Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum became teammates in Boston in 2017, then spent years watching the Celtics cycle through major names around them.
Kyrie Irving, Gordon Hayward, Kemba Walker, Robert Williams III, Marcus Smart, Al Horford, Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis all had their turns in Boston. The team chased a title with those changing casts and eventually won one, powered by two young wings who grew into established stars.
Boston’s championship core broke apart a year after its 2024 title, with Holiday, Horford and Porzingis moving on. Tatum then missed much of the 2025-26 season while recovering from a torn Achilles, and the Celtics reshaped the roster around their two central players. After nine years together, though, Tatum and Brown also went their separate ways.
Boston traded Brown to Philadelphia over the summer for Paul George, two first-round picks and two pick swaps. The deal was a major change for the Celtics. The previous year had brought plenty of departures, but Brown had done more than most to shape the team’s identity.
That absence is already apparent, on offense and defense. Boston is changing how it uses its leading players, while also making the most of George’s defensive strengths. There are benefits and trade-offs in both parts of that adjustment.
Without Brown, Tatum is the only Celtic suited to take on a huge share of the on-ball creation. His usage rate is a career-high 36%, third in the league, and he is averaging 27.9 points, 8.0 assists and 6.3 rebounds per game.
Still, Boston hasn’t simply put the ball in Tatum’s hands and asked him to run more pick-and-rolls. His on-ball rate is 27.2%, down from 28.3% in 2025-26 and 28.8% in 2024-25. His volume of creation attempts per 100 possessions, including pick-and-rolls, isolations and post-ups, is also in line with the previous two seasons.
Instead, the Celtics are using Tatum’s size, strength and movement to get him the ball closer to the basket, send him cutting around off-ball screens and let him attack defenses that are already out of position. He is taking 33% of his shots at the rim, his highest rate since 2022-23 and one of the best marks of his career.
Tatum has also been more willing to seek contact. He’ll push through defenders to finish, or draw a foul, and his free-throw rate of .510 is well above his previous career best of .399. Only Luka Doncic and Giannis Antetokounmpo have attempted more free throws this season.
Boston is leaning into his size and strength, and so far, that makes sense.
Another part of Tatum’s increased usage is that teammates are creating more chances for him. Forty-seven percent of his field goals are assisted, his highest share since 2022-23. The same is true of his assisted baskets at the rim and from midrange.
Big wings who initiate the offense can have a harder time than smaller guards getting past defenders or squeezing through tight spaces. But their size brings advantages, too. Boston is trying to make use of those strengths while still giving Tatum a leading role, rather than asking him to create every opportunity himself.
He is still handling plenty of traditional playmaking duties, and he has looked very good as a passer. His 40.5% assist rate is far above his previous career high of 26.5%. He is also generating 16.7 potential assists per 100 possessions, another career best.
When Tatum returned last season, he was quick to find the right pass when opponents crowded him. That part of his game has continued, but he has also shifted where he looks for openings. In the past, he often kicked the ball out to shooters when defenses sent help or blitzed him. This season, he is making more passes inside and averaging a career-high 5.2 assists at the rim per 100 possessions, a mark in the 99th percentile.
That is a big jump from his previous best of 3.0 last season, which itself was well above his earlier high of 2.2. Boston reaches the rim 9.3% more often with Tatum on the floor, in part because of his own attacking and his preference for finding teammates inside.
Whether he is playing with Neemias Queta or Mitchell Robinson, Tatum is using his height to deliver easier looks as the team’s primary initiator. He can see over extra defenders and is increasingly using his eyes to move help defenders out of position, especially when George or Sam Hauser is waiting in the weak-side corner.
More off-ball chances are generally a good thing for Tatum. But his focus on getting downhill and receiving the ball inside the arc has also changed his shot selection. Nineteen percent of his field goals are long midrange attempts, the highest share since 2018-19. Overall, 35% of his shots come from the midrange, his highest rate since 2020-21.
Some high-volume scorers thrive from that area. Tatum hasn’t really been one of them. He is shooting 39% from midrange and has topped 40% just once in his NBA career.
At times, he catches the ball in the post or against a switch and settles for a difficult pull-up, turnaround or fadeaway. He is shooting 51.5% inside the arc, his lowest mark since 2020-21, excluding last season’s shortened return from injury.
With more shots coming at the rim and from midrange, Tatum’s three-point attempt rate has fallen to 30%, its lowest level since 2018-19. He has also struggled from deep, making 28.6% of his threes so far. That number should improve with a larger sample, and his two-point percentage isn’t so far out of line with recent seasons that it has to be a major concern. If his outside shot returns and he keeps drawing fouls at this rate, he could get back to, or even exceed, the 60% true-shooting mark he posted from 2022-23 through 2024-25. He is at 58% this season.
Unless Tatum has suddenly become a poor outside shooter, the changes to his role and his improvement as a passer could add up to the best offensive season of his career. He isn’t the only Boston wing finding a new way to contribute, either.
The Celtics need George to take on a meaningful offensive role, but they can’t simply expect him to reproduce Brown’s game. George isn’t the same kind of shot creator or explosive driver. He does bring size, useful off-ball skills and good passing.
