Boston is 0-0, so every number below belongs to last season, when the team went 56-26 with the league's No. 2 offense and No. 4 net rating. Five figures — one lineup, one payroll total, three rotation stats — frame the roster the front office built around that finish.
One lineup outscored opponents by nearly eighteen points per hundred plays last season.
Over 35 games and 200 minutes, the Brown-White-Queta-Pritchard-Hauser five posted a +17.9 net rating, built on a 122.6 offensive mark and a 104.7 defensive one. Swap in Hugo Gonzalez or Baylor Scheierman for Hauser and the same four holdovers still ran positive, at +14.8 and +11.9, across a fraction of the minutes. Jaylen Brown is gone to Philadelphia now; the lineup he anchored is history, not a template for October.
Boston's payroll already sits above the tax threshold, with more room overhead than below it.
The team carries $203.9 million in salary against a $200.4 million threshold, about $3.5 million over, with the first apron set at $209.0 million still a few million further out. Two contracts drive the number: Tatum at $58.5 million, George at $54.1 million, White's $30.3 million third. None of that figure explains the two-way spot still unfilled since September 12; payroll and roster math run on separate clocks.
Last season's offense and defense both ranked inside the league's top four.
A 120.0 offensive rating and a 111.7 defensive rating last season combined for the league's No. 4 net rating, at a pace of 95.6, unhurried by design. Two preseason wins, by 11 and 38 points, fit that identity on paper but settle nothing; preseason scoring margins don't carry into the figures that will matter in November.
Tatum played 16 games last season, George 37 — both arrive as variables, not certainties.
Tatum averaged 21.8 points, 10.0 rebounds and 5.3 assists across 16 games last season; George averaged 17.3 points on 39.2 percent shooting from three across 37. Both totals are injury-shortened in different ways, and two preseason games plus two more before the opener at Detroit won't settle how many nights either is actually available this time.
Has Boston's 2026-27 season started yet?
No — the Celtics are 0-0, with preseason wins over Cleveland and Philadelphia; the regular season opens October 20 at Detroit.
Is Boston over the luxury tax this season?
Yes — the roster carries $203.9 million in salary against a $200.4 million threshold, with the first apron set at $209.0 million.
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