Boston opens the regular season 0-0, but the numbers attached to last year's 56-26 team already describe a club that traded away one of its two best scorers. What's left is a payroll above the tax line, a defense that finished fourth in the league, and a five-man unit that outscored opponents by 17.9 points per hundred possessions and no longer exists intact.
Boston's spending already sits above the tax line.
The payroll runs $203.9 million across the roster, past the $200.4 million luxury tax threshold and closing on the $209.0 million first apron. Tatum's $58.5 million and George's $54.1 million account for more than half of it, with White's $30.3 million behind them. Payton Pritchard agreed to a two-year extension on October 13, per Shams Charania, a commitment that raises future numbers without yet appearing in a figure that only counts what's guaranteed today.
The best lineup on record already lost a starter.
Last season's top five-man unit, Brown, White, Queta, Pritchard, Hauser, outscored opponents by 17.9 points per hundred possessions across 35 games and 200 minutes, the kind of mark that normally anchors a season preview. Brown is a 76er now, dealt for George in the trade that reshaped this roster, so the number describes a group that cannot reassemble. Whatever replaces it starts from zero, not from 17.9.
Last season's ratings belonged to a different roster.
Boston finished with the No. 2 offense, the No. 4 defense and the No. 4 net rating in the league at 8.3, good for a 56-26 record before a first-round exit to Philadelphia. Those marks were built with Brown in the lineup and George nowhere on the roster. A good number from an old roster is a description, not a forecast, for the one that opens the season at Detroit on October 20.
The bench outproduced the starters in a preseason finale.
Against Philadelphia on October 16, a game decided in the final possessions, Boston's bench outscored the starters 77 to 48, with a 21-point night from the first-year guard and 16 more from Ron Harper Jr. It's one preseason result, and the group producing it won't be the five Mazzulla leans on once the record starts counting.
Is Boston over the luxury tax this season?
Yes. The payroll sits at $203.9 million, above the $200.4 million tax line, though still below the $209.0 million first apron.
Has the Celtics' regular season started?
No. Boston is 0-0 with the opener set for October 20 at Detroit; the four preseason wins, including the 125-120 result over Philadelphia, don't count toward the record.
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