minutes per night and didn’t miss a game. The three-point specialist shot 43% overall and 41.6% from distance and was a major reason why Detroit more than tripled its win total.

Jerome, who barely played last season due to an ankle injury, averaged 12.2 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 3.4 assists in 19.9 minutes per game while making 70 appearances. He shot 51.6% overall and 43.9% from three-point land.

This is the second time in three seasons a Celtics guard has won the award. Malcolm Brogdon earned Sixth Man honors in 2023. The Timberwolves’ Naz Reid captured the award last spring.

In total, eight players showed up on at least one Sixth Man ballot this year, with five players receiving a first-place vote. The full results can be viewed here.

Retweet 0 Share 0 Send via email0

Contract Details: Lawson, Castleton, Williams, Davis, Davison, Payton

April 22nd, 2025 at 7:27am CST by Luke Adams

The Raptors dipped into their mid-level exception to give A.J. Lawson and Colin Castleton rest-of-season salaries of $100K apiece when they signed standard multiyear contracts during the final week of the regular season, Hoops Rumors has confirmed.

Had Toronto simply signed the duo to minimum-salary deals, Lawson would’ve received about $24K at the end of this season, while Castleton would’ve earned less than $11K.

In exchange for those end-of-season raises, Lawson and Castleton each gave the Raptors favorable terms for the 2025/26 season. Both players have fully non-guaranteed minimum salaries ($2,270,735 for Lawson; $2,191,897 for Castleton) and don’t have offseason trigger dates, so Toronto could hang onto them all the way through training camp and the preseason without owing them any guaranteed money beyond this season’s $100K.

We have details on a few more of the contracts signed during the final days of the regular season:

  • The two-year, minimum-salary deal that point guard Brandon Williams signed with the Mavericks on April 10 includes a non-guaranteed $2,270,735 salary for 2025/26. Williams would lock in a partial guarantee of $200K if he remains under contract through July 7 and that partial guarantee would increase to $850K if he’s still on the roster at the start of next season. If Williams plays out the full contract, he’d have four years of NBA experience when he reaches free agency in 2026, so Dallas wouldn’t have the ability to make him a restricted free agent.
  • Veteran guard Terence Davis signed a two-year contract worth the veteran’s minimum with the Kings. His $2,546,675 salary for next season is non-guaranteed, but he would earn a partial guarantee worth $250K if he remains under contract for the team’s first regular season game of 2025/26.
  • The Celtics‘ new two-year deal with G League MVP JD Davison is a minimum-salary agreement that includes a non-guaranteed team option worth $2,270,735 for the 2025/26 season.
  • The two-year, minimum-salary contract that Elfrid Payton signed with the Pelicans also features a non-guaranteed team option for ’25/26. That option would be worth $3,153,598 if exercised.
Retweet 0 Share 0 Send via email0

Celtics’ Tatum Says Wrist Is ‘All Right’ After Hard Fall

April 21st, 2025 at 8:17am CST by Luke Adams

Celtics forward Jayson Tatum underwent an X-ray on his right wrist following the team’s Game 1 win over Orlando on Sunday, but he said it came back “clean,” as Baxter Holmes of ESPN relays.

Tatum drove to the basket during the fourth quarter of Sunday’s game and was met by Magic defenders Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Wendell Carter Jr., who collided with the Celtics star and sent him to the floor and into the basket stanchion (Twitter video link via ESPN).

Tatum grabbed his right wrist and remained on the floor for some time before eventually getting up and remaining in the game. However, as Holmes notes, he immediately missed a pair of free throws and seemed to be favoring that wrist for the rest of the night.

“It’s all right,” Tatum told reporters after the game. “Just fell on it, landed on it. … It was throbbing for a second. Kind of went away.”

Head coach Joe Mazzulla didn’t seem concerned about Tatum’s availability going forward, Holmes notes, telling the media that the 27-year-old was “doing good.”

Tatum isn’t the only Celtics star whose health is worth monitoring during the first round. Jaylen Brown returned to action on Sunday after missing nine of the the team’s final 20 regular season games (including the last three) due to a right knee issue. Brown, who played 30 minutes, looked to be moving well and didn’t experience any setbacks in Game 1.

“I felt good today,” Brown said after the game, per Holmes. “To start the game, it took me a little bit to get into the game. I feel like I was watching a little bit to start. Second half, I was able to get more involved, make some plays, have some better activities.”

Retweet 0 Share 0 Send via email0

NBA Announces Finalists For 2024/25 Awards

April 20th, 2025 at 6:22pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and Nuggets center Nikola Jokic are the three finalists for the league’s Most Valuable Player award this season, the league announced on Sunday (Twitter link).

