The New York Knicks are the current champions and the Philadelphia 76ers are everybody's "it" team, but could the Miami Heat also make a run at trying to surpass the Celtics?
The New York Knicks are the defending NBA champions, and the Philadelphia 76ers are the new "it" team in the NBA, so the Eastern Conference has already gotten tougher for the Boston Celtics to win heading into 2026-27, or so it seems.
But there are others outside of those two that are set to make life tougher for Boston as well. Even despite trading LaMelo Ball, the Charlotte Hornets could be a factor, the Orlando Magic have real talent, and the Cleveland Cavaliers still have Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley, along with James Harden.
And then there's the Miami Heat, who acquired Giannis Antetokounmpo earlier this offseason in a trade with the Milwaukee Bucks.
I'll be honest, the acquisition of Antetokounmpo didn't really scare me from a Celtics perspective because A) The Celtics still had Jaylen Brown at the time and B) The Heat still have questions about where they'll get perimeter scoring from after trading away Tyler Herro.
But with Brown no longer here, the gap between Miami and the Celtics seems to have shrunk, and the other concern is apparently being worked on, per Shams Charania of ESPN, who reports that the Heat are monitoring the markets for both DeMar DeRozan and Klay Thompson.
DeRozan is a member of the Sacramento Kings and Thompson is still in Dallas, but both could be traded or bought out eventually.
While both players are aging, they certainly could provide leadership and offensive stability, especially in a complementary role. Those kinds of moves shouldn't scare the Celtics on the surface, but the idea of rivals acquiring depth should certainly be a scary one for Boston brass. Anything that makes Miami better at this point is worse for the Celtics.
The Celtics finished second in the Eastern Conference at 56-26 last season, but that task looks tougher this season despite the excitement of seeing Jayson Tatum ascend into the main leadership role without Brown.
Also in the news for the Celtics
John Tonje was signed to a two-way contract by the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday night. Tonje, 25, was taken in the second round of the NBA Draft in 2025 by the Utah Jazz, but ended up playing six games for the Celtics in 2025-26. In those six games, he averaged 2.5 points per game.
He had a better run with the Celtics in this year's Las Vegas Summer League that just wrapped up. He averaged 14.8 ppg in the Summer League session, also shooting 45.2 percent from the floor.
He spent 11 games with the Celtics' G-League affiliate in Maine in 2025-26, scoring 18.1 points per game in that time.
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