
Boston Celtics’ future shines as Brad Stevens shuts down coaching rumors and details his commitment to championship basketball. Can the Celtics maintain their edge with Jayson Tatum's remarkable recovery and a front office determined to fix NBA tanking culture? John Karalis of Celtics On SI breaks down Brad Stevens' insights on ending tanking, the evolution of the NBA lottery, and why the current draft system still shapes team-building strategy. The conversation spotlights Jayson Tatum's inspiring Achilles rehab, featuring new details on the medical breakthroughs, support team, and mental challenges Tatum has conquered. Plus, Brad Stevens addresses persistent coaching carousel speculation—making it clear he’s not leaving Boston anytime soon. With NBA playoffs approaching, the Celtics' leadership and player development set the stage for banner aspirations. Will these moves secure Boston’s dominance in the Eastern Conference?
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Yeah, I mean I'm a huge proponent of doing everything that we can to make sure that every night is as competitive as humanly possible because we have the best players in the world and I think that it's important to let them be that on that stage. There are a lot of discussions going on about how to best focus on that. Both in the near term and the long term. And maybe there is a near term solution that is a stopgap before a longer term solution when people have more time to really think about it and break it down. But from my own perspective, I think it's really important that you know, because we and we're about to embark on these playoffs and there's nothing like that. There's nothing like the competitiveness and the energy and the talent that you see on the court in these playoffs. And the more that we can get every game to be incredibly meaningful to every team is really important in my opinion.
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And understand that. I understand that. And listen, tanking, you can argue that's also meaningful to every team. The Washington Wizards are tanking for a very meaningful reason to become good again. But I get it. People want to see competitive basketball. I will say that when it comes to, you know, when push comes to shove, I don't think the NBA really has the guts to go to the extremes that it needs to go to to combat tanking. The way the people who say that it needs to be combated will act would actually do it. What I mean is as I'm recording this on Wednesday afternoon there's a report on ESPN Sham Sharania talking about the. There's going to be a vote in the board of governors and and there's the plan that's going to probably get the most traction is a weighted lottery system where it involves the all of the teams at the. At the bottom flattening the odds. Maybe the. A couple of the tanking team the the playing teams it bottom line and I don't even know all the proposals. It's a little nuts. It's still a weighted system. It's still a system where there's a line and you're just moving the line and it's not a multi year WNBA style. Your two year record comes into play. It's not a wheel that I know some people have proposed. You get the first round, you get the number one pick every so many years and it just kind of spreads it out. That's a popular kind of nerdy way to approach it. That just takes all of the incentive. Doesn't matter whether you win or lose. You can win a championship and you could be your turn on the wheel and congratulations. Right? Imagine the Celtics turning around or or the OKC Thunder turn around getting Cooper flag which would be crazy but when it comes to team building NBA teams are just not going to take away the option to tank. The question here for me when it comes to tanking is, is. Is the system still in favor of having the worst teams get the best chances to improve their team? The whole theory behind the, the draft and the lottery odds is the bad teams need the help. The draft is where you have the potential for generational help and eventually the bad teams will find the help that they're looking for. You also have to be good at drafting. You also can't cave to pressure. You can't do what Philly did and draft Markel Fultz when that was the momentum, when it was obvious to Danny Ainge that Jason Tatum was the star of this draft and he ended up getting an extra pick out of it. Of course that pick became Romeo Langford and it didn't quite pan out, but you know, trickle down, trickle down, trickle down, it became Derek White. So it worked out fine. Anyway, that's just a side note. The, the way tanking is, is happening now. The way the system is, all of these solutions just change. Who's going to be tanking? Maybe there isn't a big race to the bottom, but the way I understand it, they're going to be playing teams that if you miss the play in, you get into a very flattened lottery odds. You could really have the potential to jump in the, in the lottery. Why would you make the plan? Why would you be the ninth or tenth seed if, hey, let's just tank our way out of this? And that's kind of worse to me. That's worse than the race to the bottom. To me, if you're Chicago, Miami, and it's like, hey, if you, if you just start tanking hard, you can fall out of the race. And the odds of getting into the top five are actually not that bad. Or the top 10, they're not that bad. Why, why would you, why would you be the, the sacrificial lamb? Why would you just say, no, you know what? I don't want