Celtics fans have just started to realize what Vanderbilt Basketball fans have known all along, that Luke Kornet is a damn good ball player.
Kornet, who just completed his fifth stint in a Celtics uniform, is thriving in his role as a backup center. He has tied a career high in defensive rebounds per game, and is averaging a career best 2.7 offensive rebounds a game. And the big man just played a career-high 73 games in the 2024-2025 season.
Celtics fans may be shocked to read this, but Luke Kornet morphed into a star for the Commodores by the end of his senior season, averaging 13.2 points per game, 6.2 rebounds, and 2.0 blocks per game and earning 1st team All-SEC Honors and was named to the All SEC Defensive Team for the second straight season. As a senior, Kornet left the Commodores as the program leader in blocked shots. Kornet still holds the NCAA record for three-pointers made by a 7-footer.
Kornet’s road to NBA success was anything but linear and anything but easy. After going undrafted in the 2017 NBA Draft, Kornet signed a two-way contract with the New York Knicks and didn’t see his first NBA game action until February 8, 2018, where he became the second rookie in franchise history to debut with a double-double.
Despite putting his high school guard skills to use with an arsenal of three-pointers, (Kornet grew a foot while in high school), Kornet did not make the regular rotation for the Knicks and then signed a two-year contract with the Chicago Bulls on July 17, 2019. Kornet once again struggled to get consistent playing time in the 2019 and 2020 seasons and was traded to the Boston Celtics on March 25, 2021 where he finished out the regular season.
The next year saw a flurry of moves for Kornet. On October 23, 2021, Kornet signed a G League contract with the Maine Celtics followed by a 10-day contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers on December 23, 2021. Kornet then signed a 10-day contract with the Milwaukee Bucks on January 3, 2022 before re-joining the Maine Celtics on January 14, 2022.
On February 11, 2022, Kornet signed with the Boston Celtics, has remained with the big club ever since, and has become a key cog in Boston’s rotation. The difference? Kornet has reinvented his game and ditched the three-point shot altogether, even though he could still make them if called upon. Luke has made a name for himself by playing to his size of 7’1 250 pounds, attacking the glass with ferocity, protecting the rim, and finishing with efficiency in the paint.
And all the while, Kornet has won the respect of the Celtics locker room through his killer dad jokes, his liveliness on the bench, and his willingness to stay ready and do whatever the team requires of him.
By the end of the season, Kornet had home Celtics crowds roaring with approval with a pair of Jumbotron videos. In the first video, Kornet was the first player to correctly pronounce Massachusetts town Peabody (pronounced pee-buh-Dee up in MA). In the second, Kornet produced a clever smear campaign ad against teammate Derrick White for the sought after Celtics Tommy Award, an honor named for the late Hall of Fame Player and Coach Tommy Heinsohn given to a player who makes timely hustle plays.
Besides his rim protection and punishing defenses as a menace on the offensive glass, Kornet has been highly productive in the pick and roll. Gone are the days where Kornet is a regular DNP Coach’s Decision.
But despite the adversity, Kornet has maintained perspective. When asked about his climb into the Celtics rotation, Kornet said the following in a recent postgame press conference:
“It's just a lot of peace to come to life of accepting the position that you're in and then just doing the best with that, versus trying to fight it and want to be in a different one.”
“You can spend a lot of time worrying about things that you can't really control. But when you just take the opportunity that you have and do the best with that, you can have days like today where a lot of guys came in and were able to contribute. You can have peace about knowing that you did your job well, just as you did the day before, the day after. It might just look a different way every time. I feel like that's what I've been taught through my life. That's the only thing attitude that you can have that you can actually do something with – versus trying to control things that are outside of what you can control.”
Kornet will be a free agent after the postseason and could be in line for the best contract of his pro career. Here’s to Luke for playing his way through the fire, reinvigorating his game, and saying true to himself. Good luck to Vanderbilt legend, Luke Kornet as his Celtics seek a repeat in the NBA playoffs.
