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Big fan of Boston basketball? Then check out this list of Boston Celtics centers with photos and seasons played with the team.&nbsp;It includes almost every center from throughout Boston Celtics history, including current centers and past ones. Featuring some of the&nbsp;<a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/crowdranked-list/greatest-centers-of-all-time?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">greatest NBA centers</a> of all time,&nbsp;the best Celtics&nbsp;Cs include Bill Russell, Robert Parish, Dave Cowens, and Kendrick Perkins.In the 2017-18 NBA season, the current Boston Celtics starting Cs and backup Cs are Aron Baynes.&nbsp; Who are the best centers in Boston Celtics history? Here is every player who has ever held the position of Boston Celtics&nbsp;center.

The 25+ Best Boston Celtics Centers of All Time, Ranked

The Best Boston Celtics Centers of All Time

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Bill Russell

William Felton Russell (born February 12, 1934) is an American retired professional basketball player who played center for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1956 to 1969. A five-time NBA Most Valuable Player and a twelve-time All-Star, he was the centerpiece of the Celtics dynasty that won eleven NBA championships during his thirteen-year career. Russell and Henri Richard of the National Hockey League are tied for the record of the most championships won by an athlete in a North American sports league. Russell led the University of San Francisco to two consecutive NCAA championships in 1955 and 1956, and he captained the gold-medal winning U.S. national basketball team at the 1956 Summer Olympics.Bill Russell is regarded by many as one of the greatest basketball players of all time. He is 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) tall, with a 7 ft 4 in (2.24 m) wingspan. His shot-blocking and man-to-man defense were major reasons for the Celtics' domination of the NBA during his career. Russell was equally notable for his rebounding abilities. He led the NBA in rebounds four times, had a dozen consecutive seasons of 1,000 or more rebounds, and remains second all-time in both total rebounds and rebounds per game. He is one of just two NBA players (the other being prominent rival Wilt Chamberlain) to have grabbed more than 50 rebounds in a game. Russell was never the focal point of the Celtics' offense, but he did score 14,522 career points and provided effective passing.
Russell played in the wake of black pioneers Earl Lloyd, Chuck Cooper, and Sweetwater Clifton, and he was the first black player to achieve superstar status in the NBA. He also served a three-season (1966–69) stint as player-coach for the Celtics, becoming the first black coach in North American professional sports and the first to win a championship. In 2011, Barack Obama awarded Russell the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his accomplishments on the court and in the Civil Rights Movement.Russell is one of seven players in history to win an NCAA Championship, an NBA Championship, and an Olympic gold medal. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. He was selected into the NBA 25th Anniversary Team in 1971 and the NBA 35th Anniversary Team in 1980, and named as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History in 1996, one of only four players to receive all three honors. In 2007, he was enshrined in the FIBA Hall of Fame. In Russell's honor the NBA renamed the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player trophy in 2009: it is now the Bill Russell NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award.

Dave Cowens

David William Cowens (born October 25, 1948) is an American retired professional basketball player and NBA head coach. At 6'9", he played the center position and occasionally played power forward. Cowens spent most of his playing career with the Boston Celtics. He was the 1971 NBA Rookie of the Year and the 1973 NBA Most Valuable Player. Cowens won NBA championships as a member of the Celtics in 1974 and 1976. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1991.
Cowens has held numerous NBA head coaching positions. Most recently, Cowens served as an assistant coach and then as a special assistant to Detroit Pistons President of Basketball Operations Joe Dumars.

Robert Parish

Robert Parish (born August 30, 1953) is an American retired basketball center who played 21 seasons in the NBA, tied for the most in league history. He played an NBA-record 1,611 regular season games in his career. Parish was known for his strong defense, high arcing jump shots, and clutch rebounding late in games. 
Parish was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2003. In 1996, Parish was also named as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History. His nickname was The Chief, after the fictitious Chief Bromden, a silent, giant Native American character in the film One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. According to Parish, former Celtics forward Cedric Maxwell gave him this nickname because of his stoic nature.

Kevin Garnett

Kevin Maurice Garnett (born May 19, 1976) is an American former professional basketball player who played for 21 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Known for his intensity, defensive ability, and versatility, Garnett is considered one of the greatest power forwards of all time. He is one of four NBA players to win both the Most Valuable Player and the Defensive Player of the Year awards. In high school, Garnett was a 1995 McDonald's All-American at Farragut Career Academy and won a national player of the year award. He entered the 1995 NBA draft, where he was selected with the fifth overall pick by the Minnesota Timberwolves and became the first NBA player drafted directly out of high school in 20 years.
Garnett made an immediate impact with the Minnesota Timberwolves, leading them to eight consecutive playoff appearances. In 2004, he led the Timberwolves to the Western Conference Finals and won the NBA MVP Award. Garnett has been named to 15 All-Star Games, winning the All-Star MVP award in 2003, and is currently tied for third-most All-Star selections in NBA history. He was named the NBA Defensive Player of the Year in 2007–08, and has been selected nine times for All-NBA Teams and 12 times for All-Defensive Teams. Garnett also holds several Timberwolves franchise records.
In 2007, after 12 seasons with the Timberwolves, Garnett joined the Boston Celtics in a blockbuster trade. In his first year with the Celtics, he helped lead them to the NBA championship, while also finishing in third place for the MVP award. In 2013, Garnett was included in a second headline trade that sent him to the Brooklyn Nets with longtime Celtic Paul Pierce. In 2015, Garnett was traded back to Minnesota. He announced his retirement from professional basketball in September 2016.