this player. We're just going to go get smoked by the number one seed or the number two seed. Teams are going to tank out of the play in tournament. It's just going to change where the tanking is. And if you have a potential playoff team that says, no, I'd rather not make the playoffs. That is so much worse than the Utah Jazz taking a guy nobody's heard of and playing in 48 minutes so they could lose, that is worse to me. So we'll see. I understand where Brad is coming from. You want to have competitive games. You want to have all that stuff. No problem. Tanking is just going to be there for a certain subset of teams. There are going to be teams that are going to be bad. As long as there's a lottery, as long as there's a line, teams will fight to get under that line. It's just, where do you want to set that line? And that's the problem. And I don't even see it as a big problem. Fans of those teams, fans of the Jazz and the Wizards, they get it. They understand if the tanking goes on for too long, if you've got a bad front office, then, listen, that's up to you. Then. Then you as a franchise have to figure things out. This theory of, well, team could just keep on tanking for 10 years. Like, no, because it's also going to make money. You got to bring people in. You got to have fans that want to come to the game. Their fans understand that you tank for a certain amount of time. Maybe even the Celtics. Maybe even the Celtics. Not anytime soon. Not anytime soon, but someday, maybe after Jason Tatum and Jalen Brown go, who knows? Maybe. Possibly. I'm not saying it will happen, but if it does happen, and we sit there and we go, you know what? Couple. Couple years being bad, it's okay. We'll just restock and we'll just move forward. Everybody will understand. Everybody will understand. There's, like 10 people on the national level that want to write about tanking and how horrible it is for the game. And that drives a lot of the narrative. And then it becomes fodder for debate shows. And then the NBA looks at it and says, oh, we got to stop this media narrative. It's a very small subset. It really is. So I get it. This year, the tanking has been out of control. I understand it. Next year won't be as bad. They don't even have to do anything. They will, but they don't have to. It won't be as bad because next year's draft's not going to be that great. But I get it. I get what Brad's saying. Brad also talked about Jason Tatum and what he saw in Jason Tatum that we didn't see. We'll talk about that when we come back. Today's show is brought to you by FanDuel. NBA playoffs right around the corner. Every possession matters, every matchup is magnified, and every game can swing a series. Right now, FanDuel is giving you, a new customer, a chance to get in on the action. You can bet 5 bucks you get $250 in bonus bets if your first bet wins. That makes it super easy to follow the action player stats, trends, matchups, all in one place during the playoffs. That extra insight really can help you out when you're looking at the stars, the role players, the key moments. Lots of questions with the Celtics and their role players so makes the entire playoff experience more engaging from start to finish. Head on over to FanDuel.com to get started when they when you sign up, it'll ask you to set limit, set your budget. Please do so so you can bet only what you can afford to lose. If you go cold, that's okay. FanDuel will help you gamble responsibly. FanDuel play your game. Today's show is also brought to you by Turbo Tax. It's tax time, but for a lot of us, the old way of doing taxes, it's a lot Trying to book an appointment that's not the most convenient. Sitting in a waiting room with a stack of papers, emailing back and forth and wondering if they really get your situation. But this year you're getting a major upgrade. Intuit TurboTax now has in person locations nationwide. You can meet face to face with a real tax expert and your documents get uploaded straight to your TurboTax app on the spot. And just like that, you're done. Your TurboTax expert works to get you every dollar you deserve, while you get real time notifications as you go about your day. It's the relief of walking in and meeting a real person walking out, knowing your taxes are being handled the right way. Head to turbotax.com local to find a store near you and book your appointment. Thank you for making Lockdown Celtics your first listen every day. I'm here for you Monday through Friday, bonus podcasts, sometimes during the week. This time this week, just full of bonus podcasts. We might hit double digits this week, especially because Friday night is a game. So I'll have a definitely have a bonus podcast for Friday as well. I already have. I'm gonna have Tom Westerholm on later. I'm gonna I already have a crossover with Lockdown Knicks ahead of the Knicks game. I'm gonna have a post Game Knicks podcast and a Post Pelicans podcast. So already after this podcast four more podcasts are coming, so make sure you're subscribed. Join Me Become an Every day or I'm John Corralis. I'm a beat writer covering the Celtics 4 Celtics on SI and I've been. I've been covering the team for about 20 years. I've been doing this podcast for 10. Pick up one of my books about the team as well. I got two of them. Jason Tatum looks amazing. Brad Stevens knew he would look amazing because he got to watch. He had the front row seat. Brad let us in on a little behind the scenes on what Jason Tatum's recovery looked like.
