Celtics Starter Left Off ESPN Top 100 After Breakout Season

Neemias Queta of the Boston Celtics fell just short of ESPN's top 100 rankings for the 2026-27 season, but he did earn a spot on the network's list of players to watch heading into next year.

The Celtics center, 27, put together a career-best campaign last season. He averaged 10.4 points, 8.4 rebounds and 1.3 blocks across 76 starts. His playing time nearly doubled from the previous year. It jumped to 25.3 minutes per game after Boston moved on from Kristaps Porzingis via trade. The Celtics also lost Al Horford to the Golden State Warriors in free agency. That cleared a path for Queta to take over the starting job.

ESPN's Zach Kram highlighted just how significant that jump was. Queta had never crossed 1,000 minutes in a season before. He logged 1,926 last year once he was thrust into the starting role. Boston's net rating improved by 8.6 points with Queta on the floor compared to off it. His defensive impact stood out in particular. Opponents shot just 51 percent at the rim when Queta was the nearest defender. That mark ranked seventh among 71 players who defended at least 200 such attempts.

Queta's strong regular season came with some rough patches in the playoffs, and his relatively limited track record as a full-time starter kept him off the actual top-100 list. Kram pointed to his struggles against Joel Embiid in the postseason as part of the counterargument, while also noting real optimism going forward. He suggested Queta and new Celtics addition Mitchell Robinson could form one of the more disruptive big-man duos in the league this season.

ESPN released the 100-51 portion of its rankings Tuesday. Paul George landed at No. 67. Payton Pritchard came in at No. 70. The top 50 will be published separately at a later date. Derrick White has cracked that upper tier in each of the past two seasons. He checked in at No. 26 last year after jumping 13 spots from No. 39 the year before. Jayson Tatum was left off the rankings entirely last year due to the Achilles injury that sidelined him for most of the season. He finished No. 5 in 2024 and No. 6 in 2023.

Queta wasn't alone on the watch list just outside the top 100. Other names included Atlanta Hawks guard Dyson Daniels , Washington Wizards forward Alex Sarr and Denver Nuggets guard Cameron Johnson , among others.