After covering the Celtics’ rookies in Part 1 of our 2024-25 roster preview, then end-of-the-bench players and roster hopefuls in Part 2, let’s take a closer look at the reserves who should be part of head coach Joe Mazzulla’s core rotation this season. 

Al Horford

The ageless Horford accepted a demotion to sixth man last season after Boston acquired Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis, coming off the bench for the first time in his 17-year NBA career. That’ll be the case again when the Celtics are at full strength – but they won’t be for at least the first month of the 2024-25 campaign.

Porzingis is coming off offseason leg surgery that will sideline him until at least Thanksgiving, meaning Horford should open the season as Boston’s starting center. How Mazzulla manages him, though, will be a key storyline to monitor.

Horford’s postseason workload after Porzingis’ injury (15 straight starts and 30.3 minutes per game) isn’t sustainable for a 38-year-old – even one as committed to his fitness as Boston’s beloved big man is. Horford averaged 26.8 minutes per game last season and has sat out the second game of most back-to-backs since rejoining the C’s in 2021.

Look for Mazzulla to rotate one or more of Boston’s other reserve bigs (more on them later) into the starting lineup while Porzingis heals.

Sam Hauser

When the Celtics used a first-round pick on sharp-shooting wing Baylor Scheierman this summer, it sparked questions about whether the team viewed him as a Hauser replacement. Those quickly were answered when Boston picked up Hauser’s contract option two days after the draft, then signed him to a four-year extension a month later.

The $45 million deal represented an enormous raise for Hauser, who went undrafted in 2021 and had to prove himself in the G League before becoming one of the top reserves on a championship-winning team. The 26-year-old was one of the NBA’s premier 3-point shooters last season – his 42.4% clip was seventh-best among the 73 players who attempted at least five threes per game – and has improved tremendously as a defender, best seen on his possessions against Luka Doncic in the NBA Finals.

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Payton Pritchard

Pritchard’s instantly iconic halfcourt buzzer-beater in the Finals clincher capped a career year for the backup point guard. Pritchard was the only Celtics player to appear in all 82 games, and he improved in every statistical category, averaging 9.6 points per game and shooting 38.5% from 3-point range.

Expect the 26-year-old, who’s entering the first year of his four-year, $30 million contract, to again be Mazzulla’s primary backcourt sub behind starters Jrue Holiday and Derrick White.

Luke Kornet

With Porzingis on the mend, Kornet is one of two healthy 7-footers on Boston’s roster and should see ample playing time behind Horford, as he did during the Celtics’ playoff run. The 29-year-old journeyman can’t come close to matching Porzingis’ impact on either end of the floor, but he’s coming off the best season of his career, setting or tying personal bests in field-goal percentage, free-throw percentage, rebounds and blocks across 63 regular-season appearances.

Kornet attempted just one 3-pointer all season (and made it) but actually was an effective shooter from deep early in his career. Over his first two NBA seasons with the Knicks, he averaged more than four 3-point attempts per game and hit 36.0% of them – quality numbers for a big.

That was six years and five teams ago, but it’ll be interesting to see whether Mazzulla – whose team led the league in attempted and made threes last season – gives Kornet more of those opportunities in Porzingis’ absence.

Xavier Tillman

Tillman came over from Memphis at the trade deadline and, like Kornet, re-signed with the Celtics after their championship. His most important contributions came during Game 3 of the NBA Finals when he grabbed four rebounds, blocked two shots and drilled a clutch 3-pointer to help fuel a Boston comeback. Tillman also was a team-best plus-12 in 13 minutes in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals, which the Celtics won by three.

Having a full offseason and training camp with the team should allow the 6-foot-7 Tillman to take on a larger role this season. He’s never been much of an offensive threat – he has a career average of 6.0 points per game and has scored more than 20 just once – but is a skilled and versatile defender who can help fill the Porzingis void and spell Horford.

Neemias Queta

The only player on this list who didn’t crack Mazzulla’s playoff rotation, Queta played well enough last season to convert his two-way contract to a permanent roster spot. The Celtics then signed him to a new three-year contract, and he impressed at the Las Vegas Summer League.

Whether Queta is ready for a significant uptick in minutes with Porzingis sidelined remains to be seen, but the Portuguese 7-footer showed potential in his limited NBA playing time last season, averaging 16.8 points, 11.1 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per 36 minutes on 64.4% shooting in 28 regular-season appearances.