Basketball is almost back in Boston.
The 2026–27 NBA regular season begins Oct. 20, and the Celtics are getting one of the league’s opening games.
Boston travels to Detroit to face the Pistons at 3 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock.
Boston fans only have to wait three more days for TD Garden.
The Celtics’ home opener is Friday, Oct. 23 at 7 p.m. against the defending champion New York Knicks, one of the biggest games on the opening-week schedule.
It will stream nationally on Prime Video.
Tickets are already on sale
The Celtics use Ticketmaster as their official ticket marketplace, with tickets also available through NBA Tickets.
The Knicks home opener is expensive.
As of Oct. 2, SeatGeek starting resale listings were roughly:
Oct. 14 preseason vs. Charlotte: $28
Oct. 23 vs. New York: $209
Oct. 26 vs. Chicago: $56
Oct. 27 vs. Brooklyn: $45
Nov. 4 vs. Milwaukee: $51
Prices can move quickly as inventory changes.
So if the goal is simply seeing the Celtics at TD Garden, the home opener is probably the wrong game to choose on a budget.
This Celtics team looks different
Boston went 56–26 last season, finishing second in the Eastern Conference even though Jayson Tatum missed the first 62 games while recovering from Achilles surgery.
The postseason ended much earlier, with Boston losing in the first round.
Then came one of the biggest changes the franchise has made in years.
Jaylen Brown was traded to Philadelphia in July in a deal that brought Paul George to Boston.
Brown had spent a decade with the Celtics and was Finals MVP when Boston won the 2024 championship.
Boston also added Mitchell Robinson, Mike Conley and rookie Chris Cenac Jr.
That leaves Tatum at the center of a reshaped roster alongside Derrick White, Payton Pritchard and a group of new additions.
A little Celtics history
Boston has been doing this longer than almost anyone.
The franchise was founded in 1946 and has won 18 NBA championships, the most in league history.
Eleven of those came during the Bill Russell era, including eight straight championships from 1959 through 1966.
More recent generations got championships in 2008 and 2024.
That history is also why expectations in Boston tend to move quickly from making the playoffs to talking about banners.
Can they actually win another one this year?
Boston still enters the season with contender-level expectations, although current futures markets place the Celtics behind the very top championship favorites.
NBA.com’s season preview expects Boston to remain near the top of the Eastern Conference, especially with Tatum expected to have a full season.
The biggest questions are how Paul George replaces Brown’s production, whether Tatum stays healthy and whether the new frontcourt improves Boston’s interior game.
Current futures markets have Boston around +1300 to +1400 to win the championship.
BetMGM currently lists the Celtics at around +600 to win the Eastern Conference and sets their regular-season win total at 51.5.
So Boston enters October in an unusual position.
The Celtics still have an 18-banner history, Jayson Tatum and a roster built to compete deep into the season.
They also have a new core to figure out.
The first real look comes Oct. 20 in Detroit. Three nights later, the defending champions walk into TD Garden.
Sports wagering in Massachusetts is limited to people age 21 and older. Odds and ticket prices can change.
