Brad Stevens Explains What Made Him the NBA's Executive of the Year

Stevens recently laid out how he goes about finding the guys to support his core, and what types of attributes he's focused on to get guys who overachieve in Boston

Sep 29, 2025; Boston, MA, USA; Boston Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens talks to reporters during media day at the Auerbach Center. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-Imagn Images | David Butler II-Imagn Images

Brad Stevens was named Executive of the Year for the second time in his career, becoming the first Boston Celtics executive to do so in the process. Stevens essentially won the award the first time for assembling the championship team that included Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday, and now for dismantling it without destroying the team. 

Stevens work included two phases of a tearing down parts of the team and rebuilding them with low-cost options who fit well. 

He moved Porzingis to Atlanta for Georges Niang, who was ultimately flipped to clear space. Holiday was traded for Anfernee Simons, who eventually got comfortable enough in his role off the bench to help the Celtics win a few games. Simons was ultimately flipped for Nikola Vucevic, who has struggled a bit but has recovered just in time to be solid in his last two playoff appearances. 

At the same time, he got a huge traded player exception in the Porzingis deal and found a way to extend it in the Simons trade so he has a tool to acquire another player. He found a way to get under the luxury tax without impacting any of the regular rotation players, giving the Celtics future flexibility to operate under the aprons. And perhaps most impressively, he has found players who were cast off by other teams and got them to fit in Boston. He recently explained that process. 

“Everything is information, so there's an analytical side of it where maybe the numbers are popping in low minutes,” Stevens said earlier this month. “Some people value possessions more than they value some of the perceived weaknesses … We do tend to look at the fact that if you have the right competitive character and you're more about the team, those are huge qualities.”

Luka Garza is the biggest of Stevens’ successes, but Josh Minott was a hit earlier this season before falling out of the rotation. Ron Harper Jr. has helped Boston win some games. The development of Neemias Queta and even late-round draft picks like Baylor Scheierman and Hugo Gonzalez fall under that same umbrella. 

“Everybody's in the NBA for a reason,” Stevens said. “If we can figure out how to maximize the reason they're here and not focus on the things that people see as a detriment, then we can build a team, as long as you have the cornerstones, and we've got the cornerstones.” 

That's the key for Boston. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, along with Derrick White and Payton Pritchard, have the star power and elite role players a team needs to succeed. After that, it’s a matter of filling the blanks. The Celtics like to use the term “competitive character” to explain the types of blank-fillers they think can work. 

“That's a huge part of it. So I'd say that when you talk about a guy like Luka Garza, a good example is the competitive character where team matters,” Stevens said. “You're growth oriented, you come to work every day, and your ambition doesn't necessarily exceed your self-awareness. And I know that's not always easy to find, but you know, we watched these guys for a long time at a lot of different levels, and a guy like Luka came extremely highly recommended as a person, and we knew that he had competitive character.”

The final two keys to Stevens' success are in that quote. The first is ambition that doesn’t necessarily exceed self-awareness. Stevens is looking for the guys who will work their butts off but who also understand exactly where they fit in the ecosystem. Those types of guys are invaluable because they understand why they might not play sometimes, but they're also ready to start if needed. 

The second is how these guys are as people. A guy like Garza isn’t going to disrupt the locker room, and anyone who might get a notion to do so will no longer be a part of that locker room. 

All of these qualities make for perfect supporting Celtics. They are capable of executing Joe Mazzulla’s vision, accept his coaching, and help the team win more often than not. 

This plan is what makes Stevens the Executive of the Year. The Celtics like to say the standard is the standard, and everyone is accountable to that. Stevens is at the top of that mountain because of it.