Neemias Queta Leads Portugal to Historic Win Over Spain
Spain arrived as the heavyweight. Portugal walked in with a puncher’s chance and one NBA big man to lean on.
By the final buzzer, history belonged to Neemias Queta.
Spain, stacked with NBA pedigree and led by rising second-year talent Hugo Gonzalez and former Celtic Juancho Hernangomez, entered their World Cup qualifier as 12.5-point favorites. Six players on their roster carried NBA ties. On paper, this was routine business for a program long considered the gold standard in international basketball outside of the United States.
Portugal had one NBA player: the Boston Celtics’ backup center.
They left with something the country had never owned before — a competitive tournament win over Spain, 95–89, a landmark result that keeps alive their dream of a first-ever World Cup berth and pushes them to 4-3 in qualifying.
At the center of it all: Queta, growing as fast as the team on his back.
He finished with 16 points on 5-for-10 shooting and nine rebounds, but the box score only hints at his impact. His second half tilted the game. Spain’s depth, experience, and reputation no longer scared Portugal; Queta’s composure and presence helped erase the gap in stature, if not in resumes.
A National Team Rising — And a Center With It
Portugal’s national team has lived on the margins of European basketball for decades. EuroBasket appearances have been rare — just four in history, and none between 2011 and last year. Now, there’s a different feel. Results like this against Spain don’t just decorate the record; they reshape a country’s expectations.
Queta has embraced that shift.
“It’s a growing thing,” he told Eurohoops. “We’re getting so much better as a country in the sport. So, I feel like it’s only fitting that I keep on getting better, too. So, I just want to be out here competing my best and live with the results.”
That mindset has turned this qualifying campaign into more than just summer work. It’s a proving ground. Every game against elite European competition sharpens the 7-footer who returns to Boston this fall facing the biggest season of his NBA career.
From Fringe Big to $56 Million Man
The Celtics have already made their bet.
This offseason, Boston handed Queta his first major NBA deal: a four-year, $56 million contract extension that begins after this year. It’s a commitment that would have been hard to imagine not long ago.
Across his first three seasons in the league, split between Sacramento and Boston, Queta barely cracked rotations, appearing in just 48 games total. Last year changed everything. He played 76 games, started 75, and averaged 10.2 points and 8.4 rebounds. For a team with championship ambitions, he went from roster filler to nightly presence.
The reward is clear. So is the responsibility.
The Celtics’ season ended with a thud last spring, blowing a 3–1 series lead to the Sixers. Joel Embiid dominated stretches of that matchup, and Queta struggled to stay on the floor, battling foul trouble and offering too little resistance at the rim. Team president Brad Stevens didn’t sugarcoat it.
“To be honest, one of the things with Neemi was just figuring out how to keep him on the floor,” Stevens said. “Because he had two games where he’s off the floor in four minutes.”
That’s the gap Queta still has to close: from solid regular-season contributor to reliable playoff big in the harshest matchups.
A New Challenger in Boston’s Paint
Boston’s response to that playoff exit underscored the stakes. Stevens didn’t just talk about needing more rim protection; he went out and found it, signing former Knicks center Mitchell Robinson, one of the league’s most punishing offensive rebounders and a proven shot-blocking anchor when healthy.
Robinson is the kind of center who can change a game around the basket. He’s also the kind of player whose injury history keeps coaches awake at night.
So Queta’s spot is anything but guaranteed, yet his opportunity is obvious. If Robinson wins the starting job, Queta still figures to see major minutes — both because of Robinson’s fragility and because Boston’s front office didn’t hand out $56 million to a spectator.
For Queta, that means no coasting. The Celtics need the version of him that outplayed expectations last year, then something more: a big who can stay on the floor against stars like Embiid, protect the rim without constant whistles, and punish smaller lineups inside.
Portugal Now, Celtics Next
For now, his focus stays with Portugal, where the stakes feel just as sharp. That win over Spain didn’t secure anything. It simply kept the dream alive.
Next up is Georgia, also 4-3, in a must-win clash on Monday. Another step, another test, another chance for Queta to carry the weight of a country and refine the game Boston will soon demand on a far bigger stage.
If Portugal can ride this wave into their first World Cup, and if Queta can turn these pressure minutes into playoff poise, the story that started with a historic upset of Spain might end up defining not just a national team’s rise, but a franchise center’s future in Boston.
