The Boston Celtics ooze basketball aura. With a record 17 championships (tied with the rival Los Angeles Lakers), the C’s often associate themselves with success more than any other team in the association. With so many banners hanging from the Boston Garden rafters, the players who hung the laundry deserve all of the recognition. It’s time to shine a light on the 22 best players in Boston Celtics history!
1. Larry Bird
With the toughness of a benchwarmer and the clutch gene of an assassin, Larry Bird’s skillset has never been seen before or since. He’s the last player to win three MVPs in a row, and with the increase in perimeter play, Bird would be even better today.
2. Bill Russell
Bill Russell famously led the Celtics to a record 11 championships in 13 seasons, but there’s hardly ever context given to his accomplishments. Russell revolutionized the purpose of defense in basketball, and he was capable of upping his scoring when needed. He scored 30 points with 40 rebounds in Game 7 of the 1962 NBA Finals.
3. John Havlicek
John Havlicek waited his turn behind Bill Russell in the 1960s, complimenting the Celtics’ dynastic players until he took over in the 1970s. Hondo built a path for future small forwards like Larry Bird, Scottie Pippen, and LeBron James with all-around play on both ends of the court.
4. Bob Cousy
Bob Cousy often gets brought up in jest by younger fans with highlight clips of him dribbling around defenders or throwing a behind-the-back pass. Sure, Cousy may look primitive by today’s standards, but point guards owe a lot to the Houdini of the Hardwood. He orchestrated the Celtics offense to perfection throughout the 1950s and 1960s.
5. Paul Pierce
Paul Pierce defined what an automatic bucket was for the Celtics for 15 years. From the mid-range and the perimeter, Pierce leveraged his bulk and sharpshooting capability to score over 24,000 points, second all-time in franchise history. He remains the last Celtics player to win NBA Finals MVP.
6. Kevin Garnett
Kevin Garnett spent most of his career with the Minnesota Timberwolves, but his impact on the Celtics may be even greater. He injected life into a team that hadn’t won a title in over 20 years, winning Defensive Player of the Year in 2008 and re-establishing Boston as the elite franchise in the league.
7. Dave Cowens
Dave Cowens’ prime with the Celtics lasted only 10 years, but the combination of him and John Havlicek bridged the gap between the Russell and Bird eras of Boston basketball. Cowens did a little bit of everything for the C’s, including leading them in points, rebounds, assists, blocks, and steals in 1977-1978.
8. Kevin McHale
Every time a defender thought they had prevented a Kevin McHale bucket, the power forward with a galaxy of moves pulled another one out of his black hole. Once the ball entered McHale’s office in the paint, it wasn’t coming out until a make or a miss, more often the former. McHale’s gangly arms and flexibility lent him a skillset that stood out, even compared to teammate Larry Bird.
9. Robert Parish
The player who completed the Celtics Big Three in the 1980s, Robert Parish arrived to work in blue-collar fashion. Fans expected excellent defense to accompany 15 points and 10 rebounds every night, and the Chief never backed down from rivals such as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bill Laimbeer.
10. Sam Jones
Sam Jones mastered the midrange pull-up and the bank shot in the 1960s. While Bill Russell and Bob Cousy are mentioned first in Celtics lore, Jones won the second-most titles in NBA history with 10 championships. At 6’4’’, Jones helped build the idea of what a shooting guard would look like throughout NBA history.
11. Jayson Tatum
Jayson Tatum will rise up this list dramatically if he wins an NBA title. Boston is all about championships, and Tatum has been tasked with returning the team to the hierarchy of the league after a 15 year drought. As it stands, the 25-year-old star scores at every level and presents a matchup nightmare for his defender nightly.
12. Dennis Johnson
Dennis Johnson’s defensive magic on the perimeter made the Celtics almost unfair in the mid-1980s. Johnson also on the other end of Larry Bird’s game-winning steal in the 1987 Eastern Conference Finals. Bird called DJ the greatest player he ever shared the court with, although this might have been a dig at Kevin McHale’s work ethic.
13. Nate Archibald
Nate Archibald compiled gaudy statistical feats before he got to Boston, but he optimized his game for the good of championship play in the early 1980s. Archibald helped ease Larry Bird along in his early years when Bird occasionally faltered, such as in the 1981 NBA Finals.
14. Ray Allen
Ray Allen completed the Celtics’ championship puzzle in 2008, even becoming the main factor in convincing Kevin Garnett to come to Boston after he was traded from the Seattle SuperSonics. Allen broke Reggie Miller’s three-point record in Celtic green.
15. Tom Heinsohn
Tom Heinsohn served as an enforcer and Bill Russell’s main frontcourt partner during the bulk of the Red Auerbach dynasty in the 1960s. Heinsohn stayed involved in the Celtics franchise with coaching and media gigs up until his death in 2020.
16. Jo Jo White
Jo Jo White gets forgotten in the midst of Celtics stars, but this dynamic point guard averaged close to 20 points per game most years in the 1970s. He carried on the tradition of Celtic excellence in the backcourt, grabbing the stick from Bob Cousy and Sam Jones.
17. Jaylen Brown
Even if he can’t dribble with his left hand, Jaylen Brown’s consistent play alongside Jayson Tatum has lodged the Celtics firmly into the top of the NBA’s contenders for half a decade in the 2020s. Brown became the highest-paid player in Celtics history in the summer of 2023.
18. Rajon Rondo
Rajon Rondo started his career as a bystander next to Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, and Kevin Garnett, and he ended it as their bonafide leader and best player. Rondo conjured passes that other point guards couldn’t, and his tough demeanor influenced the team’s identity.
19. Bill Sharman
Bill Sharman became one of the NBA’s first sharpshooters in the 1950s. With Bob Cousy delivering pinpoint passes, Sharman benefited greatly from his point guard and often held field goal percentages in the mid-40s, an incredible number at the time.
20. Kyrie Irving
Kyrie Irving’s Celtics career never lived up to the hype, but Irving’s ball-handling and shooting make him one of the best point guards ever to play for the team. Irving’s clutch shot-making and flair elevated Boston back into prominence at the onset of Jayson Tatum’s career, and the duo could have been legendary if Irving had stayed.
21. Bill Walton
Bill Walton’s destiny of being one of the best centers ever got derailed by chronic foot injuries, but his low-key personality allowed him to nestle right in with Larry Bird and company for the 1986 championship. Walton’s intelligence was the key to the bench unit and made the team one of the best single-year rosters in basketball history.
22. Reggie Lewis
Reggie Lewis only played for the Celtics for six years before his tragic death in 1993, but he made a tremendous impact on the community and the team. Lewis averaged 28 points per game in the 1992 NBA Playoffs, a sign of what could have been. Lewis became the second star to pass away while on the Celtics during this time period, with Len Bias being the first in 1986.
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