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I just think what we said was always the case. He wasn't going to be until he was 110% met every threshold, had fully reconditioned, and he felt good. You know, we weren't even going to entertain the thought of him coming back, but it became clear, you know, probably around the trade deadline, that early February time that he was, you know, in a, in a pretty good spot physically and from the standpoint of the strength. And then it's just a matter of reconditioning and getting your confidence back in a lot of ways and playing and being back on the court. And we did a lot of, you know, a lot of small games and we had the main team down and, and got a chance to, to play a little bit alive on the, on the start of the post all star trip. And you could see that not only was he, you know, going to come along pretty quickly, but you could also see that he was getting more eager to play. So it was a really well thought out process by Dr. O' Malley and Nick Sang and Phil Kohls and followed too strictly by Jason. And everybody involved with that gets a lot of credit because of the amount of work that everybody put into it. Was nobody more than Jason, you know, with close. Close second by Nick, you know, was pretty incredible to watch up close. You know, I got a front row seat to the whole thing. So it was, you know, I wasn't sitting on the edge of my seat like others were. The first time they saw him run up and down the court playing five on five.
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Well, I was on the edge of my seat. Everybody else was here. I'm sure you were. But it's just fascinating to hear about Tatum's recovery again. I, I'll just reiterate things that I've said and I, I'll. I know I've already said it to. On the. The crossover podcast with Gavin Shaw locked on Nicks, which you're going to hear tomorrow. But Tatum, for all of his, like, obviously no one wanted the injury, but if you're going to have that injury, to suffer it in New York by the hospital, special, special surgery with Dr. Ali there, the number one Achilles guy in the world doing it the very next day, all of that stuff shaved months off of the. Months off of the recovery easily, because it just. It just kind of helped everything along. And it was just. I. I'm stammering a little bit because I'm. I'm struggling to find the right words of how amazing this thing has been. This is going to be how Achilles recoveries are handled from now on. Like, whenever it happens again, and unfortunately, it will happen again, there's going to be a rush to get this, whoever it happens to, and not a rush like in a negative term, there's going to be a rush like, okay, who can do this? Can we get this person in? Can we get this player in for surgery tomorrow or the next day? How quickly can we get this, this player into surgery, get the speed bridge technique done? How quickly can this happen? And as this becomes a more popular way to treat the injury, more and more surgeons will be up to speed on how to do this surgery. It will become the common way to treat these Achilles tears, where if it happens to you or me, eventually, someday we're all going to get this. This is going to be the standard. It's been. It's been done before. But Tatum, the way he did it, the way they handled this, this is going to be the standard surgery as soon as possible. Obviously not rushed, quote, unquote, but you know what I mean. The rehab can start very quickly. The return to play can happen quicker than you expect. And now the year and a half, the year, whatever it is, can be reduced to 10 months. 