1 NBA team is slowly becoming infested with former Celtics

The Boston Celtics have clearly been doing something right.

Obviously, everyone will look at their 2024 NBA Championship banner, set to be raised on October 22, as the primary evidence for that fact, but the truth bleeds much deeper. Boston has made the playoffs in 10 years straight, including six conference finals births. Almost every other team in the NBA would love to lay claim to that resume.

And by the looks of it, another team in the Eastern Conference is trying to replicate Boston’s success. Not in terms of game plans or draft choices, but in a much more literal sense.

In the span of one year, the Charlotte Hornets have added an astonishingly long list of former Celtics to the roster. From players to coaches, green is slowly tinting their world of teal and purple.

The Hornets are becoming infested with former Celtics

Charles Lee is the most prominent of the bunch. Charlotte hired him to be their new head coach in the middle of Boston’s 2025 playoff run, and he’ll be leading the charge for a young and hungry Hornets team.

He brought two former Celtics coaches with him to Charlotte—Blaine Mueller and Jermaine Bucknor.

Mueller has been with Lee since his days as the lead assistant on the Milwaukee Bucks. This past year, Mueller was the head coach of the Maine Celtics, leading them to a birth in the G League Finals.

As for Bucknor, last season was his first year as a coach in the NBA. Before that, he enjoyed a lengthy, legendary career with Trier, a professional team in Germany. By the time he left, Bucknor had played for the organization two separate times, led them as a coach, and got his number retired and plastered on the court.

The Hornets-Celtics connections don’t end there.

Grant Williams was traded to the Hornets mid-season last year after starting the season with the Dallas Mavericks. He spent the first four years of his career with the Celtics.

And while he’s most well-known for his time with the Hornets, Kemba Walker also donned the green and white at one point. He re-joined Charlotte this summer as a player development coach.

Throw in past Hornets players like Gordon Hayward, Terry Rozier, Brad Wanamaker, and Isaiah Thomas—all of whom have played for the Celtics—and Charlotte has been snagging ex-Boston players for years.

The Hornets almost definitely aren’t building their team with the idea of stealing from the Celtics in mind, but the fact that they have so many connections means Boston is a testament to their sustained success.