As the Boston Celtics continue their quest to win a second straight championship, there are a lot of players on the roster looking to contribute at a high level. Jayson Tatum is one of the best players in the league, Jaylen Brown made another All-Star game, Kristaps Porzingis looks as healthy as ever, and so on.
But the starting lineup is just the tip of the iceberg for this Celtics team. Their bench is full of extreme talent—such as Payton Pritchard and Al Horford—just waiting to make an impact at any given time. But the most underrated player on the Celtics still often goes unnoticed.
It’s Luke Kornet.
Celtics getting more out of Luke Kornet than Knicks, Bulls ever did
For years, Kornet bounced around from team to team. He played for the New York Knicks to open his career but left to sign with the Chicago Bulls after two years. He only spent a year-and-a-half there before getting traded to the Celtics.
But at that point, not even the Celtics were convinced of his talent. They let him walk that summer, and he signed 10-day deals with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Milwaukee Bucks before finally finding his way back to Boston.
Once he was back, Kornet spent some time with the Maine Celtics before the organization realized his true value—a paint beast.
Milwaukee and Cleveland get a pass, because they only had Kornet for short periods of time, but New York and Chicago completely failed to see the vision of what he could become.
For his entire career, Kornet had always been a three-point shooter. He shot a ton of threes at Vanderbilt, he shot them with the Knicks, and in his first run with the Celtics, he took some. Now, he’s abandoned the shot completely in favor of trolling the paint full-time.
He’s turned himself into one of the most effective rim protectors and rim-runners in the NBA, highlighted by a recent 12-point, 12-rebound, three-block performance in a 131-104 win over the Knicks.
Not only is Kornet one of the most efficient players in the league (his 66.2% field goal percentage would rank fifth if he takes enough shots to qualify), but his defense is otherworldly.
Among all players in the NBA who have defended at least 100 shots within six feet of the basket, Kornet is Top 10 in opponent field goal percentage (51.7%). Some of the players above him in the Top 10 include Chet Holmgren, Porzingis, Jaren Jackson Jr., and Victor Wembanyama.
That’s some pretty good company to be in when it comes to rim protection.
Before his second stint with the Celtics, every team who had Kornet on their roster failed to see how good he could be, including the Celtics themselves.
Now, he’s one of the best backup bigs in basketball.