While all three players put up monster numbers, Gilgeous-Alexander is generally considered the favorite to win the award due in large part to the Thunder’s team success this season. Oklahoma City won a league-high 68 regular season games, compared to 50 for Jokic’s Nuggets and 48 for Antetokounmpo’s Bucks.

The finalists for each award represent the top three vote-getters. The winners will be announced at a later date.

Here’s a rundown of the finalists for the major NBA awards voted on by media members:

Coach of the Year

  • Kenny Atkinson (Cavaliers)
  • J.B. Bickerstaff (Pistons)
  • Ime Udoka (Rockets)

Rookie of the Year

Sixth Man of the Year

Defensive Player of the Year

Most Improved Player

Clutch Player of the Year

Retweet 0 Share 0 Send via email0

No Minutes Restriction Expected For Celtics’ Jaylen Brown

April 19th, 2025 at 2:31pm CST by Luke Adams

After missing the final three games of the regular season due to a bone bruise in his right knee, reigning NBA Finals MVP Jaylen Brown doesn’t anticipate being on a minutes restriction when the Celtics‘ first-round series vs. Orlando gets underway on Sunday, he told reporters today (story via Souichi Terada of MassLive.com).

Brown was hampered during the season’s final weeks by that knee issue, which was listed on the injury report as a “posterior impingement.” The four-time All-Star first sat out on March 6 and ultimately missed nine of Boston’s final 20 games with that injury designation. Reporting during the final weekend of the season indicated he had received pain management injections, which head coach Joe Mazzulla later confirmed.

Beyond telling reporters on Saturday that he won’t be on a minutes limit, Brown wasn’t interested in speaking in any detail about his injury, per Baxter Holmes of ESPN.

“I’m not here to talk about my knee, guys,” he said. “It is what it is. I’m focused on Orlando.”

Mazzulla offered the media a little more information than Brown did, indicating that the veteran wing has been able to practice in full ahead of Game 1.

“He looks good,” the Celtics’ coach said. “He was able to do everything, no limitations. He’s been great, physically, mentally, really preparing himself, ready to go. So, (I) love the week that he had.”

The Celtics will enter their first-round series against Orlando as massive favorites, so there may be opportunities to get Brown some rest if the East’s No. 2 seed can build big leads and/or finish the series quickly. Still, as they attempt to become the NBA’s first back-to-back champions since the Warriors in 2017-18, the Celtics aren’t looking past the Magic or taking them for granted.

“Of course we know what we’re trying to accomplish, but I think our mindset is just what’s in front of us, not looking down the line, not overlooking nobody,” Brown said. “Our goal is (Game 1). That’s the focus. Nothing else. Not next week, not six weeks, not 10 years from now. Just Sunday.”

Retweet 0 Share 0 Send via email0

And-Ones: Porzingis, Windler, Walker, Awards Ballot

April 17th, 2025 at 3:57pm CST by Rory Maher

Assuming he’s healthy, Celtics center Kristaps Porzingis intends to play for Latvia during the EuroBasket tournament this summer, as EuroHoops.net relays.

“Whether I want to play for the national team or not – that’s a silly question,” Porzingis said, according to FIBA. “The past few summers didn’t work out because I was injured. I’ve never refused the national team. When I haven’t played, it’s because of injuries. This summer, I’ll be there. Health is the main thing – then everything else will follow.”

Here are a few more items of interest from around the basketball world:

  • Former NBA wing Dylan Windler spent the 2024/25 season with the Perth Wildcats of the National Basketball League. The Australian team announced in a press release that it has re-signed the 28-year-old to a new two-year contract. “It just felt right to come back to Perth, I feel like we’ve got some unfinished business in the playoffs after going out in the semi-finals like we did,” Windler said. “We enjoyed it there and it’s a great situation for me basketball-wise and I look forward to continuing to build on the team that we had last year and see what new faces we can bring in and what we can build together.”
  • Veteran NBA guard Kemba Walker, who made four All-Star teams during his time in the league, announced his retirement as a player last July. However, evidently he will return to the hardwood this summer, according to Chris Haynes, who reports (via Twitter) that Walker has reached an agreement to play in the BIG3. Dwight Howard will also be competing in the 3-on-3 league. Walker spent this past season as a player enhancement coach with the Hornets.
  • Tim Bontemps of ESPN has an official NBA awards ballot. He recently revealed his choices for all the major 2024/25 awards as well as some of the reasoning behind the selections. Perhaps most interestingly, Bontemps voted for Clippers center Ivica Zubac as Defensive Player of the Year, with Cavaliers forward/center Evan Mobley finishing as his runner-up.
Retweet 0 Share 0 Send via email0
Load More Posts