Coach Joe Mazzulla has been moving George between different roles, looking for ways to involve him without asking him to carry the ball too much. The early results have been strong: George is averaging 19.6 points, 5.5 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 2.4 steals, while shooting 41.3% from three. His true-shooting percentage is 58%.
Seventy-five percent of George’s field goals have been assisted, a career high, even as his usage rate has climbed to 27.6%, its highest since 2022-23. He is taking fewer creation attempts per 100 possessions than at any point in the available data, and his time holding the ball is at its lowest since 2017-18. Like Tatum, he is getting touches in favorable situations, with Boston relying on screening, spacing and quick decisions around him.
George has lost some of his burst as a driver over the years. That has often left him taking difficult midrange shots over defenders he used to be able to get past or drive through. Boston doesn’t want that to become the foundation of its offense, so it is using actions to create better openings: off-ball screens to help him attack the paint, switches that put smaller defenders on him and catches on the move that reduce the amount of work he has to do himself.
George is taking 50.8% of his shots from three, a career high, and attempting 13.0 threes per 100 possessions, also a personal best. Boston is using him as a screener and roller more than any team has in his career. His attempts at the rim from cuts, putbacks and rolls are at a career high, and 21% of his shots are coming at the rim, his best rate since 2022-23. He is also taking the smallest share of his shots from midrange since 2011-12.
Getting George and Tatum involved inside, along with Tatum’s more interior-focused passing, seems like a deliberate attempt to replace some of Brown’s ability to drive. Boston is taking 30.2% of its shots at the rim, its highest rate since 2021-22 and its best league ranking since 2019-20. That figure is higher than any of the Celtics’ rim-frequency marks with Brown on the floor in his final three seasons in Boston. It isn’t a knock on Brown; it points to how much the offense has changed.
In a way, Boston is trying to rebuild Brown’s overall impact through several players. Tatum has a larger workload and is attacking the rim more often. George is a secondary creator, though not quite the same kind of one Brown was.
With Tatum taking on more offensively, the Celtics are asking less of him on defense. George, meanwhile, is taking over some of Brown’s old responsibilities at the point of attack while also roaming off the ball and sometimes guarding bigger players when Queta leaves his own assignment to protect the paint. George ranks third in the league in deflections per game, with 5.3, and fifth in steals, at 2.4. His 4.7% STOP rate, which counts steals, recovered blocks and drawn offensive fouls per 100 possessions, is a career high.
Just as Boston is taking advantage of Tatum’s size on offense, it is using George’s size and mobility on defense. His ability to navigate screens, read the play and disrupt opponents off the ball makes him a particularly useful defender.
The Celtics are off to a 7-2 start, and their leading players have generally been effective. Still, there is plenty to figure out as the season goes on. George was impressive for much of his time in Philadelphia, including before his suspension in 2025-26, but his play improved after he returned from a 25-game absence.
His offseason recovery may have helped again. Even so, his scoring has cooled since a 38-point opening-night performance. Over the past seven games, he has averaged 17.0 points while shooting 53.6% true shooting and 37.3% from three. It remains to be seen how well he can hold up on both ends as the season gets harder, and then in the playoffs.
Tatum has been excellent offensively, and George has been a major defensive presence. But for Boston to make a deep playoff run, I think it will need more from its franchise star on defense. Tatum’s rim protection, activity and rebounding are all at career-low levels. The rebounding has been especially noticeable: Boston ranks 24th in defensive rebounding rate, after never finishing lower than 11th during Mazzulla’s time as coach.
Maybe that is a trade-off Tatum and the coaching staff have accepted because of the amount he is doing on offense. Still, he should be capable of more defensively. Whether he can raise his effort there is an open question, particularly when his offensive responsibilities don’t leave much room to scale back.
Boston’s offense has been clever and cohesive, but I’m not sure how it will translate in the playoffs. The Celtics are getting advantages from early flare screens, back screens and drag screens that can catch regular-season defenses off guard. Tatum and George have made good use of those looks.
In the postseason, though, teams have more time to prepare for a scheme. It is often easier to counter a tactical advantage than a talent advantage. The 2025-26 and 2026-27 Celtics have generally won with the former, while the championship team had both. This version also lacks the depth of ball-handling options and flexible center play that Boston had in 2023-24 and 2024-25.
It’s also possible that a championship isn’t Boston’s main expectation this season, or one the organization believes is realistic. That might invite criticism, especially with an All-NBA-level star in his prime, but it is a separate question.
This is Tatum’s first full season back from a torn Achilles. George is still a very good player, but he is 36 and no longer an All-Star-level talent. His large contract expires next summer. Derrick White, an important part of Boston’s success over the past several years, is 32 and may be beginning to decline.
The Celtics could wait to see what a Tatum-led team can accomplish, then use George’s expiring contract and their stockpile of first-round picks to pursue a younger, better fit in the offseason. Or they might keep winning and decide to make a move before this season’s trade deadline.
Either way, this is a good Celtics team, but it looks different from the teams of recent years. Tatum remains at the center of it, now with a new running mate on the wing for the first time in his career.
Statistics are current through games played on Nov. 8.