10 months of not just coming back in 10 months. Tatum looking great now. Tatum's going to do the next thing. He's going to take the next step. And there are still hurdles, There are still mental hurdles. He talked about going to Madison Square Garden. Thursday night's game is at msg. That's where it happened. And this is going to be a triggering thing for Tatum. So walking into the building, like the last time, you start to think, the last time I was here, right, this happened. The last time I walked into the building, I left on a wheelchair. I left on a stretcher. You know, that type of thing crosses your mind when you step onto the court. But he'll step onto the court at that spot and he'll look and he'll remember and it will mess with his head. It's a. It's a. You know, I say triggering, but it's a. It's a ptsd post traumatic stress. There is a level of having to go in there, having to understand, having to face this demon of last time I was here, my leg exploded. And that's hard. So that's the next step in his mental recovery. I'm glad that he has this opportunity. He's kind of actually, for being in this situation, kind of lucky for him to get this opportunity. So it's not Game 1 of the semifinal series, and again, I know somebody's going to say, what do you mean, lucky? He hurt his Achilles. He blew out his Achilles. We know that that's the most unlucky thing that could happen, but once that happens, you have to have some things break your way. After that. One thing completely not went the. Against you, but the recovery, the mental aspect here, this is all, this is all part of it. And he's just done so, so well. The, the. The group around him, Nick sang, all of those guys, the Celtics trainers, the medical staff, his teammates, his family, his friends, the friends that you don't know that he has his kids, Deuce. Everybody's played a role in him getting through this. And obviously, number one is Tatum. The dedication, you know, to not take a single day and say, you know what? I don't want. I don't want to do this today. To go through all of that and still have that dedication, very impressive. So kudos to Tatum. Kudos to everybody. One last thing from Brad Stevens. It's the rumors. Quote, unquote rumors. He addresses all of the people who want him to go work for him even though he's got a job. Stevens on the coaching rumors is next. Today's show is brought to you by Quo. Spring is a natural reset point. If there's one thing that can quietly cost the business money, it's messy communication. Missed calls, scattered texts, no clear thread of who said what. 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Ad free ad free audio@lockdown celtics.supercast.com lockdownceltics.supercast.com Five bucks a month, 50 bucks for the year. Also get access to our Discord server. So check it out. Locked on celtics.supercast.com Brad Stevens Obviously whenever a job opens up, the UNC job opened up and we heard, we did a podcast, Tom and I, about what happens when these jobs come open and you got to make, you got to make Brad Stevens say no. Well, he's saying no. A blanket no. Here's what he said when he talked to the media.
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It's always flattering and listen like, you know, I'm talking to people all, all year long all around the game. Because you know, one of the, one of the joys of my job now is watching whether it be in current front office roles, people leave and get promoted a la Austin or when I was coaching and or part of the coaching staff watching those guys get jobs. So I'm on the phone with a lot of those people all the way through the year that are in those decision making processes. And so it's always flattering right when you're, when you're, when you're hearing that. But I, I, you know, the whole idea of like the coaching carousel being news is a little bit, you know, tiresome. But I get why in this day and age why people want to Talk about it as, you know, from being around me. I'm not, I'm not, I'm not quick to make decisions where I'm all over the place. I like being here. I've been, you know, they've been great to me and I haven't been seeking, seeking anything else. And so I don't have an agent. So I guess my circle's pretty small. Although I do Tracy, it still kind of helps me out, so. But I know that she's pretty reliable and confidential, but. So I guess, you know, one of these days, you know, I, I don't see me, I don't see myself. Like I'm not motivated to do anything. But what I'm doing is the bottom line and I'm really happy with the people we're around and everything else. And that's been the best part about being here. And, and really, as you get to this age and stage, I think that's the motivator for me. I don't, I don't really have any other motivation than being around people that I want to be around.
