Boston Celtics Media Day Tracker: Quotes, Notes, Injury News and Takeaways

Boston Celtics Media Day is upon us, so beginning at 11:30 a.m., we’ll begin the steady stream of questions and answers for this year’s team.

Here is your training camp roster:

2026-27 Boston Celtics training camp roster | Boston Celtics

Obviously, there are more than the 14 players under contract on that list. Every team is allowed 21 players in camp, and teams can take the entire preseason to whittle rosters down. Players on Exhibit 10 contracts, like the recently signed Devin Carter, can be signed to a standard contract if a spot is open, a two-way contract if one is available, or cut and designated to the Maine Celtics in the G League.

Exhibit 10 players designated to the G League affiliate are eligible for a bonus of approximately $85,000 if they stay with the team for 60 days. This incentivizes players to stick around for a little while and work within the team’s system and teams don’t have to worry about a developmental player leaving right away. It’s important to note that players designated to the G League this way aren’t contractually bound to stay with that team, however, if they leave for a different team or to go overseas, they forfeit that bonus and are paid a prorated salary for however long they were there. After 60 days, players are free to sign with other teams if they choose.

The Celtics have one open guaranteed spot and one open two-way spot. Amari Williams and Dillon Mitchell are both already signed to two-way deals. Carter could be competing for a two-way deal along with Milos Uzan, Hayden Gray, Tucker DeVries, and Gabe McGlothan.

It’s unlikely the Celtics will fill their 15th roster spot as they are $1.7 million from paying the luxury tax and would only be able to sign an undrafted rookie to a minimum deal and still stay under. Carter would make about $2.5 million, so signing him to a guaranteed deal will put Boston over the tax, which would lead to some kind of cost-cutting move over the season.

Those are the basics. Now we wait for the words. I’ll be updating this space with more from the Auerbach Center. I’ll set the scene, add some interesting quotes, and snap a few photos here and there to give you a real behind the scenes look at media day.

Be sure to come back and keep refreshing as the day goes on for updated content.

Brad Stevens is up first. My first question is about putting a roster together with pure talent versus building a roster that depends on depth and fit.

Brad Stevens at Celtics media day | John Karalis

"The balance right now is is that you do have to have that depth piece to be good," he said. "The way that the game is played, how much ground you have to cover, how versatile you have to be up and down your roster is really important, and so that that's probably a bigger challenge is with these thresholds is is having that many good players, right? And you know we're fortunate that our depth is good, but there's still a lot of guys that have a lot to prove."

Depth is going to be put to the test this season. The guys who have a lot to prove will be the guys who make this team a very good regular season team or a team with a chance to make a deep playoff run.

Joe Mazzulla sits down and starts with kind words for Jaylen Brown before taking any questions.

Joe Mazzulla at Celtics Media Day | John Karalis

"Obviously wanted to start off by paying respects to Jaylen and what he's done for this organization and community for the last 10 years," he said. "What he's been able to accomplish has been great, and you know, it's not a one-time thing to where you let go of that. There's obviously a short-term perspective, and then a long-term perspective about what he did over the course of his time here, both on and off the floor, and that should not be forgotten."

Mazzulla gets a nice crack in about his "Hack-a-Mitch" mentality ...

"Mitch is one of the best bigs in the league and super efficient," he started. "And yeah, I'm upset that we're not going to be able to foul him anymore. But that's just how it goes. So he's ours, and I think he's going to be a big impactful for us."

Funny moment: Celtics PR announces final two questions for Mazzulla, and neither of them were from Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe. "You can't leave Gary out," Mazzulla quipped. So now Washburn gets the final question.

The question is whether the Celtics are motivated by being overlooked in the East.

"I don't know per se what they're talking about or not talking about," he said. "I know the stories I tell myself to keep myself internally motivated, which are healthy and unhealthy at the same time, so there is a short-term motivation versus a long-term process journey motivation that you're on. I think the words you use the best, the most thing I'm excited about is the unknown. I think I always get excited about that because, you know, there's there's risk to the unknown, but there's also opportunity to the unknown. You know, what we can become, what we have to go through to get to where we want to get to."

Jayson Tatum is the first player on the podium. I asked him about having a summer to get himself to 100% after a long post-surgery rehab.

Jayson Tatum at Celtics Media Day | John Karalis

"I feel great," he said. "September 12 would have been it was 16 months, so just at the 16 and a half month mark of you know from my surgery and rehabbing. So, I mean, I feel great having this off season to, you know, get stronger, get more explosive. We're just working my body in totality, so you know, obviously, feel much better than I did this time last year, and I'm excited and thankful for that."

Paul George is next up. He's another L.A. kid who is now playing for a team he hated growing up.

Paul George at Celtics Media Day | John Karalis

"Obviously growing up a Kobe Bryant fan, and being a Lakers fan and Clippers fan, I think as a kid, you kind of despise green," he said. "But [it's] one of the most historic organization, not only in sports but or not only in basketball but just sports in general. Boston Celtics is cream of the crop, so to have this opportunity is is amazing, obviously, since I've been here it's one of those things where man I wish I was here a lot sooner. Not to discredit anywhere I've been but you know since I've been here it's just been you know nothing but happiness greatness it's just a great you know energy in this building and this this facility."

