Team: Boston Celtics · Center · Age 27 · Base role: projected starter in a 40-minute two-center timeshare
Projection card
| GP | MPG | 3PM | PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | FG% | FT% | TO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 72 | 21.0 | 0.0 | 8.3 | 6.8 | 1.3 | 0.6 | 1.1 | .650 | .710 | 0.8 |
Correction 2026-07-18: minutes cut from 23.0 to 21.0, moving the center split from 23-17 to 21-20. The prior tilt resolved an uncertainty this file flagged as unresolved and did so against the strongest available signal — Robinson's three-year, $47.4M contract, and provisional depth charts at ESPN and Fadeaway World that start him. Queta keeps a one-minute edge on availability alone (76 games, 75 starts in 2025-26 against Robinson's ankle history). Because his value is minute-proportional in every category except FG%, this costs close to a proportional share of his line.
Nine-category: late-round draftable in standard leagues, with top-100 upside if he owns 25-plus minutes. Points: a low-usage center whose rebound/block scoring keeps him rosterable only after the scarce centers are gone. Dynasty: useful prime-age big, but not a high-ceiling creator; the four-year Boston commitment raises his floor more than his long-term rank.
Why the line looks like this
Queta started 75 of 76 games in 2025-26 and averaged 10.2 points, 8.4 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.3 blocks in 25.3 minutes while shooting 65.3%. Boston then re-signed him for four years and a reported $56 million, strong evidence that the role is real rather than a one-season placeholder. His fantasy game is compact: screen, dive, finish, offensive rebound and protect the rim.
The workload is cut below last season because Boston also signed Mitchell Robinson for three years. NBA's signing report left the starter/backup order unresolved; SI's fantasy analysis leaned Queta, while ESPN's provisional chart and Fadeaway World start Robinson. The base model gives Queta 21 minutes and Robinson 20 — effectively even, with the remaining edge resting on availability rather than role. That is a projection, not a Joe Mazzulla declaration.
Sources: Basketball Reference 2025-26 Celtics, NBA report on Queta's four-year return, NBA report on Robinson's signing, SI fantasy analysis of the center split.
Category shape
- Wins: high-volume FG%, rebounds, blocks and low turnovers.
- Neutral: modest steals and enough passing to avoid being a total zero.
- Costs: no threes, low scoring volume and a mildly negative FT profile if attempts rise.
- Build fit: strongest in punt-FT or big-man builds; still usable in balanced leagues because his 71% projection is survivable at low volume.
Floor, base, ceiling
- Floor: Robinson takes the starting/closing edge and Queta falls to 18-20 minutes: about 7 points, 6 rebounds and one block, making him a matchup streamer.
- Base: 21 minutes, 8.3 points, 6.8 rebounds and 1.1 blocks with an efficiency lift and little creation.
- Ceiling: Robinson misses extended time or Boston clearly prefers Queta; 27-29 minutes can support 11-12 points, 9-plus rebounds and 1.5 blocks, a top-75 category line.
Risk and confidence
| Component | Confidence | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Roster | High | Four-year contract signed in July 2026 |
| Minutes | Medium | Started 75 games, but Robinson materially changes the center room |
| Rates | High | Finishing, rebounding and rim-protection profile is stable |
| Availability | Medium-high | Played 76 games in 2025-26; ordinary big-man attrition remains |
The strongest reversal signal would be Robinson starting and consistently closing preseason games. Conversely, Queta playing the first and last center shifts would justify restoring his 2025-26 minutes.
Career record
Pre-NBA: Barreirense's youth system in Portugal from 2009 to 2017, then Benfica for 2017-18, where his senior record was two games in the Portuguese league — effectively no professional body of work before college. He then spent three seasons at Utah State: 11.8 points, 8.9 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 2.4 blocks in 27.1 minutes on .614/.400/.565 as a freshman in 2018-19; 13.0 points, 7.8 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.7 blocks in 22 games in 2019-20; and 14.9 points, 10.1 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 3.3 blocks in 30.0 minutes on .559/.707 from the line in 2020-21. He was Mountain West Freshman of the Year in 2019, Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year in both 2019 and 2021, first-team All-Mountain West in 2021, and finished with 251 career blocks, a program record. Draft: 2021, second round, 39th overall, Sacramento Kings — the first Portuguese player ever drafted.
