The Boston Celtics have added frontcourt muscle and backcourt experience during the opening hours of NBA free agency. On July 1, center Mitchell Robinson agreed to a three-year, $47.4 million contract with a player option in the final season. Veteran guard Mike Conley also joined on a one-year deal, becoming the 14th player in league history to reach 20 NBA seasons.
These moves give Boston a proven rim protector coming off a title with the New York Knicks and a steady, respected leader at the point guard spot.
Mitchell Robinson spent eight seasons with the New York Knicks and played a key role in their first championship in 53 years. Across his time in New York, he averaged 7.5 points and 8.0 rebounds in roughly 24 minutes per game. Last season, he appeared in 60 regular-season games, his highest total since 2022-23, and ranked second in the NBA with 4.2 offensive rebounds per game.
In the playoffs, he averaged 4.8 points and 5.5 rebounds in 13.9 minutes while recovering from a broken right pinkie finger. His signing directly addresses Boston’s need for a physical presence in the paint and gives the team another option against Eastern Conference rivals, especially the Knicks.
Mike Conley, 38, signed a one-year contract after sifting through several offers. He becomes only the 14th player ever to play 20 NBA seasons and remains one of four active players from the 2007 draft class alongside Kevin Durant, Al Horford, and Jeff Green.
Production dipped last season with the Minnesota Timberwolves, where he averaged career lows of 4.5 points and 18.4 minutes in 54 games. Minnesota traded him at the deadline to Chicago, which later packaged him to Charlotte. The Hornets waived him, allowing Conley to return to Minnesota for the rest of the regular season.
He began the playoffs out of the rotation but started five games after injuries hit teammates. One highlight was a 12-point, six-assist performance in a Game 1 road win over San Antonio.
Point Guard: Derrick White, Payton Pritchard, Mike Conley, Dalano Banton
Shooting Guard: Jaylen Brown, Baylor Scheierman
Small Forward: Sam Hauser, Hugo Gonzalez, Ron Harper Jr.
Power Forward: Jayson Tatum, Jordan Walsh, Chris Cenac Jr.
Center: Neemias Queta, Mitchell Robinson, Luka Garza
Projected starting lineup
Point Guard: Derrick White
Shooting Guard: Jaylen Brown
Small Forward: Sam Hauser
Power Forward: Jayson Tatum
Center: Mitchell Robinson
White anchors the defense and playmaking, Brown and Tatum supply the scoring punch, Hauser spaces the floor, and Robinson protects the rim and crashes the glass. Neemias Queta and Payton Pritchard figure to lead the second unit, with Conley providing reliable minutes and mentorship when needed.
Aachal Maniyar is a Senior Content Producer at LiveMint, where she covers US sports with a focus on major leagues, marquee events, and athlete-driven stories, while also reporting extensively on cricket and global sports. With over five years of first-hand journalism experience, she combines sharp editorial judgment with real-time sports storytelling across platforms. <br><br> Her reporting journey spans leading newsrooms including Thomson Reuters, India TV, BTVI, ET NOW, and CNBC TV18, where she has worked across breaking news, live match coverage, feature writing, interviews, video scripting, and anchoring. This multi-platform exposure has shaped her ability to deliver context-rich sports and business journalism tailored for both television and digital audiences. <br><br> Aachal has conducted and produced exclusive interviews with athletes and public figures such as India cricketer Dhruv Jurel, Indian women’s hockey captain Savita Punia, and industrialist Ratan Tata, along with several emerging and established sports personalities. Her body of work includes in-depth explainers, athlete profiles, emotionally resonant fan narratives, and data-backed match analysis across cricket, Olympic sports, and international competitions. <br><br> She holds a Master’s degree in Journalism from Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication, Pune, and believes in reporting that is grounded in accuracy, clarity, and credibility. Her philosophy is simple: sports journalism should go beyond scores and statistics, capturing the human stories, pressure moments, and decisions that shape the game and the people who play it.
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