{"id":886250,"date":"2026-09-07T03:00:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T03:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/886250\/"},"modified":"2026-09-07T03:00:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T03:00:10","slug":"celtics-young-player-gives-fans-reason-for-optimism-about-bench-in-2026-27","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/886250\/","title":{"rendered":"Celtics Young Player Gives Fans Reason for Optimism About Bench in 2026-27"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/nesn.com\/boston-celtics\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Celtics<\/a> had a busy summer, and now they&#8217;re looking forward to debuting a new rotation that features new\/young players stepping into bigger roles.<\/p>\n<p>One of those players likely to get a larger role is Jordan Walsh, who is fresh off a contract extension.<\/p>\n<p>Getting an extension is an important moment in any NBA player&#8217;s career, but Walsh doesn&#8217;t see his new extension as a way to step off the gas now.<\/p>\n<p>Celtics Young Player Gives Fans Reason for Optimism About Bench in 2026-27<\/p>\n<p>In July, Walsh signed a three-year contract extension with the Celtics worth $15 million ($5 million AAV).<\/p>\n<p>It seems like a small move, but it keeps one of the Celtics&#8217; promising young players with the team through the 2029-2030 season.<\/p>\n<p>MORE:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/nesn.com\/boston-celtics\/news\/8-players-you-didnt-know-played-celtics\/6a1e306ae92084188096255f\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">8 Players You Didn&#8217;t Know Played For the Celtics<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Walsh has played three seasons in the NBA so far, and his role has gotten bigger each year, with next season projected to be his biggest season yet.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI want to be able to be called on when we need to get a bucket, and also still do the same things on defense that I\u2019ve been doing because that\u2019s what got me here. But adding the offensive piece, so I\u2019m a threat at all times and I can get my own bucket if I have to, that is going to further separate me,\u201d Walsh said (via <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nba.com\/celtics\/news\/sidebar-offseason-202604-jordan-walsh-helps-kids-gear-up-for-school-as-he-gears-up-for-year-4\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">NBA.com<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>Walsh may start in some games depending on what Joe Mazzulla chooses is best for the rotation, but the expectation is that Walsh will begin the season on the bench.<\/p>\n<p>MORE:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/nesn.com\/boston-celtics\/news\/how-celtics-shock-nba-win-all-2026-27\/169d57ccda4ec7fc2ee623c9\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">How the Celtics Can Shock the NBA and Win It All in 2026-27<\/a><\/p>\n<p>He seems to have a great mentality heading into a new season with a unique challenge in Boston&#8217;s way, which is exactly what they need after losing Jaylen Brown.<\/p>\n<p>The bench has been the Celtics&#8217; weak spot at times, so having quality production from Walsh can only be a positive for them on both ends of the court.<\/p>\n<p>In the 2025-26 season, Walsh averaged 5.4 points, 4.0 rebounds and 0.7 steals in 17.8 minutes.<\/p>\n<p>More Celtics<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Celtics had a busy summer, and now they&#8217;re looking forward to debuting a new rotation that features&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":886251,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,459,82],"class_list":["post-886250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/886250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=886250"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/886250\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/886251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=886250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=886250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=886250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}