The Celtics are keeping the band together. Like, the entire band.
Boston on Tuesday locked up yet another player from their NBA championship roster, reportedly re-signing backup forward Xavier Tillman to a two-year contract.
The deal is worth the veteran minimum and is fully guaranteed, per The Boston Globe.
The Celtics now have the top 11 players from their 2023-24 team (in terms of minutes played per game) under contract for the upcoming season — a level of continuity rarely seen for a defending champion.
Since the NBA Finals concluded last month, they’ve re-signed Luke Kornet, Neemias Queta and Tillman, signed Jayson Tatum and Derrick White to contract extensions and picked up Sam Hauser’s team option. Add in 2023 draft pick Jordan Walsh, trade deadline pickup Jaden Springer and 2024 first-rounder Baylor Scheierman, who has yet to officially sign, and their 15-man roster already is nearly full. (Second-round rookie Anton Watson is a likely two-way contract candidate.)
Boston’s lone departure thus far has been reserve forward Oshae Brissett, who declined his player option after playing sparingly during the Celtics’ playoff run. And even Brissett reportedly has not ruled out a possible return.
The 6-foot-8 Tillman came over from Memphis in a February trade and appeared in 20 games for Boston down the stretch, averaging 13.7 minutes, 4.0 points and 2.7 rebounds per game on 51.5% shooting. Tillman only saw action in eight of the Celtics’ 19 postseason games, but the 25-year-old was a key contributor off the bench in Game 3 of the Finals. He grabbed four rebounds, blocked two shots and hit a corner three in a narrow win over Dallas.
With starting center Kristaps Porzingis set to miss at least the first month of the 2025-26 season following leg surgery, the Celtics will rely on a mix of Al Horford, Kornet and Tillman to fill that void in their frontcourt.
Kemba says goodbye
Former Celtics point guard and UConn star Kemba Walker announced his retirement from professional basketball on Tuesday.
The 34-year-old played 12 NBA seasons — eight with Charlotte, two with Boston and one each in New York and Dallas — before closing out his career with a season for AS Monaco in the EuroLeague.
Though his time as a Celtic was brief and plagued by injuries, Walker was a stabilizing presence for Boston’s young locker room after the tumult of the Kyrie Irving era. Walker earned the last of his four NBA All-Star selections in his first season with the C’s, which ended with an Eastern Conference finals loss to Miami in the NBA bubble.
Walker played in just 43 games the following season, and after the Celtics were bounced by Brooklyn in the first round of the playoffs, they traded him and a first-round pick to Oklahoma City for Al Horford.
Before his pro career, Walker powered UConn’s sensational run to the 2011 NCAA championship. He was drafted ninth overall by the Bobcats.
