Boston Celtics News, Rumors - RealGM (2024)

As the NBA continues to find ways to increase player availability for key and high-profile games, that has led to more back-to-backs being scheduled in 2024-25. Teams average 14.9 back-to-back games in next season's schedule, which is up slightly from last season. That figure is still down considerably from a decade ago.

This season, the league has arranged the schedule to make sure no team is on a back-to-back ahead of opening week national TV games, holiday games (Christmas and MLK) and before Saturday night showcase games on ABC throughout the season. In addition, no NBA Cup games will be played as the second game of a back-to-back.

A group of 11 teams have the most back-to-back games scheduled at 16 occurrences. This group includes the Atlanta Hawks, Cleveland Cavaliers, Denver Nuggets, Houston Rockets, LA Clippers, Milwaukee Bucks, New Orleans Pelicans, Oklahoma City Thunder, Phoenix Suns, Sacramento Kings and Washington Wizards.

A group of six teams have the fewest back-to-back games scheduled at 13 occurrences. This group includes the Boston Celtics, Chicago Bulls, Dallas Mavericks, Los Angeles Lakers, Orlando Magic and Portland Trail Blazers.

There are no instances of four-in-five games. The NBA has worked to eliminate those situations over the years.

The Los Angeles Lakers will appear in 39 nationally televised games next season, the most of any team in the NBA.

The Warriors are in second place with 36 appearances on national TV.

The top five is rounded out with a tie between the Celtics and the Knicks at 34 appearances, then the Mavs and Suns with 30 appearances.

The complete schedule for the 2024-25 season was unveiled on Thursday. National TV games include all games broadcasted on ESPN, TNT, ABC, and NBA TV.

The NBA will open its 24-25 regular season on Tuesday, October 22nd on TNT with a doubleheader of the New York Knicks at Boston Celtics followed by the Minnesota Timberwolves at Los Angeles Lakers.

The Celtics will receive their rings and raise their championship banner ahead of their game against the Knicks.

In recent interview with the Boston Globe, Brad Stevens touched on the Boston Celtics doing what they could to bring back most of the 2024 title roster. Stevens said the goal was to see how far the Celtics could take things, while also understanding at some point the luxury tax and tax aprons could be concerns.

"What we want to do is try to get our guys locked in on fair and good extensions that they feel really good about and hopefully continue this thing as long as we can continue this thing," Stevens said. "We’ll cross every bridge when we get there, and the different basketball penalties that will be associated with being above the second apron, those are real, and we’ll just have to weigh those against where we are as a basketball team, and we’ll also have to weigh the financial part of that. And I’m sure part of that will be a discussion amongst whoever the new investors are."

Stevens also said the Celtics are likely to keep their 15th, and final, standard roster spot open. Boston will use that flexibility to see where they need to improve throughout the season.

"We’re just going to monitor the health of our team and see how everybody’s doing, and if there’s any issues that arise between now and September that we need to really address, then we might use it," Stevens said. "But right now I’d say it’s unlikely. We’re still looking to sign a couple of Exhibit 10s that their most likely path will be to play in Maine. But we’ll see."

Jayson Tatum admitted that he was disappointed about his role with Team USA at the 2024 Paris Olympics. However, Tatum said that won't impact any decisions about playing for the United States in the future.

"It was a tough personal experience on the court, but I'm not going to make any decision off emotions," Tatum said. "If you asked me right now if I was going to play in 2028 -- it is four years from now and I [would have] to take time and think about that. So, I'm not going to make any decision based off how this experience was or how I felt individually."

While Tatum repeatedly refused to make his lack of playing time a situation, he did say the situation was humbling and one he'd learn from for the future.

"A lot of people text me and reached out and said 'Make sure this fuels you,' which I appreciate. There's a lot of people that care about me," Tatum said. "I think the tough part is yes, you can use things to fuel you, but I'm still human.

"...Part of being in the moment, I've sacrificed and put a lot into this game and work really, really hard. So, in the moment it is tough. You're not necessarily worried about fueling me for November or [whenever] the season is, but like I said, it's something I'm going to take away from this and learn from this experience. It's definitely challenging and humbling at the same time."

Boston Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens touched on Kristaps Porzingis' recovery in a recent interview with the Boston Globe. Stevens gave a positive update on Porzingis, but cautioned that patience will be needed.

"He’s in Latvia. He’s starting to do more and more and more," Stevens said. "He was in a boot for a while there, but every indication is he’s progressing well and he’s on the right timeline. But it’s going to be a while."

Porzingis suffered a rare ankle injury in the first round of the 2024 NBA Playoffs. He missed over a month of action, but returned to play in Games 1, 2 and 5 of the NBA Finals, as the Celtics took home the title.

Following the Finals victory, Porzingis had surgery on his ankle. Boston's center's timeline to return was put at 5-6 months following the late-June surgery.

Jayson Tatum's mother, Brandy Cole, was critical of her son's lack of playing time following the United States' 95-91 win over Serbia. Steve Kerr didn't play Tatum for the second time during the Olympics.

“Someone pls let me know is @jaytatum0 injured as he hasn’t received the PT ( playing time ) u would expect an All NBA player to get,” Dick Vitale wrote.

“No he not,” Cole replied. “But if you find out what’s going on please let me know – unacceptable and makes NO SENSE.”

Cole also reposted a message on X, “If Kerr is watching this and willingly deciding ‘Yeah, Jayson Tatum couldn’t help here’ then he legitimately cannot coach in 2028,” by Barstool Sports’ Dan Greenberg.

United States Men's Basketball director Grant Hill joined Rachel Nichols on All The Smoke to talk about all things Team USA. One of the topics involved Jaylen Brown and the Boston Celtics star not being asked to play in this summer's Olympics.

When asked about Brown, Hill said he hopes to talk to the Celtics wing to hash things out.

"I'm confident he and I will sit down at some point and talk about it and get to some level of understanding," Hill said. "Look, he'll be a candidate if he wants in '28."

Brown believes that his past criticism of Nike played a part in him not being asked to replace Kawhi Leonard for the Paris Olympics. Hill said that wasn't the case, while referencing conspiracy theories. That's led to each side taking shots at each other through social media and in interviews. But that's not something Hill said he'll be worried about moving forward.

"One thing I've learned. You can't take anything personal in this role. And so, I haven't personalized anything," Hill said. "My goal, my objective is to win. As soon as hopefully that happens, we pivot and start looking ahead to the future."

The Boston Celtics have filled 14 of their 15 roster spots and are likely to leave the final spot vacant heading into the regular season.

The Celtics will maintain flexibility with the open roster spot while saving on the luxury tax.

The Boston Celtics have agreed to sign Anton Watson to a Two-Way contract. Watson was the 54th overall pick in this year's draft out of Gonzaga. Watson is represented by Daveed Cohen.

Watson averaged 11.8 points and 5.2 rebounds in five Las Vegas summer league games with the Celtics.

The Celtics have previously signed JD Davison and Drew Peterson to Two-Way deals.