Bill Walton

William Theodore Walton III (born November 5, 1952) is an American retired basketball player and television sportscaster. Walton played for John Wooden and the UCLA Bruins in the early 1970s, winning three successive College Player of the Year Awards. He led the UCLA  Bruins to two NCAA Championships in 1972 and 1973. He had a prominent career in the National Basketball Association (NBA), winning an NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) and two NBA championships. His professional career was significantly hampered by multiple foot injuries, requiring numerous surgeries. Walton was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1993

Ed Macauley

Charles Edward Macauley (March 22, 1928 – November 8, 2011) was a professional basketball player.  His playing nickname was "Easy Ed."Macauley spent his prep school days at St. Louis University High School, then went on to Saint Louis University, where his team won the NIT championship in 1948. He was named the AP Player of the Year in 1949.
Macauley played in the NBA with the St. Louis Bombers, Boston Celtics, and St. Louis Hawks. Macauley was named MVP of the first NBA All-Star Game (he played in the first seven), and was named to the NBA's All-NBA First Team three consecutive seasons. He was named to the All-NBA second team once, in 1953–54—the same season he led the league in field goal percentage. Macauley's trade (with Cliff Hagan) to St. Louis brought Bill Russell to the Celtics. In the two years he coached with the Hawks, he led them to an 89–48 record, with a 9–11 playoff record. After retiring, he became sports director of KTVI, then the ABC affiliate in his native St. Louis.
Macauley scored 11,234 points in ten NBA seasons and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1960. At age 32, he still holds the record for being the youngest male player to be admitted. His uniform number 22 was retired by the Celtics and he was also awarded a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame.In 1989 Macauley was ordained a deacon of the Catholic Church. With Father Francis Friedl, he coauthored the book Homilies Alive: Creating Homilies That Hit Home.He died on November 8, 2011, at his home in St. Louis, Missouri. He was 83.

Al Horford

Alfred Joel Horford Reynoso (born June 3, 1986) is a Dominican professional basketball player for the Oklahoma City Thunder of the National Basketball Association. He played college basketball for the University of Florida, and was the starting center on the Gators teams that won back-to-back NCAA national championships in 2006 and 2007. He was drafted with the third overall pick in the 2007 NBA draft by the Atlanta Hawks, a team he played nine seasons with before joining the Celtics in 2016. He is a five-time NBA All-Star. He also represents the Dominican Republic national team.

Kendrick Perkins

Kendrick Le'Dale Perkins (born November 10, 1984) is an American former professional basketball player. He entered the NBA straight out of high school and played for the Boston Celtics, Oklahoma City Thunder and New Orleans Pelicans.

Zaid Abdul-Aziz

Zaid Abdul-Aziz (born Donald A. Smith on April 7, 1946) is a retired American professional basketball player.  Donald Smith changed his name to Zaid Abdul-Aziz in 1976 after he converted to Islam. The 6'9" Abdul-Aziz starred at Iowa State University before being drafted by the NBA's Cincinnati Royals in 1968. He played ten seasons in the league as a member of the Royals, Milwaukee Bucks, Seattle SuperSonics, Houston Rockets, Buffalo Braves, and Boston Celtics.  Nicknamed "The Kangaroo", he had his finest season in 1971–1972, when he averaged 13.8 points and 11.3 rebounds for Seattle. He retired in 1978 with career totals of 4,557 points and 4,065 rebounds.
In 2006, Zaid Abdul-Aziz published a memoir, Darkness to Sunlight, which tells the stories of his basketball career, personal challenges, and spiritual journey.  Abdul-Aziz is now a drug and alcohol counselor in Seattle.

Dino Radja

Dino Rađa

Dino Rađa (Anglicized: Dino Radja, Croatian pronunciation: [ˌdǐːno ˈrâd͜ʑa]) (born 24 April 1967), is a retired Croatian professional basketball player. He was a member of the Jugoplastika team of the late 1980s and early 1990s, which he helped to win two FIBA European Champions Cup championships (1989 and 1990). He spent three and a half seasons with the Boston Celtics, being one of the European pioneers in the NBA. Rađa was named one of FIBA's 50 Greatest Players in 1991, and one of the 50 Greatest EuroLeague Contributors in 2008. He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame, as a member of the 2018 class.