Derrick White sits down and my question was a follow up on him saying he corrected something with his shooting. He started with a joke, but says he has figured something out.

Derrick White at Celtics Media Day | John Karallis

"I mean, you guys would look at me crazy if I was like I didn't figure it out at all. So I just try to tell you what you guys want to hear," he cracked. " No, I mean I think there's obviously some some things that I think I kind of dropped that I've done in the past. Just just kind of go back to some things that I've done, and then and just trying to not try to ride the wave as much. Just a bunch of those little things that kind of combine combine to a bad shooting year, and just trying to be better for next year."

Hugo Gonzalez's turn at the podium. I asked him about preparing for different roles this season.

Hugo Gonzalez at Celtics Media Day | John Karalis

"I hope everybody is available because we are trying to build something as a team and not thinking about who is gonna play when," he said. "But yeah, obviously, you know things go through the season. I just think that you just need to be prepared. Like if you're gonna play 30 minutes every night, even though you might not, but you need to be prepared for it, so the night that it comes, you just ready for it."

Mitchell Robinson flashing his personality at the podium. He was joking around about meeting with Joe Mazzulla over the summer.

Mitchell Robinson at Celtics Media Day | John Karalis

"At first we had a little issue because I'm like 'you got to say sorry for following me,'" he joked. "if he ain't want to do that then I would have some issues. But he apologized and now we're on the same team, so you know it's gonna be great."

For what it's worth, Robinson said he's been working on his free throws.

"I've been shooting a lot of free throws, a lot of free throws, and so yeah, I've been getting very confident with my free throws, my just shooting touch stuff like that, and and stuff like that. So I mean, I'm ready to rock out."

Robinson is a bit of a breath of fresh air right now. This has been a conveyer belt of media-trained players giving pretty simple answers. This has been very generic, which is what the Celtics want. Media day in Boston is a quote factory, and little else.

Baylor Scheierman is up. He was asked about his growth as a

Baylor Scheierman at Celtics Media Day | John Karalis

"I think it just starts with like the weight room in my body. I think my body has changed dramatically since I entered the league two years ago, just with strength, agility, explosiveness, and that's something that I continue to try to improve this off-season. And I think it started there, and then also just having an awareness of what we're trying to do as a team defensively, and then also having awareness of who I'm guarding and what they're trying to do. I think a combination of all those three things, if you can do that at a high level, even if you're maybe quote-unquote not the most athletic, or maybe not you know the quickest. It can put you in position to be successful and be a solid defender."

We're back after a bit of a break to hear from Payton Pritchard. A big part of the conversation was how he can improve and take another step forward.

Some of the back and forth has been about how he improves at this stage of his career and how that looks. He has maxed out ... or is close to maxing out ... most of his abilities on the floor. So the question becomes how

"It's not skills that you're improving at this point. Like I've developed my ball handling, my jump shot. I'm not changing it. It's just now you're just crafting different areas, footwork, different ways to get to the paint, shots. But yeah, you're just adding little things. But maybe you get better at them."

We're winding down here at Media Day. A few more guys rolling through today, including Ron Harper Jr.

Ron Harper Jr at Celtics Media Day | John Karalis

One fun storyline for Harper Jr. is giving up the number 13 to Paul George.

"You know what's crazy? Me and PG never talked about it. Like, our agents were like the middlemen because I guess they're friends a little bit. So when the trade went down, my agent had called me a little while after saying that PG won our number 13 back. So we had we had some good conversations, good dialog there, and both parties were able to come to a mutual agreement that benefit us both. So we're both really happy with how that went."

Neemias Queta is up on the podium. He's part of a very upgraded center rotation from this time la

Neemias Queta at Celtics Media Day | John Karalis

"Toughness, physicality-that's something that we do really well, all three of us, and we're all pretty down-to-earth guys. So that'll mesh us pretty well. And I can't forget about Amari [Williams] and Chris [Cenac Jr.] as well. I think our our big big fella university is pretty exciting. So those guys those guys should be pretty pretty reliable ... Whoever gets called called upon, I'm I got 100% confidence that we'll deliver."

Okay so now we know what we're calling this big man rotation. Get ready for "Big Man University" to be thrown around a lot.

Sam Hauser is the last man up today. He's part of a very deep wing rotation, particularly made up of guys who went late in the first round, second round, or no

Sam Hauser at Celtics Media Day | John Karalis

"I think I think that's the strength of our team is our depth, and then obviously guys just kind of like being enabled to show what they bring to the table. I think a lot of credit goes to our coaches for that. I think there's a lot of situations where, and maybe on other teams where a guy gets put into a box like immediately and is never never able to, you know, show what else he can do, so I think our coaches have done a good job of working with us each and every day. Obviously, refining what we do really well, but also expanding on things that we can get better at and contribute to the team. And I think that is shown the last few years."

And that's it for media day 2026. Some guys didn't speak today, and they'll have their turn tomorrow or the rest of the week.

All in all, the Celtics are all business when it comes to things like this. Some teams are about fun and frivolity, but the C's are as straight-laced as it gets on Media Day.

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