NBA Insider Provides Insane Stat That Proves Celtics Will Have Difficult Time Competing This Year

Oct 8, 2023; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Celtics center Kristaps Porzingis (8) reacts to game action with guard Jaylen Brown (7) and center Al Horford (42) during the first half at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Eric Canha-Imagn Images | Eric Canha-Imagn Images

The 2025-26 Boston Celtics are dealing with a critical deficit in one key arena.

In a new piece, Zach Kram of ESPN supplies a revelatory Celtics stat that has shed some light on just how different this year's center lineup will ultimately be.

"The Celtics' biggest absence this season will clearly be Jayson Tatum as the six-time All-Star recovers from an Achilles tear," Kram writes. "But don't sleep on just how drastically Boston's big man rotation has changed: This past postseason, the Celtics gave 99.5% of their center minutes outside garbage time to Al Horford, Kristaps Porzingis and Luke Kornet, per Cleaning the Glass."

Porzingis was traded to the Atlanta Hawks as part of a three-team exchange with the Brooklyn Nets. The injury-prone big man, who didn't make it out of either of his two playoff runs with Boston healthy, will compete for minutes with Onyeka Okongwu, who at the end of last season supplanted Clint Capela for a starting role on the squad. Capela returned to the Houston Rockets in free agency.

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Kornet, looking sharp off an impressive 2025 playoff performance, inked a three-season, $41 million deal with the San Antonio Spurs in free agency.

Horford, meanwhile, technically remains a free agent. Boston reportedly offered the 6-foot-9 vet a one-year veteran's minimum deal, but he has frequently been linked with the Golden State Warriors. He could easily fetch at least a taxpayer's minimum exception deal from Golden State. The Warriors' offseason has been held up by their ongoing contract negotiations with restricted free agent power forward Jonathan Kuminga.

A Time of Change at the Center Position

"They'll be replaced by some combination of Neemias Queta, Luka Garza, Chris Boucher and Xavier Tillman, who all bring various strengths and play styles to the team, but are also worse than Horford, Porzingis and Kornet," Kram adds. "That's a major adjustment for Boston and coach Joe Mazzulla, and another reason to doubt the Celtics' ability to compete in their Tatum-less gap year."

Garza and Boucher inked veteran's minimum deals to join the Celtics earlier this summer. Queta and Tillman played very sparingly in meaningful rotation minutes last year, as Kram observes.

Still, Queta averaged a career-most 13.9 minutes, while chipping in 5.0 points on 65 percent field goal shooting and 75.4 percent free throw shooting, 3.8 rebounds, 0.7 assists and 0.7 blocks a night.

For more news and notes on the Boston Celtics, visit Boston Celtics on SI.