Maine Celtics
American professional basketball team of the NBA G League
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The Maine Celtics are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Portland, Maine, and are affiliated with the Boston Celtics. The Maine Celtics play their home games at the Portland Expo Building. Previously known as the Maine Red Claws, the Boston Celtics purchased the franchise in July 2019 from Maine Basketball, LLC, a company chaired by William Ryan Jr.,[3] and renamed the team the Maine Celtics in 2021.[4]
2009–2021
Maine Celtics
2021–present
| Maine Celtics | |
|---|---|
 2025–26 NBA G League season | |
| |
| Conference | Eastern |
| League | NBA G League |
| Founded | 2009 |
| History | Maine Red Claws 2009–2021 Maine Celtics 2021–present |
| Arena | Portland Exposition Building |
| Location | Portland, Maine |
| Team colors | Green, white, black, brown[1][2] |
| Main sponsor | Vistaprint |
| President | Dajuan Eubanks |
| General manager | Jarell Christian |
| Head coach | Phil Pressey |
| Ownership | Boston Celtics |
| Affiliation | Boston Celtics |
| Championships | 0 |
| Conference titles | 1 (2024) |
| Division titles | 3 (2015, 2016, 2017) |
| Website | maine |
Franchise history
On February 25, 2009, the NBA Development League (D-League) awarded the city of Portland, Maine, with an expansion franchise.[5] On July 21, 2009, the Red Claws announced Austin Ainge as the first head coach of the team.[6] On April 2, 2009, "Red Claws" was announced as the winning name after a name-the-team contest,[7] beating out Beacons, Crushers, Destroyers, Swarm, and Traps. The name and logo gave homage to the lobster fishing industry, a major economic engine of the New England area. The use of "Red" in the team's name also served to pay tribute to longtime Boston Celtics coach Red Auerbach.[8] During the 2009–10 season, the Red Claws were the only D-League team to sell out all 24 of their home games. This streak continued until the 2011–12 season, ending the streak at 48 consecutive games.
On June 21, 2012, the Red Claws announced that they had entered a hybrid affiliation with the Boston Celtics, making the Celtics the Red Claws' sole affiliate.[9][10] For the team's first two seasons, their affiliation was split between the Celtics and the Charlotte Bobcats. For its third season, the team's affiliation was split between Boston, Charlotte and the Philadelphia 76ers.[11]
The Red Claws made their first playoff appearance in April 2013, entering the playoffs as the eighth seeded team and being swept by the Rio Grande Valley Vipers in a best-of-three-game opening round series.[12][13][14]
On July 16, 2014, the Red Claws announced that Mike Taylor would not return for a third season as the team's head coach.[15] He had a 45–55 record as coach over two seasons with the team.[15] He was replaced by Canadian Scott Morrison after 11 seasons as the head coach of Lakehead University's Lakehead Thunderwolves. Morrison spent the 2013–14 season as a D-League assistant.[16] On June 21, 2017, Brad Stevens, Boston Celtics head coach, named him as an assistant coach with the Celtics.[17] In 2017, the D-League rebranded as the NBA G League via a sponsorship with Gatorade.[18]
On July 25, 2019, the Celtics announced they would purchase the Red Claws franchise from original owners Bill Ryan and Bill Ryan Jr. Before the sale, the Red Claws had been one of the few remaining independently owned G League franchises. Their sale to the Celtics continued the trend of NBA teams purchasing their G League affiliates.[19] The sale was finalized on October 15, 2019.[20]
