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Where will the Celtics land for the 2025-26 Playoffs? (as of July 27, 2025)

Knowing that Tatum might Return later in the 2025-26 Season.
What are your Predictions?

I'll go on record, and say that we make the 6th seed.
Tatum gets back, by the end of February.

6th seed plays the 3rd seed. Winner of that plays the Winner of 2nd vs 7th, and then the ECF.
We'll see how far we go. But my predictions for 6th seed, stands.

I think the current team (and the trades to come) will surprise and will finish above the 6th

It is like the 2016 team that made the ECF and lost to LeQuinn

A lot will be on Joe's shoulders to make the team overachieve - but I trust he'll make the necessary adjustments

My prediction:

Top 3
Cle
Ny
Orl

Should make playoff
Mil
Phi
Atl
Det
Mia

Thats 8

Bos
Ind
Tor



Out of playoffs:
Chi
Cha
Was
NJN

So imo for sure Bos makes at least playin.

Orl, Ny, Cle, bucks, Hawks, Det all seem like they could have better records.
Indiana, Heat seem on par with the Celtics.
I voted 6th but I could see the Celtics anywhere from 4th-9th.
If Brown or White mis much time it’s more like 9th. A healthy season and Queta and one of Minott, Walsh, Gonzalez, Scheierman step up and it could be 4th or 5th.

Predictions are perilous. For example, before last season nobody thought Cleveland would romp through the East.


Orlando looks really good, as do NY and Cleveland. Detroit was just as strong as New York in that playoff series. Atlanta seems solid with the potential to be fairly formidable too.

Next tier are the fragile and highly vulnerable to mishap Sixers and Bucks, plus limited ceiling Miami. Indiana will play really hard regardless of their misfortune.

Chicago always makes the play in. They love that. But Toronto is talented enough reach mediocrity if everything breaks right, and might knock the Bulls down.

Charlotte, Brooklyn and Washington are already speculating about ping pongs.


The Celtics seem to have a wide range from surprise they're really competing, to everything went wrong so let's tank.

I think the Celtics will start out looking like 5 seed but unless JB emerges as a top 5 type player I think coaches will figure out how to beat them and we will precipitously fall off into a borderline play in team. Our front court is so weak that even an all star level JB and DW won’t be enough. Think of Paul Pierce teams from 2005-2007. One possible exception is that a healthy Ben Simmons thrives as a role player at C/PF creating lots easy dunks for JB and wide open 3s for the rest….. and then team sneaks into 8 seed.

Gant wrote:Predictions are perilous. For example, before last season nobody thought Cleveland would romp through the East.


Orlando looks really good, as do NY and Cleveland. Detroit was just as strong as New York in that playoff series. Atlanta seems solid with the potential to be fairly formidable too.

Next tier are the fragile and highly vulnerable to mishap Sixers and Bucks, plus limited ceiling Miami. Indiana will play really hard regardless of their misfortune.

Chicago always makes the play in. They love that. But Toronto is talented enough reach mediocrity if everything breaks right, and might knock the Bulls down.

Charlotte, Brooklyn and Washington are already speculating about ping pongs.


The Celtics seem to have a wide range from surprise they're really competing, to everything went wrong so let's tank.

Well Brad Stevens predicted Cleveland romping through the East as constable so adroitly pointed out.

I'm a perennial opponent of the West vs East strength imbalance but this year with the injuries to Tatum and Haliburton and to some extent Lillard as well as just a deep west and a raft of awful teams in the east, the EC is just looking really really bad.

Imo they are slated for the play-in but could land #6 or #11 based on how the FO goes about trades and allotting playing time for the vets (can JB be an All-NBA/White, Simons or PP look like an AS) vs the kids and the various trade moves.

Just draft a total stud next June though wherever they land and we can forget all about it.

JB's always been a bit fragile and I don't see how he survives a season now with all defenses focused on him.

And without JB to stir the drink of whatever Brad ends up in serving from his punchbowl, I think the C's limp to the lottery.

Probably for the best.

38 wins and the 9th seed.

I went with 6th, just above a play in level team. That's if the team stays fairly healthy which is never a given, the depth is a little puddle-esque this season. I wouldn't say the ceiling is much higher than 6th either so I might be being a little optimistic.

sam_I_am wrote:Our front court is so weak that even an all star level JB and DW won’t be enough. Think of Paul Pierce teams from 2005-2007.

Bingo!

Parliament10 wrote:I'll go on record, and say that we make the 6th seed.
Tatum gets back, by the end of February.

