By Stefan Acevski / info@eurohoops.net
Neemias Queta, a Celtics starter in the 2025/26 season, believes that the cost of attending the private training sessions held every summer by “Hakeem the Dream” is too high.
These are lessons that, among others, Giannis Antetokounmpo has taken in the past. Portugal’s media platform A Bola asked the country’s biggest basketball star if he would do it now that he has signed a new contract with the Celtics, and his answer was clear:
“I’m stingy. No, I wouldn’t spend $100,000 on training. Not even with Hakeem Olajuwon,” said the Portuguese center.
Queta (27 years old, 2.13m) averaged 10.2 points, 8.4 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks as the Celtics’ starting center in 75 of his 76 appearances this year, by far the second-best season of his NBA career.
Although Boston acquired NBA champion Mitchell Robinson, who is expected to start in the Celtics’ lineup instead of Queta, the “greens” extended the Portuguese big man’s contract until 2030.
This year (2026-27), he will earn just $2.6 million, but from next year he’ll have an average salary of $13.5 million for three years. Nonetheless, he won’t spend $100,000 on his personal improvement…
“For me, it wasn’t about the money I got from the Celtics. It’s the fact that the organization believes in me, and we signed for four years. This way, I’ll be able to call Boston my home without looking over my shoulder and worrying about the future.
There is a certain uncertainty when you’re a free agent. It causes difficulties in managing injuries or anything else that comes up, and I didn’t want to think about all that. I feel flattered that the Celtics’ front office believes in me.”
Queta played three more seasons with the Celtics (2024-26), but with very low salaries, starting at $650,000 and reaching up to $2.3 million last year.
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