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Jaylen Brown is your Finals MVP. Jayson Tatumhad your weird attemptat a Kevin Garnett interview moment. And now it’s time for summer!
Banner Days🍀🍀🍀
Celtics have most NBA titles ever … again
Vindication. That’s what the Boston Celtics have earned after one of the more dominant NBA regular seasons and title runs in league history. Years of doubt,rumors of breaking upJayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown and postseason failures turned into lessons and stepping stones. After beating the Dallas Mavericks in last night’s Game 5, theCeltics will hang their NBA-record 18th banner.
Here are a few numbers to illustrate the Celtics’ prowess:
- They went 80-21 throughout their title run, becoming the12th teamto notch 80 wins and win a ring (including the playoffs).
- Boston had the fifth-greatest margin of victory in regular-season history (plus-930). Its dominant postseason raised that ranking tofourth all timewhen combining the playoffs (plus-1,083).
- The Celtics’ 16-3 run in the playoffs marks theninth-best winning percentage (84.2) for a title run in NBA history.
When factoring in the regular season,Boston’s campaign was more dominantthan Denver’s title march last year. It’s notquiteon the level of the 2017-18 Warriors or the 72-win Chicago Bulls in 1996, butthis run from October through June was as strong as any other since the 1976 ABA-NBA merger.And while the 2024 Celtics won’t get the same fame and glory as the 1986 team or the 2008 champions,their start-to-finish dominancemakes such a comparison fairer than people will assume.
The question is … can the Celtics do it again next year?Their entire eight-man rotation is under contract for next season. For what it’s worth, Bostonopened as the +310 favoriteto repeat, per BetMGM.
WE THE CHAMPS 🏆 pic.twitter.com/jziGPHNbFt
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) June 18, 2024
Taking it all in pic.twitter.com/Z4tDD5LohI
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) June 18, 2024
An ECF MVP, a Finals MVP AND A CHAMP 🏆 pic.twitter.com/SXa2ov078X
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) June 18, 2024
The Horford’s are champs 🏆☘️ pic.twitter.com/VKYIH1aJSI
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) June 18, 2024
See Also'I trusted him. He trusted me.' Brown and Tatum answered critics while leading Celtics to 18th title'I want to win more than anybody can imagine': Jayson Tatum's grind to the cusp of a titleFlorida Panthers win their first Stanley Cup, surviving Oilers' unlikely comeback attemptJayson Tatum Game Log and Averages Against Each Team in 2023-24
617 Day is extra special this year 😏 pic.twitter.com/9o55yGn4EM
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) June 18, 2024
Offseason Calendar
Key dates to know this summer
The 2023-24 season ended, like, five minutes ago, but we’re ready to move on to what we’ve got coming up this summer. Sure, we could all sign each other’s yearbooks, inflate the floaties and get ready to spend time in the pool — but we’ve got plenty of NBA action quickly approaching.
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Here are the key moments to follow:
NBA Draft: June 26 and 27
The NBA has changed its draft format into a two-night event, instead of forcing everything into one. The draft has historically been on a Thursday, but this year, the first round will take place on Wednesday as the second round happens the next day. Atlanta is currently on the clock with the top pick in this wide-open class. Sam Vecenie will have his draft guide soon —here’s his latest mock. Yesterday, Kelly Iko, James Edwards III and Josh Robbins discussed if Alexandre Sarr, the French 7-footer who’s been playing in Australia, isstill the top option to go No. 1.
After the Celtics win last night, @MotorCityHoops and I dove deep into how this front office bet big on trades to win the title, and how they built this team.
Also talked offseasons for Boston and Dallashttps://t.co/gVNnVaeI4G
— Sam Vecenie (@Sam_Vecenie) June 18, 2024
We’re diving into the Celtics here, and how I think this is the best team ever assembled via trade from a team-building perspective. https://t.co/N1Ai4nKuiz
— Sam Vecenie (@Sam_Vecenie) June 18, 2024
NBA Free Agency: June 30 at 6 p.m. ET
A new rule in the CBAallows teams to talk to their own free agentsbasically as soon as the finals are over. That moratorium ends at 6 p.m. ET on June 30, when it becomes a free-agency free-for-all. Before then, there’s no chance anybody would risk breaking tampering rules, which could cost them … let me check my notes … a second-round pick? That’s it? Fine. When Shams breaks the news one minute into the open period that three- and four-year deals have already been agreed to, know thatnobodyfollowed this rule.
