Maine Red Claws renamed Maine Celtics

Over the years, the Celtics’ G-League affiliate, the Maine Red Claws up in Portland, has been the proving ground for some of the most beloved Celtics like Rajon Rondo, Avery Bradley, and Marcus Smart. To draw a stronger line between the developmental squad and the big club, the team announced today that they have renamed the Maine Celtics:

“I’m as excited about this change as I was when we started the Maine Red Claws back in 2009,” said Maine Celtics Team President Dajuan Eubanks. “Directly aligning our franchise name with the iconic Boston Celtics brand creates a new era of heritage building for basketball here in Maine.”

“When we purchased the Maine franchise in 2019, we immediately made that organization a part of our family,” said Boston Celtics Team President Rich Gotham. “The decision to rename the team to ‘Maine Celtics’ is the next step in that evolution, and a nod to our diehard fan base, which extends throughout the great state of Maine.”

This season, the Red Claws opted out of a condensed bubble season that was played entirely at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. By virtue of that decision, two-way players Tacko Fall and Tremont Waters spent the entire year with the Celtics rather than get key developmental minutes in the G-League.

The G-League is set to resume next year with a full 50-game schedule in Celtic green at the Portland Expo. Here’s play-by-play announcer Mike Gorman to pump up another year of Crustacean Nation!: