{"id":61875,"date":"2025-08-06T05:24:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-06T05:24:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/61875\/"},"modified":"2025-08-06T05:24:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-06T05:24:11","slug":"pritchard-believes-2025-26-celtics-will-still-be-a-playoff-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/61875\/","title":{"rendered":"Pritchard believes 2025-26 Celtics will still be a \u2018playoff team\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCeltics\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t“It’s not even about playoffs, we have one standard in Boston and it’s to win a championship.”<\/p>\n

\"Celtics
\n\tPayton Pritchard believes the Celtics will be a playoff team in 2025-26. Barry Chin\/The Boston Globe\t<\/p>\n

Expectations aren\u2019t exactly high for the 2025-26 Celtics.<\/p>\n

Just a year removed from being viewed as title favorites, the Celtics are staring at a bridge season due to critical injuries and roster turnover brought about by cap-related complications.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Looming luxury tax penalties forced Brad Stevens to trade away lineup stalwarts like Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday, while Boston\u2019s limited cap space also made it untenable for the team to re-sign players like Luke Kornet and Al Horford in free agency.<\/p>\n

Those departures are likely to hamper a talented roster. But, the most devastating blow to Boston\u2019s contention window came during the Eastern Conference Semifinals in May, with superstar forward Jayson Tatum<\/a> suffering a ruptured Achilles tendon.<\/p>\n

Tatum could miss the entire 2025-26 season as a result, further hindering a Celtics roster with little depth in its frontcourt.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Even with lineup regulars like Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, and Payton Pritchard expected to return next season, NBA.com writer John Schuhmann projected the Celtics to finish 12th in the Eastern Conference<\/a> this season\u2014 ahead of only the Charlotte Hornets, Washington Wizards, and Brooklyn Nets.<\/p>\n

Count Pritchard among those on Boston\u2019s roster who is brushing aside talk that the Celtics are destined to plummet down the standings this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re definitely trying to be a playoff team. We\u2019re trying to win a championship,\u201d Pritchard told NBC Sports Boston\u2019s Chris Forsberg on the Celtics Talk Podcast.<\/a> \u201cIt\u2019s not even about playoffs, we have one standard in Boston and it\u2019s to win a championship. Everybody in that locker room will have the goal of competing for a championship. And we will do everything in our power necessary to go for that. That\u2019s what (the fans) should know.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even with Boston\u2019s frontcourt depth decimated and the team\u2019s top scoring conduit in Tatum sidelined, the Celtics might have enough talent still in place on the roster to hover around the playoff picture in the Eastern Conference.<\/p>\n

Still, Pritchard acknowledged that it has been a painful summer for Boston \u2014 especially when it comes to the team needing to trade away players who helped the franchise win its 18th championship in June 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, it definitely sucks,\u201d Pritchard said about the offseason changes. \u201cYou become brothers with your teammates, you\u2019re with them all the time. So, definitely going to miss them. It\u2019s part of the business side so you have to move on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boston may not be one of the favorites for a title in 2025-26. But, Tatum\u2019s injury and Boston\u2019s offseason departures appear to open up more opportunities for other regulars on the Celtics\u2019 roster.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Be it Brown\u2019s ascension as the team\u2019s go-to scorer or more minutes allocated to the reigning Sixth Man of the Year in Pritchard, there should be plenty of avenues for other Celtics players to thrive this fall.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like everybody should be excited,\u201d Pritchard said. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of opportunities across the board. For me, personally, I\u2019m excited every year. Because it\u2019s an opportunity to prove myself again, to show that I can take another step. And that\u2019s my goal every year. I\u2019m definitely hungry and motivated this year, been working really hard. So I\u2019m excited.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\"Profile\t<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Conor Ryan is a staff writer covering the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox for Boston.com, a role he has held since 2023.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for the Today newsletter<\/p>\n

Get everything you need to know to start your day, delivered right to your inbox every morning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Celtics “It’s not even about playoffs, we have one standard in Boston and it’s to win a championship.”…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61876,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[355,99],"class_list":["post-61875","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61875","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61875"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61875\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}