After The Timeout · NBA 2026-27 guide

Eastern Conference · tip-off October 20

Boston Celtics

Our win estimate next to the market's, the last three seasons, who came and went, and the rotation we expect.

Our estimate

57 wins

Median of 20,000 simulated seasons. Middle 80%: 51 to 62 wins.

The market

53.6 wins

Where the Kalshi yes price for "wins or more" crosses 50%.

Last season

56-26

2025-26 · net rating +7.9 (4th in the NBA)

Our estimate is 3.5 wins above the market.

Treat the gap as a flag, not a verdict. In backtests on 2024-25 and 2025-26 (60 team-seasons) this kind of estimate missed a team's win total by 8.3 wins on average. Last season's wins pulled toward 41 missed by 9.0. Ratings built from games alone said 50 wins for this team.

Two ways to count wins

Our range against the market

The blue bar is the middle 80% of our simulated seasons. The orange line is the market's win total.

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 53.6 market wins in an 82-game season
Our median 57, middle 80%: 51 to 62 Market 53.6

Where we think they finish in the East

Top 6: 100% Play-in, 7th to 10th: 0.2% Outside the top 10: 0%
Market prices by strikeKalshi, captured Oct 19, 4:38 pm UTC
Wins or moreBidAskMidOur odds
2095¢ 100¢ 98¢ 100%
2594¢ 100¢ 97¢ 100%
3094¢ 100¢ 97¢ 100%
3593¢ 98¢ 96¢ 100%
4091¢ 97¢ 94¢ 100%
4579¢ 86¢ 83¢ 100%
5066¢ 68¢ 67¢ 96%
5543¢ 44¢ 44¢ 70%
6029¢ 32¢ 31¢ 24%
653¢ 9¢ 6¢ 2%

A strike with no bid is treated as unpriced. The market win total is a straight line between the two strikes that straddle 50%.

What the scoreboard said

The last three regular seasons

Ratings are points per 100 possessions. Possessions are estimated from box scores, so treat them as close, not exact. Ranks are out of 30.

2025-26 · 56-26 (4th in wins)

Points per game
114.919th
Allowed per game
107.21st
Offensive rating
118.12nd
Defensive rating
110.24th
Net rating
+7.94th

2024-25 · 61-21 (3rd in wins)

Points per game
116.38th
Allowed per game
107.22nd
Offensive rating
118.12nd
Defensive rating
108.95th
Net rating
+9.33rd

2023-24 · 64-18 (1st in wins)

Points per game
120.62nd
Allowed per game
109.25th
Offensive rating
121.11st
Defensive rating
109.73rd
Net rating
+11.41st

Our preseason ratings

Offense
-0.3820th
Defense
-4.191st
Net, games only
+3.824th
Roster value
+5.70

Offense, defense and net are points per game against an average team, fitted on every completed game before tip-off (defense: lower is better). Roster value is the on-court net per 48 minutes of the players on the roster list, weighted by minutes.

Who came and who left

Offseason moves

Built from the DraftKings roster list and 2025-26 box scores. Players who left had at least 500 regular-season minutes here last season.

In (6)

  • Mitchell Robinsonfrom NY
    19.6 min, 5.7 pts a game
  • Paul Georgefrom PHI
    30.6 min, 17.3 pts a game
  • Mike Conleyfrom MIN
    18.4 min, 4.5 pts a game
  • Devin Carterfrom SAC
    18.4 min, 8.9 pts a game
2 moredepth and rookies
  • Christopher Cenac Jr.Rookie / newNo NBA box score on file
  • Dillon MitchellRookie / newNo NBA box score on file

Out (3)

  • Jaylen Brownnow with PHI
    34.4 min, 28.7 pts a game
  • Anfernee Simonsnow with PHI
    24.5 min, 14.2 pts a game
  • Josh Minottnow with BKN
    15.9 min, 5.8 pts a game

The rotation we expect

Top eight by projected minutes

Minutes come from our DFS minutes projection and are not scaled to a 240-minute game. Open a player for three seasons of per-game lines and shooting.

