The Celtics may not be the betting favorite to win the East, but the NBA Cup is telling a different story.
DraftKings has Boston at 51.5 wins for the regular season, which puts the Celtics second in the Eastern Conference and just behind the Knicks by a single game. Even so, the sportsbook sees the Knicks and 76ers as the stronger bets to win the conference outright. That’s the backdrop after Boston’s fascinating offseason: still a very good regular-season team, but not exactly the cleanest playoff pick.
The Emirates NBA Cup market, though, gives the Celtics a much better look.
Thanks in large part to the draw, DraftKings has Boston favored to come out of the East and reach the Finals, where the Western Conference winner would be waiting. The Spurs and Thunder are still the favorites to win the whole thing, but Boston’s path is the one that stands out.
Group C is a big reason why. The Celtics landed with the Hawks, Hornets, Wizards and Bulls, and they’re the only team in that group with real championship equity. None of the other teams are automatic wins, but it would be a surprise if Boston doesn’t finish first.
That’s a sharp contrast to Group B, which looks brutal on paper. The Knicks, 76ers, Heat, Cavaliers and Pacers are all in the same mix, and they’re likely to wear each other down just trying to survive the group stage. Boston, by comparison, got the cleaner road.
If the Celtics handle business early, they’d be in position to host a semifinal against a possible wild card team that may have already been through a grind just to get there. And if Boston keeps rolling all the way to the NBA Cup Finals, the trip would take them to Hinkle Fieldhouse on the campus of Butler University in Indianapolis.
That’s Brad Stevens’ old stomping ground. He coached there as an assistant from 2001-2005 and then as head coach from 2007-2013, a stretch that included back-to-back trips to the National Championship Game before he took over the Celtics.
The NBA Cup isn’t the NBA Finals, but it has started to matter. For Boston, a real run would offer something useful in the first half of the season: games with playoff-level pressure while the team tries to come together. Those do-or-die moments can teach lessons that matter later.
The league already gave a reminder of that last season, when the Knicks beat the Spurs in the NBA Cup before meeting again in the NBA Finals. It’s a useful measuring stick, and for the Celtics it’s also a chance to win something they’ve never won before while adding to the legacy of the most storied franchise in the sport.
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Doc Rivers Saw One Problem Celtics Fans Will Feel In Brown Trade
At the 2026 Basketball Hall of Fame enshrinement media availability, Doc Rivers looked back on his Celtics years and then turned to the move that sent Jaylen Brown to Philadelphia. The former Boston coach said he was surprised by the trade, which brought Paul George and draft picks to Boston, and he framed it through the lens of how closely Celtics fans still track anything involving the 76ers.
Rivers also reached back to a mandate from Tommy Heinsohn, the kind of old-school reminder that still hangs over the franchise years later. Bostons hope is that George can be fit into the system and the draft capital can be turned into roster help, but the reaction from Rivers underscored the emotional side of the deal, especially for anyone who grew up on the rivalry and the expectation that certain losses simply are not supposed to happen. [Read more 🡒]
Brad Stevens Took The Heat For A Celtics Tradeoff Fans Hate
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The bigger picture is why the Brad Stevens approach has been so polarizing: he accepted real risk now in exchange for keeping the Celtics positioned to win later, even if the tradeoff frustrates a fan base that wanted a cleaner, easier path. Missing out on Giannis Antetokounmpo only sharpened the stakes, and the Jaylen Brown deal became the move that crystallized the debate, because it underscored just how far Stevens was willing to go to keep Boston competitive while still navigating the cap rules that will shape what comes next. [Read more 🡒]
Giannis Just Added More Fuel To Celtics Christmas Showdown
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Giannis has not done much to cool things down, either, as he has made it clear he is looking forward to the matchup with Boston. For a Celtics team that has spent the offseason watching a familiar East battle get even more personal, the holiday meeting now carries more than just the usual regular-season flair. [Read more 🡒]