Celtics Enter 2026-27 With Tatum as Focal Point After Brown Trade

Boston dealt Jaylen Brown to bring in Paul George, and the team's offense will be built around Jayson Tatum under coach Joe Mazzulla.

The Boston Celtics head into the 2026-27 NBA season with Jayson Tatum as the clear centerpiece of the franchise. The team traded Jaylen Brown, a former NBA Finals MVP, to the LA Clippers in a deal that brought Paul George to Boston, along with additions including Hugo Gonzalez and Mitchell Robinson.

Coach Joe Mazzulla has designed his schemes and rotations around Tatum as the primary superstar, per NESN's analysis of the roster. Tatum, entering his tenth professional season, played only 16 games during the 2025-26 campaign because of injury.

Despite that limited availability, Boston's offense ranked among the NBA's best last season. The Celtics finished second in offensive rating at 120.8, led the league in turnover percentage at 0.112, and ranked sixth in offensive rebounding rate at 0.292.

The analysis notes that Boston played the league's slowest pace at 94.8 possessions per game, emphasizing shot quality over volume. The approach produced a 55.3% effective field goal percentage against a league average of 54.67%.

One statistical outlier was a free throw rate of 0.167, 29th in the NBA, despite the team ranking seventh in free throw percentage at 0.807. The report ties that gap to Tatum's absence for most of the season.