Jayson Tatum F · age 28 · 35.1 projected min 2025-26: 16 g, 21.8 pts, 10.0 reb, 5.3 ast

2025-26 · BOS

16games
32.6min
21.8pts
10.0reb
FG41.1%118/287
3P32.9%47/143
FT82.3%65/79

5.3 assists a game

2024-25 · BOS

72games
36.4min
26.8pts
8.7reb
FG45.2%662/1465
3P34.3%250/728
FT81.4%358/440

6.0 assists a game

2023-24 · BOS

74games
35.8min
26.9pts
8.1reb
FG47.1%672/1426
3P37.6%229/609
FT83.3%414/497

4.9 assists a game

Derrick White G · age 32 · 32.0 projected min 2025-26: 77 g, 16.5 pts, 4.4 reb, 5.4 ast

2025-26 · BOS

77games
34.1min
16.5pts
4.4reb
FG39.4%437/1108
3P32.7%209/640
FT90.2%184/204

5.4 assists a game

2024-25 · BOS

76games
33.8min
16.4pts
4.5reb
FG44.2%424/959
3P38.4%265/691
FT83.9%135/161

4.8 assists a game

2023-24 · BOS

73games
32.6min
15.2pts
4.2reb
FG46.1%387/839
3P39.6%196/495
FT90.1%137/152

5.2 assists a game

Payton Pritchard G · age 28 · 31.3 projected min 2025-26: 79 g, 17.0 pts, 3.9 reb, 5.2 ast

2025-26 · BOS

79games
32.4min
17.0pts
3.9reb
FG46.4%506/1091
3P37.7%212/562
FT89.0%121/136

5.2 assists a game

2024-25 · BOS

80games
28.4min
14.3pts
3.8reb
FG47.2%409/866
3P40.7%255/626
FT84.5%71/84

3.5 assists a game

2023-24 · BOS

82games
22.2min
9.6pts
3.2reb
FG46.8%297/635
3P38.5%147/382
FT82.1%46/56

3.4 assists a game

Paul George New here F · age 36 · 30.3 projected min 2025-26: 37 g, 17.3 pts, 5.3 reb, 3.6 ast

2025-26 · PHI

37games
30.6min
17.3pts
5.3reb
FG43.9%225/513
3P39.2%100/255
FT82.0%91/111

3.6 assists a game

2024-25 · PHI

41games
32.6min
16.2pts
5.3reb
FG43.0%245/570
3P35.8%96/268
FT81.4%79/97

4.3 assists a game

2023-24 · LAC

74games
33.8min
22.6pts
5.2reb
FG47.1%582/1236
3P41.3%243/588
FT90.7%264/291

3.5 assists a game

Devin Carter New here Questionable G · age 24 · 27.8 projected min 2025-26: 38 g, 8.9 pts, 3.3 reb, 2.7 ast

2025-26 · SAC

38games
18.4min
8.9pts
3.3reb
FG41.4%121/292
3P26.3%30/114
FT71.3%67/94

2.7 assists a game

2024-25 · SAC

36games
11.0min
3.8pts
2.1reb
FG37.0%47/127
3P29.5%18/61
FT59.1%26/44

1.1 assists a game

2023-24

No regular-season games on file.