On December 7, 2019, Bryce Brown set a franchise record with scoring 11 of 11 three-pointers for the Red Claws in a 128–123 loss to the Delaware Blue Coats.[21] The 2019–20 season was then curtailed in March 2020 by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic while the Red Claws were in first place in their division. The following 2020–21 season was then delayed due to the ongoing pandemic-related restrictions and eventually held at a single location in Orlando, Florida. However, the Celtics decided to not have the Red Claws participate and opted out of the season.[22]
On May 24, 2021, the Boston Celtics announced the Red Claws had been rebranded the Maine Celtics beginning with the 2021–22 season.[23]
On July 2, 2025, the Maine Celtics announced that Phil Pressey would be named the 11th head coach in franchise history. Pressey replaced Tyler Lashbrook, who would remain with the Boston Celtics as an assistant coach.[24]
Season-by-season
| Season | Division | Regular season | Postseason results | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Finish | Wins | Losses | Pct. | ||||||
| Maine Red Claws | |||||||||
| 2009–10 | Eastern | 4th | 27 | 23 | .540 | ||||
| 2010–11 | Eastern | 5th | 18 | 32 | .360 | ||||
| 2011–12 | Eastern | 6th | 21 | 29 | .420 | ||||
| 2012–13 | Eastern | 3rd | 26 | 24 | .520 | Lost First Round (Rio Grande Valley) 0–2 | |||
| 2013–14 | Eastern | 4th | 19 | 31 | .380 | ||||
| 2014–15 | Atlantic | 1st | 35 | 15 | .700 | Lost First Round (Fort Wayne) 0–2 | |||
| 2015–16 | Atlantic | 1st | 31 | 19 | .620 | Lost First Round (Canton) 0–2 | |||
| 2016–17 | Atlantic | 1st | 29 | 21 | .580 | Won First Round (Fort Wayne) 2–1 Lost Semifinals (Raptors 905) 0–2 | |||
| 2017–18 | Atlantic | 4th | 17 | 33 | .340 | ||||
| 2018–19 | Atlantic | 5th | 19 | 31 | .380 | ||||
| 2019–20 | Atlantic | 1st | 28 | 14 | .667 | Season cancelled by COVID-19 pandemic | |||
| 2020–21 | Opted out of single-site season | ||||||||
| Maine Celtics | |||||||||
| 2021–22 | Eastern | 10th | 16 | 16 | .500 | ||||
| 2022–23 | Eastern | 4th | 19 | 13 | .594 | Lost Quarterfinal (Cleveland) 100–113 | |||
| 2023–24 | Eastern | 2nd | 21 | 13 | .618 | Won Semifinal (Delaware) 119–112 Won Conf. Final (Long Island) 99–77 Lost NBA G-League Finals (Oklahoma City) 1–2 | |||
| 2024–25 | Eastern | 3rd | 21 | 13 | .618 | Won Quarterfinal (Capital City) 115–95 Won Semifinal (Westchester) 124–118 Lost Conf. Final (Osceola) 122–135 | |||
| Regular season record | 326 | 314 | .509 | 2009–present | |||||
| Playoff record | 9 | 13 | .409 | 2009–present | |||||
Head coaches
| # | Head coach | Term | Regular season | Playoffs | Achievements | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | L | Win% | G | W | L | Win% | ||||
| 1 | Austin Ainge | 2009–11 | 100 | 45 | 55 | .450 | — | — | — | — | |
| 2 | Dave Leitao | 2011–12 | 50 | 21 | 29 | .420 | — | — | — | — | |
| 3 | Mike Taylor | 2012–14 | 100 | 45 | 55 | .450 | 2 | 0 | 2 | .000 | |
| 4 | Scott Morrison | 2014–17 | 150 | 95 | 55 | .633 | 9 | 2 | 7 | .221 | NBA D-League Coach of the Year (2015) |
| 5 | Brandon Bailey | 2017–19 | 100 | 36 | 64 | .360 | — | — | — | — | |
| 6 | Darren Erman | 2019–2020 | 42 | 28 | 14 | .667 | — | — | — | — | |
| 7 | Jarell Christian | 2021–2022 | 32 | 16 | 16 | .500 | — | — | — | – | |
| 8 | Alex Barlow | 2022–2023 | 32 | 19 | 13 | .594 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .000 | |
| 9 | Blaine Mueller | 2023–2024 | 34 | 21 | 13 | .618 | 5 | 3 | 2 | .375 | |
| 10 | Tyler Lashbrook | 2024–2025 | 34 | 21 | 13 | .618 | 3 | 2 | 1 | .667 | |
| 11 | Phil Pressey | 2025–present | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 3 | 0 | 0 | – | |
Current roster
| Players | Coaches | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Head coach
Assistant(s)
Legend
Roster |
NBA affiliates
- Boston Celtics (2009–present)
- Charlotte Bobcats (2009–2012)
- Philadelphia 76ers (2011–2012)