It feels like a lifetime ago that the Celtics picked up the team option for Neemias Queta at $2.68 million for the coming season on Monday. Since that time, Boston has made big waves by signing Mitchell Robinson with the mid-level exception and, of course, trading Jaylen Brown to the 76ers for Paul George and draft picks.
But on Friday morning, the Celtics got back to business and quickly reached a fully guaranteed four-year, $56 million contract extension with Queta that will start in the 2027-28 season and run through the end of 2030-31.
The move allows the Celtics to keep Neemy on the minimum this season, which gave them the flexibility to sign Robinson below the first apron hard cap and will be extremely helpful if they aim to duck the luxury tax line and reset the repeater tax for next season, when they’ll likely start spending into the aprons again. Then, the deal will bump up next year and keep Queta in Boston until he’s 31.
Queta emerged as quality starting center for Celtics
Big Neem has been an amazing success story in Boston, making his way up from the G-League and a two-way deal after being waived by the Kings to becoming the Celtics’ starting center last season and emerging as a candidate for the Most Improved Player Award and an All-Defense team spot.
Queta was one of the biggest surprises and success stories of last season, impacting the game as a defensive anchor and rim-protector, while growing his offensive game as a very good offensive rebounder, screener, and finisher around the rim. It was his first real taste of NBA rotation minutes, and he absolutely crushed it. Sure, he had some growing pains in the playoffs, but that comes with the territory, and I have no doubt he’ll keep improving.
Queta extension a very team-friendly contract
The contract itself also looks like a steal for the Celtics, paying a good starting center just $14 million a year in average annual value for what figures to be the bulk of his prime, which is lower than the league’s current mid-level exception. That was the going rate for Mitch, a very good, injury-prone backup center.
Adding a more durable, younger, albeit slightly less-proven center in Neemy for even cheaper is awesome and means the Celtics have now locked up 48 minutes of elite offensive rebounding and very good defense with the Queta/Mitch combo for about $30 million a season; that’s outstanding work.
For some context of the center market, we just saw Walker Kessler sign a four-year, $130 million deal. He’s a good player but has never sniffed an All-Star Game or the playoffs and averages below 10 points per game for his career. Jalen Duren, who just completely flamed out in the playoffs, is looking for a max contract extension worth over $50 million a season.
Those guys may be better than Neemy, but the gap in production and impact is really not that wide. And certainly not wide enough to dictate that financial gap. Finding quality big men in the NBA is very hard, and being able to keep them on bargain contracts is extremely rare. The Celtics managed to do both, and it has them in a great position going forward in an area that looked like a major issue a year ago.
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