Sam Hauser F · age 28 · 26.1 projected min 2025-26: 78 g, 9.2 pts, 3.8 reb, 1.5 ast

2025-26 · BOS

78games
24.8min
9.2pts
3.8reb
FG41.9%252/601
3P39.3%198/504
FT85.0%17/20

1.5 assists a game

2024-25 · BOS

71games
21.7min
8.5pts
3.2reb
FG45.1%214/474
3P41.6%166/399
FT100.0%11/11

0.9 assists a game

2023-24 · BOS

79games
22.1min
9.0pts
3.5reb
FG44.6%249/558
3P42.4%197/465
FT89.5%17/19

1.0 assists a game

Baylor Scheierman G · age 26 · 25.5 projected min 2025-26: 77 g, 5.5 pts, 3.5 reb, 1.5 ast

2025-26 · BOS

77games
18.6min
5.5pts
3.5reb
FG45.3%151/333
3P39.9%97/243
FT90.3%28/31

1.5 assists a game

2024-25 · BOS

31games
12.4min
3.6pts
2.1reb
FG35.5%39/110
3P31.7%26/82
FT75.0%9/12

1.1 assists a game

2023-24

No regular-season games on file.

Neemias Queta C · age 27 · 25.4 projected min 2025-26: 76 g, 10.2 pts, 8.4 reb, 1.7 ast

2025-26 · BOS

76games
25.4min
10.2pts
8.4reb
FG65.3%326/499
3P12.5%1/8
FT70.3%123/175

1.7 assists a game

2024-25 · BOS

60games
14.4min
5.2pts
3.9reb
FG65.0%132/203
3P0.0%0/3
FT75.4%46/61

0.8 assists a game

2023-24 · BOS

28games
11.9min
5.5pts
4.4reb
FG64.4%67/104
3Pn/a0/0
FT71.4%20/28

0.7 assists a game

How to read this

Method and limits

How our estimate is built
  • Our estimate starts from the roster. Each player's on-court net points per 48 minutes (from his most recent full season, pulled toward zero when the sample is small) is averaged by minutes across the roster list, then turned into wins at about 2.9 wins per point of net.
  • That win total is then pushed through the real 2026-27 schedule 20,000 times, using a home win probability for every game, to get the range and the playoff and play-in odds.
  • Ratings built from games alone (6,153 games before October 20) are kept as a comparison. They fade old games over the offseason, which pulls every team toward average.
  • The market number is the wins where Kalshi's "wins or more" price crosses 50%, read off a straight line between strikes five wins apart.
What the estimate does not know
  • Possessions are an estimate from box totals, not tracked possessions.
  • The season simulation uses each game's win probability from the ratings and nothing else: no rating uncertainty, injuries, trades after the cutoff or in-season rating updates, so the 10th-90th percentile band is narrower than a real season's spread.
  • The 2026-27 schedule file lists 1200 games (80 per team on average) rather than 1230. Each team's missing games ([2] per team) are played against an average opponent at a neutral site with no rest terms.
  • Projection method: (d) roster values. In the walk-forward study its hold-out MAE was 8.3 wins (n = 60 team-seasons) against 9.0 for last season's wins regressed toward 41. Typical error is still about 8 wins per team, so treat every number as a wide estimate.
  • Roster values use each player's box-score plus-minus, which is not adjusted for teammates. Players with no box-score history count as average at 10 minutes a game.
  • Ties in the seeding are broken at random; head-to-head and division rules are not applied.
  • Every team has a usable market median.
  • Market median uses the midpoint of the yes bid and ask for each strike and a straight line between the two strikes (5 wins apart) that straddle 0.5; a strike with no bid is treated as unpriced.
  • Rosters are the DraftKings Best Ball player list for draft group 150564, kept only where the player is on his team's current ESPN roster (ESPN team rosters, 2026-10-19): released and departed players are out. Players DraftKings lists as Out are not in the engine's pool, so they have no projected minutes and are not in the top 8; each team's moves block names them.
  • Projected minutes are the engine's per-player estimates from box scores through 2026-04-12; they are not scaled to the team's 240 minutes and do not model new teammates.
  • Box scores start in 2021-22; a player with no box score on file is marked as a rookie or new, which can include veterans returning from abroad. Ages come from the ESPN player directory (2025-26 file) and are missing for players it does not list.
  • This team has 2 games the schedule file does not list yet; they are treated as games against an average opponent.

Data built Oct 19, 2026. Estimates are ours and can be wrong.