Brad Stevens couldn’t — and wouldn’t — address the Celtics’ decisions to trade Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis during his draft-night news conference. NBA rules prevented him from doing so since those deals can’t become official until July 6.
Stevens did, however, repeatedly emphasize the offseason priority that compelled Boston to ship out the two starters, both of whom played key roles on the franchise’s 2023-24 championship team.
“I’ll repeat it over and over and over: We need to regain our flexibility,” the Celtics’ president of basketball operations said late Wednesday night. “We need to maximize assets in return, and we need to regain some flexibility here. And whatever that means from a final cost standpoint is what it means.”
Sending Holiday to Portland and Porzingis plus a second-round draft pick to Atlanta — for a combined return of guard Anfernee Simons, forward Georges Niang and three second-round selections — did give the Celtics massive cost savings. The moves trimmed more than $250 million (not a typo) from their sky-high payroll between salary and luxury tax penalties.
More importantly from a basketball perspective, they also pushed Boston below the second apron, greatly expanding the types of trades and signings they are permitted to make. Second-apron teams cannot aggregate salaries in trades, send out cash in trades or utilize mid-level exceptions, among other restrictions, and are subject to tax penalties that make signing players to anything more than minimum contracts exceedingly difficult.
The Celtics also gained future flexibility — a word Stevens uttered seven times in his 22-minute presser — by offloading the three years and $104 million remaining on the 35-year-old Holiday’s contract. Porzingis is on an expiring deal, and both are set to earn more than $30 million in 2025-26.
The trade-off for that relief: a roster that now looks substantially weaker than the one Boston fielded for the last two seasons, especially with All-NBA superstar Jayson Tatum set to miss much of the upcoming season as he recovers from the ruptured Achilles he suffered during the team’s ill-fated playoff run.
“I think the biggest thing is there clearly is a need to prioritize regaining our flexibility and maximizing, from an asset standpoint, what we can,” said Stevens, who added that he won’t announce a timeline for Tatum’s return “for a long, long time.” “But as far as whatever moves that those are a part of, they’re all separate and hard and things that are going to be – you’re just going to have to do your best to make sure you put yourself in the right positions.
“But I do think that this is about what we do have to. And we knew this was coming, right? This isn’t a huge surprise. We have to make sure we prioritize that flexibility. And obviously, we’ve got other things we have to prioritize. We have to prioritize JT’s health and make sure that he comes back fully strong. (Jaylen Brown) had his (knee) surgery, although his timeline to be back will be much quicker, and obviously (he’ll be) ready at the start of the season. And so I think the biggest thing for us is making sure that we balance that maximizing what we can with regard to what we bring back so we can continue to build and grow.”
Stevens said there’s been no mandate from either team governor Wyc Grousbeck or the Celtics’ new incoming ownership group, led by Bill Chisholm, to cut costs.
“Our owners, old and new, are committed to spending,” he said. “There’s a lot of things that go into these moves and a lot of things that are really important. And, listen, again, it goes back to prioritizing our flexibility. And I think the second apron basketball penalties are real, and I’m not sure I understood how real until they were staring me in the face in the last month. So, I do think that that can’t be overstated.”
Whether the Celtics will look to shed more salary to dip beneath the first apron (which carries less restrictive financial and roster-building penalties) or out of the luxury tax entirely remains to be seen. Reserve wing Sam Hauser — a high-level 3-point shooter on a reasonable contract — remains a potential trade candidate. Boston also could reroute Simons and/or Niang, who both are on expiring contracts, or even trade a core player like Brown or Derrick White, though they’ve rebuffed reported offers for both thus far.
Asked to assess Boston’s current roster — which gained a new member Wednesday in 28th overall pick Hugo Gonzalez, a 19-year-old wing from Spain — Stevens called Tatum, Brown, White and Sixth Man of the Year Payton Pritchard foundational players. He also said the team hopes to re-sign impending free agent big men Al Horford and Luke Kornet.
“Well, I think we’re certain to have some really good players on our roster,” Stevens said. “You look at our roster right now today, we’ve got a lot of really good basketball players that have done a lot of good things in this league, and several of them have done a lot of good things here. And so, we’ll see how it all pans out and what it all looks like. I expect us to go out and compete and compete with all we’ve got to be the very best we can. And that will always be the case.
“We’ll do our best to put the right group together and, at the same time, regain some flexibility and maximize some asset return. But I do think we’ve got a good group. We’ve got the foundation with Jaylen and Jayson and D-White and Payton and all those guys that a lot of teams love to have.”