Aron Baynes

Aron John Baynes (born 9 December 1986) is an Australian professional basketball player for the Toronto Raptors of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for Washington State University before starting his professional career in Europe. In 2013, he joined the San Antonio Spurs, and a year later, won an NBA championship with the Spurs. He has also played with the Detroit Pistons and the Boston Celtics. Baynes also plays for the Australian national team.

Al Jefferson

Al Ricardo Jefferson (born January 4, 1985) is an American former professional basketball player. He played high school basketball for Prentiss High School in Mississippi before skipping college to enter the 2004 NBA draft, where he was drafted 15th overall by the Boston Celtics. He has previously played for the Celtics, Minnesota Timberwolves, Utah Jazz, Charlotte Hornets and Indiana Pacers.

Bob McAdoo

Robert Allen McAdoo (born September 25, 1951) is an American former professional basketball player and coach. He played 14 seasons in the  National Basketball Association (NBA), where he was a five-time NBA All-Star and named the NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) in 1975. He won two NBA championships with the Los Angeles Lakers during their Showtime era in the 1980s. In 2000, McAdoo was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.
McAdoo played at the center and power forward positions. In his 21-season playing career, he spent 14 seasons in the NBA and his final seven in the Lega Basket Serie A in Italy. McAdoo is one of the few players who have won both NBA and the FIBA European Champions Cup (EuroLeague) titles as a player. He later won three more NBA titles in 2006, 2012 and 2013 as an assistant coach with the Miami Heat.

Red Morrison

Dwight W. "Red" Morrison (born April 26, 1932) is an American former professional basketball player.
A 6'8" center from the University of Idaho, Morrison played in the National Basketball Association from 1954 to 1958 as a member of the Boston Celtics and St. Louis Hawks. He averaged 3.6 points and 5.3 rebounds in 155 career games.

Earl Williams

Earl "the Twirl" Williams is an American-Israeli former professional basketball player.

Shaquille O'Neal

Shaquille Rashaun "Shaq" O'Neal ( shə-KEEL;  SHAK; born March 6, 1972) is a retired professional American basketball player who is a sports analyst on the television program Inside the NBA on TNT. He is considered one of the greatest players in National Basketball Association (NBA) history. At 7 ft 1 in (2.16 m) tall and 325 pounds (147 kg), he was one of the tallest and heaviest players ever. O'Neal played for six teams over his 19-year career.
Following his time at Louisiana State University, O'Neal was drafted by the Orlando Magic with the first overall pick in the 1992 NBA draft. He quickly became one of the best centers in the league, winning Rookie of the Year in 1992–93 and leading his team to the 1995 NBA Finals. After four years with the Magic, O'Neal signed as a free agent with the Los Angeles Lakers. They won three consecutive championships in 2000, 2001, and 2002. Amid tension between O'Neal and Kobe Bryant, O'Neal was traded to the Miami Heat in 2004, and his fourth NBA championship followed in 2006. Midway through the 2007–2008 season he was traded to the Phoenix Suns. After a season-and-a-half with the Suns, O'Neal was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2009–10 season. O'Neal played for the Boston Celtics in the 2010–11 season before retiring.O'Neal's individual accolades include the 1999–2000 MVP award, the 1992–93 NBA Rookie of the Year award, 15 All-Star game selections, three All-Star Game MVP awards, three Finals MVP awards, two scoring titles, 14 All-NBA team selections, and three NBA All-Defensive Team selections. He is one of only three players to win NBA MVP, All-Star game MVP and Finals MVP awards in the same year (2000); the other players are Willis Reed in 1970 and Michael Jordan in 1996 and 1998. He ranks 8th all-time in points scored, 6th in field goals, 15th in rebounds, and 8th in blocks. Largely due to his ability to dunk the basketball, O'Neal also ranks third all-time in field goal percentage (58.2%). O'Neal was elected into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2016. He was elected to the FIBA Hall of Fame in 2017.In addition to his basketball career, O'Neal has released four rap albums, with his first, Shaq Diesel, going platinum. O'Neal is also an electronic music producer, and touring DJ,  known as DIESEL. He has appeared in numerous films and has starred in his own reality shows, Shaq's Big Challenge and Shaq Vs.. He hosts The Big Podcast with Shaq. He is also the general manager of Kings Guard Gaming of the NBA 2K League.

Daniel Theis

Travis Knight

Travis Andrew Knight (born September 13, 1973) is an American animator, film producer and film director, who has worked as the lead animator for stop-motion animation studio Laika, and directed the films Kubo and the Two Strings (2016) and Bumblebee (2018).

