Celtics Set Preseason Slate as the Paul George Era Takes Shape

The Boston Celtics' new reality got a schedule this week. On Monday, the team announced a four-game preseason slate that includes two dates with the Philadelphia 76ers, which means Jaylen Brown — traded to Philadelphia earlier this month in the blockbuster that brought Paul George to Boston — will be looking across at his old team twice before mid-October. Add in the end of a 3-2 summer league run in Las Vegas and fresh reporting on how the front office actually views George, and this was the week the post-Brown era stopped being an abstraction and started looking like an actual basketball team. If you've been avoiding Boston Celtics news all summer because the trade still stings, it's safe to come back. Mostly.

The Week in Boston Celtics News

Three things defined the past seven days. First, the summer Celtics wrapped their Las Vegas stay on July 18 with a 103-97 consolation loss to Orlando, finishing 3-2 and missing the summer league playoffs. Second, on July 20 the team announced its preseason schedule — four games, all on NBC Sports Boston, two of them against the Sixers. Third, and maybe most meaningful for the season ahead, Jay King of The Athletic reported from Las Vegas that the Celtics are committed to keeping Paul George rather than flipping him, convinced he can still contribute at a high level next to Jayson Tatum.

That last item matters because the alternative theory — that Boston acquired George mostly as a salary vehicle to be rerouted later — had real currency around the league. Per King's reporting, the Celtics' internal view leans on how George played against them in April and May: 17.4 points per game on 48.9 percent shooting in the first-round series, with a 55 percent clip from three. Brad Stevens said as much when the trade closed: "We're not very far removed from all sitting in our series against Philadelphia and watching Paul be a guy that could carry you for portions of a quarter or a half, but also play a complementary role on both ends of the floor at the highest of levels."

The Trade Still Casting a Shadow

A quick recap for anyone who spent early July somewhere without Wi-Fi. On July 1, word broke that Boston was sending Brown to Philadelphia; the Celtics made it official on July 6. In return they received George plus a draft haul: a protected 2028 first-round pick originating with the Clippers, Philadelphia's unprotected 2031 first, and the most favorable of several second-rounders in 2028 and 2030. On July 8, George claimed the No. 13 he wore in Indiana, Oklahoma City and Los Angeles — a number that was retired in Philadelphia for Wilt Chamberlain but sat available in Boston.

The risk is not subtle. George is a nine-time All-Star with six All-NBA selections, but he played 41 games in 2024-25 and just 37 last season, and his scoring in Philadelphia settled in the 16-to-17-point range after averaging 23.6 over the previous decade. Brown, meanwhile, is 29 and coming off a season in which he carried the offense. Boston is betting that a healthier Tatum, a deeper rotation and George's two-way versatility add up to more than what it gave away. The picks are the hedge.

How Boston Got Here

The context makes the gamble legible. The Celtics went 56-26 last season and claimed the No. 2 seed in the East despite Tatum missing the first 62 games while rehabbing his torn Achilles; he returned on March 6 and worked his way back into form down the stretch. Brown was enormous in his absence, averaging 28.7 points, 6.9 rebounds and 5.1 assists across 71 games. Derrick White chipped in 17.0 points and 5.2 assists a night.

Then came the first round, and the collapse that reshaped the franchise. Boston took a 3-1 series lead on Philadelphia and lost three straight, becoming the first Celtics team ever to surrender a 3-1 advantage. The season ended with a Game 7 loss on May 2. Two months later, the team that eliminated them handed over George and picks for Brown — the kind of twist that guarantees both fan bases will have feelings about these preseason matchups, never mind the four regular-season meetings to come.

A Reshaped Roster Around Tatum

The rest of the offseason has been quieter but busy. Per NESN's roster accounting, Boston signed center Mitchell Robinson to a three-year deal, added veteran point guard Mike Conley on a one-year contract, extended Neemias Queta for four years and $56 million, and exercised team options on Dalano Banton, Queta and Jordan Walsh. The projected starting five is Payton Pritchard, White, George, Tatum and Queta, with Robinson, Conley, Sam Hauser, Walsh and Ron Harper Jr. in the second unit. Pritchard sliding into the full-time lead-guard role is the quiet subplot of the whole offseason: the offense that Brown used to stabilize now runs through him and White until Tatum says otherwise.

The draft brought two rotation hopefuls. At No. 27, Boston took Chris Cenac Jr., a Houston big man with a reputation as an elite rebounder. At No. 40, it added Dillon Mitchell, an athletic, defense-first wing out of St. John's. Neither is expected to headline anything this year, but both fit the roster's most obvious holes — physicality and frontcourt depth behind Queta and Robinson.

Summer League Takeaways

The 3-2 Vegas run offered a few genuine signals amid the usual July noise. Second-year wing Hugo Gonzalez had the loudest moment, pouring in 24 points in one of Boston's wins and looking considerably more assertive than he did as a rookie. Cenac and Mitchell both flashed before sitting out the finale along with Gonzalez, which left the consolation game to the roster's fringes — John Tonje led the team with 14 points in 19 minutes, and no starter played more than that. The undermanned group jacked 47 threes in the loss to Orlando, which says more about who was available than about any offensive philosophy. Milos Uzan, freshly signed to an Exhibit 10 deal, was one of the more efficient guards on the floor in the finale and will get a training-camp look at a crowded position.

What's Next on the Calendar

The preseason schedule announced this week gives the fall its shape:

• Oct. 8: at Cleveland Cavaliers, 7 p.m.
• Oct. 10: vs. Philadelphia 76ers, TD Garden, 8 p.m.
• Oct. 14: vs. Charlotte Hornets, TD Garden, 7:30 p.m.
• Oct. 16: at Philadelphia 76ers, 7 p.m.

All four air on NBC Sports Boston. The full regular-season schedule, including opening night, hasn't been released yet — that typically arrives in August — but the two October dates with Philadelphia will do fine as appetizers. Brown in a Sixers jersey at TD Garden on October 10 is the kind of preseason game people actually watch.

Zoom out and the Boston Celtics enter August with a clear identity, if not a certain one: Tatum a full year removed from Achilles surgery, George betting on a Boston renaissance at 36, and a front office holding a fresh stack of picks in case any of it goes sideways. The bar in Boston is never modest, and a No. 2 seed that turned into a first-round exit only raised it. Whether this week's tidy schedule announcement ages as the start of a bounce-back or the calm before another reshuffle depends mostly on two surgically repaired legs and one very famous change of address. Celtics news should stay interesting well past October.