I'd rather not rush him back. Too risky.

KD says that the most important advice for him to players recovering from a torn ACL is accepting the fact that they will "be out for a year" and coming to terms with it.



Lillard tore his achilles 2 weeks before Tatum did. Yet it's already been announced that Dame is out for the entire 25-26 season. Haliburton tore his achilles a month after Tatum - it's been announced he's out for the year as well.

No announcement yet about Tatum might trick some C's fans into thinking he'll come back this season. But that's just the way the Celtics are. They typically play it close to the vest with regards to injuries..they like to leave themselves wiggle room and prefer to not commit to firm dates as far as when they expect a guy to return from injury.

Like with Gallinari, they never actually announced he was out for the entire season so it tricked some fans (me included lol) into thinking he might come back late in the season.

Hal14 wrote:

Parliament10 wrote:I'll go on record, and say that we make the 6th seed.
Tatum gets back, by the end of February.

I'd rather not rush him back. Too risky.

KD says that the most important advice for him to players recovering from a torn ACL is accepting the fact that they will "be out for a year" and coming to terms with it.

Read on Twitter

Lillard tore his achilles 2 weeks before Tatum did. Yet it's already been announced that Dame is out for the entire 25-26 season. Haliburton tore his achilles a month after Tatum - it's been announced he's out for the year as well.

No announcement yet about Tatum might trick some C's fans into thinking he'll come back this season. But that's just the way the Celtics are. They typically play it close to the vest with regards to injuries..they like to leave themselves wiggle room and prefer to not commit to firm dates as far as when they expect a guy to return from injury.

Like with Gallinari, they never actually announced he was out for the entire season so it tricked some fans (me included lol) into thinking he might come back late in the season.

Yeah. Well, Tatum is already in a walking boot.
Also, it's been reported that it's best to get the surgery before the tissue scars, and inflammation sets in.

https://basketnews.com/news-224624-jayson-tatum-injury-surgery-timing-is-a-game-changer-expert-says.html

In general, the earlier the surgical repair, the better the outlook. That’s because waiting too long allows scar tissue and inflammation to settle in, complicating healing.

I’m not sure why everyone has Charlotte at the very bottom . A likely starting team of
Ball
B. Miller
Kneuppel
Bridges
Plumlee
and bench players of Colin Sexton, Mann, Josh Green ( all 3 good from 3) and Dinwiddie is a solid vet player .

I’m not saying this is even a GOOD team but I’m not understanding a bottom east team .

Dannyboy36 wrote:I’m not sure why everyone has Charlotte at the very bottom . A likely starting team of
Ball
B. Miller
Kneuppel
Bridges
Plumlee
and bench players of Colin Sexton, Mann, Josh Green ( all 3 good from 3) and Dinwiddie is a solid vet player .

I’m not saying this is even a GOOD team but I’m not understanding a bottom east team .

I feel like this too.

But then, Lamelo misses a ton of time every year, their def sucks & they have no good big men.

I still think they go over their projected 24.5, but I do think Boston finishes higher than them.

Dannyboy36 wrote:I’m not sure why everyone has Charlotte at the very bottom . A likely starting team of
Ball
B. Miller
Kneuppel
Bridges
Plumlee
and bench players of Colin Sexton, Mann, Josh Green ( all 3 good from 3) and Dinwiddie is a solid vet player .

I’m not saying this is even a GOOD team but I’m not understanding a bottom east team .

There's like no defense on that team.

Wizards and Nets will probably be worse. But other than that, Charlotte could end up being the next worst team in the east. Miller is coming off injury. Lamelo always gets hurt too..PLumlee is pretty meh at this point in his career..

Dannyboy36 wrote:I’m not sure why everyone has Charlotte at the very bottom . A likely starting team of
Ball
B. Miller
Kneuppel
Bridges
Plumlee
and bench players of Colin Sexton, Mann, Josh Green ( all 3 good from 3) and Dinwiddie is a solid vet player .

I’m not saying this is even a GOOD team but I’m not understanding a bottom east team .

It's the losing culture and mentality
It is hard to change the organization culture. Players are not enough

With the current roster, I can see this team winning about 30-36 games. If Queta plays better than expected, you can add 2-3 more wins to that range. If Garza plays better than expected, then I would add another 2-3 more wins. If Minott plays well, I would add another 2 wins.

I think how Simons fits in and how Queta, Garza and Minott play will be the difference on being a 6-8 seed or missing the playoffs.

Hope springs eternal, before reality crushes all.