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That sounds like a 50 year old man. That is like, you know what? I've done it, I've done it all. I'm good. Brad turns 50 later this year. But I, I can feel, I can feel that, that feeling that I want to be around the people I want to be around. And why, why leave? Look, he's the president of basketball operations of the Boston Celtics. He's got a ring. He's knocking on the door of at least one more, maybe more. This is legendary status here, right? This is, you've, you've climbed the ladder of basketball and you are a major reason why a professional franchise is winning a championship. Why go back to college? Why go anywhere else? He leaves a door open in there somewhere. And I believe that door is open simply because we know the fickle nature of sports. He is the current president of basketball operations and he has a great relationship with Bill Chisholm and Bill Chisholm. I, I did in a previous bonus podcast, he said he would fight and Claw to keep Brad and Joe around. And I said, hey, man, if you're Brad, if you're Joe, like, let's, let's put Fighting Claw to the test a little bit. Let's see if we can get a couple extra, you know, maybe another comma in there somewhere. But the, the job is always, as I like to say, there's always a sort of Damocles hanging over your head. And Joe is very, very clear about it's. Like we all get fired someday and it's, it's the very select few who get to go out on their own terms and in this life. And Brad seems to be well positioned to be one of them. But you never know. You never know how things will go in three, four, five years. Maybe he wants out in five years and says, I've had enough. You know, 55 60s made millions upon millions of dollars. The kids are all out, they're out of college. It's time to just chill and relax. Or maybe he wants to be a lifer. Maybe he wants to be a 75 year old president of basketball operations or whatever. Maybe the Celtics front, Celtics ownership group says, time to move in a different direction. It's entirely possible. That's always there. It's always there. But for now, for Brad, this job is pretty good. He does have to travel a lot. He has to go to a lot of places. He does get pulled away from his family. Everybody understands that happens. But it's not like coaching. It's not like coaching you. We're going to be on the road. We're going to be on the road. West coast trip, this trip, that trip, Leaving the kids, leaving the family. Brad is very close to his family. You mentioned Tracy. That's his wife. That's who his agent is. It's his wife. So he's in a very comfortable spot doing a job extraordinarily well with a front office of very brilliant people who all do their jobs very well from top to bottom. This is an extraordinarily run franchise from Brad, his staff, down to Joe, his staff, to the players, to the people who set up the arena, to people who clean the arena. I mean that place is, is just top to bottom. Everything is top notch. I'd love to come on here and be screaming and yelling about do this and do that and you're doing this wrong and blah, blah. That's why I get so worked up about the Vuchovic conversation. Like you don't trust these guys. They've earned our trust. Why are we, why are we not trusting this? You know, the coaching staff in the front office, they know what they're doing. They certainly know more than I do. So yeah, when it comes time to all of this stuff, I trust them. And so Brad is in a great spot. So this was a big thanks, but no thanks to all of the, he's not going anywhere. All of these coaching jobs. No, thank you. I think, I'm flattered, but I see you as a friend. So that's it. But shout out to Michael Malone, who I think six years, $50 million to be the head coach at UNC. I'm surprised by that hire, but wow. Wow. Hey, all right. Good luck to him. You know, it's tough, it's tough to go back to college after being in the pros. Such a different, different dynamic. But look, Michael Malone wants to do it. It's a lot of money, so go for it. Good luck. Good luck. I hope he does well. I like to see UNC basketball. I like UNC basketball. I went to a small school, so I don't have a Division 1 kind of rooting interest. I like Providence College because I'm from Rhode Island. My wife went to PC and I have, I have a history with Providence College of going to and working their camps. So that's always going to be my, my number one. But after that, I like unc. It's, I've picked UNC in the UNC Duke rivalry. Just do not like Duke. So. Okay, side note, that's it. I'm done. Those are three comments from Brad Stevens. I've written about them at Celtics on si. There's more floating around everywhere. Hope you enjoyed this bonus podcast again. I'll have Tom Westerholm on later. We're going to talk more Celtics tomorrow. I've got a crossover preview of the Celtics Knicks game with Gavin Shaw of Lockdown Knicks that will go up tomorrow afternoon ahead of the Knicks game. So watch for that obviously post game Knicks and then post game Pelicans. So I got four more podcasts coming up after this one, bringing the total this week, I want to say, to nine. Maybe it's I think nine. So that's good. Make sure you're subscribed, make sure you're watching the show on YouTube and then I would love it if you shared the podcast and tell everybody they should be listening to and watching the Lockdown Celtics podcast. Here on the Lockdown Podcast Network is your team every day. Liberty Liberty Mutual customizes your car and home insurance to save you money. That's it. That's the ad. No bells and whistles. No guys, I said no bells and whistles. No. Trombones are fun. Visit libertymutual.com and make the switch today.
