After playing a pair of exhibitions halfway around the globe in Abu Dhabi, the 2024-25 Celtics will take the court at TD Garden for the first time this weekend.

Boston will host Philadelphia and Toronto in a preseason back-to-back, facing the 76ers at 8 p.m. on Saturday and the Raptors at 7 p.m. on Sunday.

Here are five players we’ll be watching in those games:

Al Horford (No. 42)

Just three Celtics players did not play a minute in Abu Dhabi. One was Kristaps Porzingis, who’s working his way back from offseason leg surgery. The second was an undrafted rookie who’s since been cut (Tristan Enaruna). The third? Horford, who’s expected to be Boston’s primary starting center until Porzingis returns.

Head coach Joe Mazzulla said Horford’s UAE DNPs were for rest purposes, not due to injury, adding that the 38-year-old big man still is “ramping up” as he prepares for his 18th NBA season. Mazzulla said Horford will play in at least one of the Celtics’ three remaining preseason matchups, so expect to see him log minutes either Saturday or Sunday.

Horford keeps himself in terrific shape for a player his age, but his workload will be a major storyline in the month-plus of the regular season that Porzingis is projected to miss. Mazzulla likely won’t play Horford as frequently as he did after Porzingis went down in last season’s playoffs, meaning backups Luke Kornet, Xavier Tillman and Neemias Queta will be vital pieces early in the year.

Luke Kornet (No. 40)

Mazzulla didn’t shoot down the idea of starting Kornet and using Horford off the bench in some games, saying he’ll do “whatever makes sense for the team.”

The 29-year-old Kornet is coming off the best season of his career, and he played well in both games in Abu Dhabi, displaying good vision as a passer and soft hands in the lane. He also grabbed 11 rebounds in 21 minutes in Boston’s preseason opener, including four offensive boards.

Jordan Walsh (No. 27)

An afterthought last season as a 19-year-old rookie on a loaded roster, Walsh now is firmly in contention for a larger role in Year 2. The 2023 second-round draft pick was part of Boston’s second unit in both Abu Dhabi contests, and his all-around contributions in the first game (four rebounds, four assists, three blocks, two 3-pointers) helped Boston secure a four-point win over the Denver Nuggets.

Mazzulla is encouraged by the way Walsh shifted his mindset after a rough showing at the Las Vegas Summer League, during which the young forward admitted he was trying to do too much.

“I think it’s hard for young guys to trust that the most simplest things, you’ll be rewarded for, and it’s hard to trust that when you’re young,” the coach said Thursday. “And so I get the perspective that he had, but he’s made a conscious change in his perspective of just trusting that the most important things are the simple things, and that’s what you’re being judged on, and that’s kind of how you grow. And I think the first two games, he’s really shown that.”

How Mazzulla deploys Walsh this weekend will be telling. The Celtics need new players to fill the deep reserve spots vacated by departed free agents Oshae Brissett and Svi Mykhailiuk, and so far this preseason, there’s been a clear gap between Walsh and Jaden Springer – who saw similar usage in the first two games – and the rest of the team’s end-of-the-roster hopefuls.

Baylor Scheierman (No. 55)

Scheierman’s NBA career is off to an inauspicious start. The first-round pick didn’t see the floor until the fourth quarter in Boston’s first two preseason games and struggled in his limited action. Over 20 total minutes, he went 1-for-9 from the field and 1-for-7 from three, including an airball and another shot that hit the top of the backboard.

Long-range shooting was a strength of Scheierman’s during his highly productive college career, but his mechanics have looked off since he joined the Celtics, and he’s rushed a few shots. The Creighton product also missed a tough layup, was called for traveling, turned the ball over on an errant pass and picked up a foul while trying to draw a charge.

Boston will hope these are just rookie jitters that Scheierman can work through as he adjusts to the NBA. But now, he doesn’t look like a player who’s ready to immediately contribute. We’ll see if he can generate some positive momentum as he makes his debut on the Garden parquet.

Lonnie Walker IV (No. 12)

Walker is an established NBA vet who was playing real minutes in the Western Conference finals less than two years ago. You’d never know that based on how he was used in his first two games as a Celtic.

The 26-year-old shooting guard, who’s in camp on an Exhibit 10 tryout contract, only played in the fourth quarter in both exhibitions against Denver, entering after all of Boston’s regulars had been shut down for the night. He played 11 total minutes and didn’t make a shot, going 0-for-6 on field goals and 0-for-3 on threes.

Walker said early in training camp that he would be “perfectly fine” with a G League assignment, and that’s where he’s trending at this point. He’ll need to show a lot more over the final three preseason games to have any chance of landing the Celtics’ final 15-man roster spot, which the team could choose to leave open to allow for more in-season flexibility.