Rick Robey

Frederick Robert "Rick" Robey (born January 30, 1956) is a retired American professional basketball player. At 6'11", he played the center and forward positions.

After playing high school basketball at Brother Martin High School in New Orleans, Louisiana, Robey starred at the University of Kentucky.  At Kentucky Robey was a member of the team that won the 1978 NCAA Championship and the team that was the 1975 NCAA Runner Up. Though Kentucky's 1978 championship win is most often remembered for Jack Givens' 41-point outburst, Robey's performance (20 points, 8 of 11 from the floor, 11 rebounds) was equally critical to the Wildcats' 94-88 victory.
Robey was the third overall pick in the 1978 NBA Draft, selected by the Indiana Pacers.
Robey then played eight seasons (1978–86) in the National Basketball Association as a member of the Indiana Pacers and Boston Celtics before being traded to the Phoenix Suns before the 1983-84 season in exchange for Dennis Johnson.  He scored 3,723 points in his career and was a member of the 1981 Celtics championship team.
At Kentucky, Robey was a member of Delta Tau Delta fraternity, along with fellow UK star Mike Phillips.

Pervis Ellison

Pervis Ellison (born April 3, 1967) is an American former National Basketball Association (NBA) player.
Ellison was nicknamed "Never Nervous Pervis" for his play with the University of Louisville.  At 6 ft 9 in and 242 lb, he started all four years as the center under coach Denny Crum.  In his freshman year he led Louisville to its second national championship and was named the Most Outstanding Player—the second time a freshman had ever been awarded that honor, after Arnie Ferrin in 1944 for Utah.
Ellison was made the first overall pick in the 1989 NBA draft by the Sacramento Kings. Teammate Danny Ainge gave Ellison the nickname "Out of Service Pervis" for the many injuries that would plague him during his professional career. An injury kept him on the sidelines for 48 of 82 games of his rookie year, after which he was traded to the Washington Bullets in a three-team trade involving the Utah Jazz that also sent Jeff Malone to the Jazz and Eric Leckner, Bob Hansen, and draft picks to the Kings. Although he was assigned as a backup in 1990–1991, the following year he became a starter and earned Most Improved Player honors after averaging 20.0 points, 11.4 rebounds and 2.68 blocks per game.
Assorted injuries plagued his career, including two knee problems that kept him benched for 29 games in 1992–1993 and 30 games in 1993–1994.  As a free agent, Ellison signed with the Boston Celtics in 1994 but did not play until midway through the season because he was still rehabilitating from knee problems.  A broken toe suffered while moving furniture kept him out of most games between 1996 and 1998. After participating in 69 out of a possible 246 games over the final three seasons with the Celtics, he joined the Seattle SuperSonics in 2000 but retired after playing nine games. He once coached basketball for Life Center Academy in Burlington, New Jersey and is a resident of Voorhees Township, New Jersey.

Brandon Bass

Brandon Samuel Bass (born April 30, 1985) is an American professional basketball player who currently plays for the Liaoning Flying Leopards of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA).

Amir Johnson

Amir Jalla Johnson (born May 1, 1987) is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He has previously played for the Detroit Pistons, the team that selected Johnson in the second round of the 2005 NBA draft, as well as the Toronto Raptors and Boston Celtics.

Nenad Krstić

Nenad Krstić (Serbian: Ненад Крстић, born July 25, 1983) is a Serbian former professional basketball player. He represented and captained the Serbian national basketball team internationally. Standing at 2.12 m (7 ft 0 in), he plays the center position. Krstić was an NBA All-Rookie Second Team member in 2005 and a two-time
All-Euroleague First Team selection in 2012 and 2013.

Vitaly Potapenko

Vitaly Nikolaevich Potapenko (Ukrainian: Віталій Миколайович Потапенко, pronounced vee-TAH-lee poe-TAH-pen-koe, born March 21, 1975) is a Ukrainian former professional basketball player. He played college basketball at Wright State University and was selected 12th overall by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 1996 NBA draft. Nicknamed "The Ukraine Train", he played for the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Boston Celtics, the Seattle SuperSonics, and the Sacramento Kings of the NBA, as well as MMT Estudiantes in the Spanish ACB.Since retiring as a player, Potapenko has served as an assistant coach with the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, the Indiana Pacers, the Dakota Wizards, and the Santa Cruz Warriors. In June 2013, it was confirmed that Potapenko would become the assistant director of player development for the Cleveland Cavaliers. Three years later, Potapenko would help the Cavaliers win their first ever NBA Finals championship.

Mark Blount

Mark D. Blount ( BLUNT; born November 30, 1975) is an American retired professional basketball player. He was a 7'0" (2.13 m) tall, 250 lb (113 kg) center with several teams in the National Basketball Association.

Big fan of Boston basketball? Then check out this list of Boston Celtics centers with photos and seasons played with the team.&nbsp;It includes almost every ...