Las Vegas Summer League: July 12 to 22
In about a month, Las Vegas Summer League will be the premier NBA event of the moment. We’ll hobnob, network and pray the dealer doesn’t have a five under that six showing. We’ll hopefully get to see all of the top picks of the NBA Draft play, and maybe even see what Bronny James can do in his first unofficial NBA action.
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Olympic basketball: July 27 to Aug. 11
Live from Paris! It’ll be Team USA versus the world. After an embarrassing showing at the FIBA World Cup last year, we’ll see if arevamped Team USA men’s rostercan bring back the gold. LeBron James, Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, Joel Embiid, Jayson Tatum and other U.S. stars will be tasked with putting everything back in balance with the global basketball world. Redeem Team 2.0, anybody? 🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲
Think Pieces 🤔🤔🤔
The five biggest questions for this NBA summer
The offseason is officially upon us, which means Shams has his phone fully charged. We’ve also got the absolute best coverage of the draft and free agency for you. Here are five questions I need answered this summer as the NBA retools for the 2024-25 season.
1. Is LeBron James definitely sticking with the Lakers?Yes, we’re talking Lakers. We’re talking LeBron. Just deal with it. He’s still the biggest star in the world and can still change the landscape of things in front of us. LeBron most likely stays with the Lakers. He has great basketball and non-basketball reasons to remain in L.A. But if he decides he’s had enough (and maybethat Dan Hurley stuffwas part of it), he could orchestrate a big shift. We’ve seen it many times.
2. Is Paul George going to leave the Clippers?It’s been reported, as of right now, the Clippers and PG aren’t aligned on a new contract. I’m guessing he wants the full max, and the Clippers apparently aren’t putting that together for him. Maybe Steve Ballmer decides to pay that man his money, butwe saw Joel Embiid soft-recruiting on live television last week.
3. Have we seen the last of Klay Thompson in a Warriors jersey?Aswe discussed yesterday, the four-time NBA champion and 34-year-old veteran unfollowed the Warriors’ team account on Instagram and removed Warriors-related posts from his page. The Magic and 76ers would love his shooting. The Lakers likely would, too. Even if he’s not the Klay of old, he’s still pretty valuable. It’s just difficult to imagine him anywhere but the Bay (or the Bahamas?).
Klay Thompson is set to join Team Bahamas for training camp in Houston this week, sources tell me and @anthonyVslater. He is not expected to play in Olympic qualifier. Thompson is expected to test free agency in coming weeks.
Details at @TheAthletic: https://t.co/IXY5sdrTSn
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 17, 2024
4. Will the Hawks shake things up?They have too much talent to have been this inconsistent since making the conference finals in 2021. We heard plenty of Dejounte Murray rumors before the deadline. We’ve heard murmurs about whether Trae Young should be there for the long haul. Atlanta has switched out so many coaches. Now, it has the top pick in the draft. Maybe it’s time to gut the roster and retool.
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5. Who in the West will have an extreme makeover?We know the Lakers love to overhaul their roster. The Clippers could find themselves in a precarious position if George leaves. The Rockets and Spurs have exciting young cores to build around. The Warriors are always looking to belight yearsahead. Phoenix… well. New Orleans talked about changes to the roster after its season was over. Someone will take a big swing this summer.
Bounce Passes
Seth Partnow’s latest Player Tiers are outand officially include rookies. They’renotrankings.
Listen! Andrew Schlecht, Jay King and Tim Catodiscuss the 2024 NBA Finals.
Whom could the Knicks targetthis summer if they’re looking for a star?
(Top photo: Brian Babineau / Getty Images)
Zach Harper is a staff writer for The Athletic, covering the NBA. Zach joined The Athletic after covering the NBA for ESPN.com, CBS Sports and FRS Sports since 2009. He also hosts radio for SiriusXM NBA and SiriusXM Mad Dog Sports Radio. Follow Zach on Twitter @talkhoops