| Season | Age | Team | GP | MPG | PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | 3PM | FG% | FT% | TO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021-22 | 22 | SAC | 15 | 8.0 | 3.0 | 2.1 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.5 | 0.0 | .447 | .647 | 0.4 |
| 2022-23 | 23 | SAC | 5 | 5.8 | 2.4 | 2.2 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.4 | 0.0 | .667 | — | 0.2 |
| 2023-24 | 24 | BOS | 28 | 11.9 | 5.5 | 4.4 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 0.0 | .644 | .714 | 0.5 |
| 2024-25 | 25 | BOS | 62 | 13.9 | 5.0 | 3.8 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 0.0 | .650 | .754 | 0.6 |
| 2025-26 | 26 | BOS | 76 | 25.3 | 10.2 | 8.4 | 1.7 | 0.8 | 1.3 | 0.0 | .653 | .703 | 1.0 |
| Career | 186 | 17.6 | 7.0 | 5.6 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 0.9 | 0.0 | .642 | .707 | 0.7 |
He attempted no free throws in the five-game 2022-23 sample, so that cell is blank rather than .000. The first three seasons were two-way years — Sacramento in 2021-22 and 2022-23, Boston from September 2023 until his conversion to a standard deal on April 8, 2024 — and the G League is where the real minutes were: 43 games for Stockton in 2022-23 at 17.7 points, 8.7 rebounds and 2.8 assists in 28.9 minutes, good for All-NBA G League First Team and All-Defensive Team, then eight games for Maine in 2023-24 at 14.4 points, 8.8 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.9 blocks.
Fantasy history: no season-end nine-category rank is verifiable for any of his five years from a published rater, so none is stated here. The 2021-22 through 2024-25 seasons were plainly outside standard-league relevance on playing time alone. The 2025-26 season is the only one with a rosterable line, and its shape is narrow and legible: elite field-goal percentage on low volume, top-tier rebounds per minute, a full block, a low turnover count, and a literal zero in threes. Free-throw percentage at .703 on modest attempts is a mild drag rather than a real cost. Points leagues rate him lower than category leagues, because a 10-point, no-three center with a 25-minute cap has little to offer a format that pays for volume and ignores percentage leverage.
Durability: 15, 5, 28, 62, 76. The first three seasons were roster status, not health — two-way contracts limit NBA availability by rule, and he was the G League team's best player in 2022-23. In 2025-26 he sprained his left ankle challenging a shot in the first quarter against Orlando on November 23, sat the November 26 game at Detroit and a short stretch after, and missed the regular-season finale with a right toe sprain before returning healthy for the playoffs. Those are the only two publicly identified absences. The 22-game 2019-20 season at Utah State is the one gap in the record for which I could not verify a cause. Nothing chronic appears in the file, and 76 games at 25 minutes is a real workload for a 7-footer who had never played more than 62.
Trajectory: The 2025-26 leap was minutes, but not only minutes, and the per-36 split is what separates the two. In 2024-25 he produced 13.0 points, 9.8 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.8 blocks per 36; in 2025-26, 14.5 points, 12.0 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.9 blocks. Rebounding and passing genuinely improved — a two-rebound-per-36 gain is not a sampling artifact across 76 games — while the block rate stayed exactly where it has always been, which is the useful read: rim protection is a fixed trait for him, so blocks will scale linearly with whatever minutes Boston allots and will not bail out a reduced role. The finishing has been remarkably stable at .644, .650 and .653 across three straight seasons on rising volume, which is unusual and argues the efficiency is structural rather than a garbage-time residue. He turned 27 in July and is at the flat top of a big man's curve, so the skill side should hold through 2026-27; the entire question is the Robinson split, and because his value is minute-proportional in every category except field-goal percentage, a cut from 25 minutes to 21 costs close to a proportional share of it.
Career sources: ESPN career stats · StatMuse season-by-season per game · Neemias Queta (Wikipedia) · Stockton Kings — All-NBA G League and All-Defensive honors · Boston.com — left ankle sprain, November 2025 · NBA.com — four-year return to Boston
Open questions
- Is the starting label meaningful, or will Boston alternate closers by matchup?
- Can Queta preserve his low foul rate and 65% shooting with more defensive attention?
- Does Chris Cenac Jr. earn enough second-half development time to trim the veteran centers?