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Hey everyone, this is Ross Jackson, one of the hosts of the Locked On Podcast Network. Thank you for being here because your support means everything. And if you're looking for another way to support the show that you love or while getting something awesome in return, check out the Everydayer Club. You get ad free episodes of your favorite Locked on show, access to a members only group chat for fans of your team, and you can even jump into the national chats and talk about whatever's happening across the league. Tap the Everydayer Club link in the show notes to learn more.
Podcast: Locked On Celtics – Daily Podcast On The Boston Celtics
Host: John Karalis (Boston Sports Journal)
Date: April 8, 2026
Episode Highlights: Insights from Brad Stevens, Celtics president, on league-wide tanking, Jayson Tatum's Achilles recovery, and Stevens’ commitment to Boston.
This bonus episode delivers exclusive insights into three high-interest topics for Celtics fans and NBA observers: Brad Stevens’ thoughts on fixing tanking in the NBA, a rare behind-the-scenes account of Jayson Tatum’s recovery process, and a candid take on rumors about Stevens leaving Boston for other coaching/front office jobs. Host John Karalis curates and analyzes key moments from Brad Stevens’ recent press conference, bringing context and expert perspective.
Segment Starts: 02:14
Stevens advocates for increased competitiveness:
“I’m a huge proponent of doing everything that we can to make sure every night is as competitive as humanly possible because we have the best players in the world...” (Brad Stevens, 02:14)
Ongoing league discussions:
Stevens discusses short-term and long-term solutions under consideration, acknowledging the difficulty of finding a system that truly eliminates tanking. He supports proposals that flatten lottery odds but recognizes that any system with a “line” will incentivize teams to get below it.
Host’s critical analysis:
Notable Quote:
“There are always going to be teams that are going to be bad. As long as there is a lottery, as long as there’s a line, teams will fight to get under that line. It’s just, where do you want to set that line?” (John Karalis, 10:32)
Segment Starts: 13:39
The recovery protocol:
Turning point and progress:
Karalis on surgical advances and mental hurdles:
Memorable Quote:
“This is going to be how Achilles recoveries are handled from now on...The year and a half–the year, whatever it is–can be reduced to 10 months. Tatum’s going to do the next thing. He’s going to take the next step.” (John Karalis, 15:21)
Segment Starts: 23:48
Stevens addresses swirling rumors about his job security and interest in other opportunities:
Host’s perspective:
Notable Quote:
“This was a big thanks, but no thanks...all of these coaching jobs, no thank you. I think, I’m flattered, but I see you as a friend.” (John Karalis, 29:13)
Brad Stevens on competition and tanking:
“We have the best players in the world and I think that it’s important to let them be that on that stage.” — 02:14
On Tatum’s recovery:
“It was, you know, I wasn’t sitting on the edge of my seat like others were the first time they saw him run up and down the court playing five on five.” — 15:18
On career and life priorities:
“I don’t really have any other motivation than being around people that I want to be around.” — 25:23
For Celtics fans and NBA enthusiasts, this episode offers rare, unguarded reflections from franchise leadership and a thoughtful critique of league-wide issues, with all the nuance and personal touch typical of John Karalis’ hosts.