Morning Sports Update
"People said they didn't want super teams anymore, well here you have it."
Celtics
Kristaps Porzingis, Jrue Holiday and Derrick White during a Celtics game in February. AP Photo/Michael Dwyer
By Hayden Bird
June 30, 2025 | 10:51 AM
4 minutes to read
Draymond Green on the Celtics and the era of the NBA’s second apron: The Celtics offseason has so far mostly been a story of salary-shedding trades, with both Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis — starting members of the 2024 championship — being dealt in order to escape the penalties of the NBA’s “second apron” luxury tax.
With the trades, the Celtics avoided having to pay millions in the luxury tax. But with the full ramifications of the league’s new “second apron” era becoming clear, Warriors forward Draymond Green couldn’t resist expressing his frustration during a recent clip on his podcast, “The Draymond Green Show With Baron Davis.”
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Green, 35, is a four-time champion with Golden State. Yet as he examines the Celtics’ moves, he thinks the days of dynastic “super teams” could be over.
“This is all about the second apron,” Green explained when asked about Holiday and Porzingis deals. “People said they didn’t want super teams anymore, well here you have it.”
“All these moves are being made to dodge that second apron,” Green continued, noting that the reality of the system is that it becomes a “hard cap” that “no owner is dealing with because the penalties are crazy.”
Green blamed the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) for agreeing to the deal in the most recent collective bargaining agreement with the owners, underlining what he sees as its negative effect on players.
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“When I said this, before the deal was even signed, that this is ridiculous, it is going to hurt players in the end, no one wanted to listen and everyone wanted to act like the PA was making a great deal,” Green explained.
“The PA made a s*** deal, as the PA has done for years now,” he added. “Every year, the pot gets bigger and the business gets better, and the players get screwed more. That’s just how this business works.”
Looking to the future, Green thinks more teams with talented rosters (like Boston) will have to pursue similar salary-shedding tactics.
“You’ll see this all over the NBA for years to come because that’s just the way that this CBA works, so you’ll see this happen over and over again. That’s my spiel. That’s the second apron. That’s the Boston Celtics.
Fellow podcast host Baron Davis concurred.
“It’s going to be more broken up teams than the teams that you grew up on being like, ‘Yeah this team has been together for five years.’ That’s going to be hard to do,” Davis concluded.
Trivia: Draymond Green was a second-round pick when selected by the Warriors in 2012. Who was the first overall pick that year?
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(Answer at the bottom.)
Hint: He was traded a few months ago.
Scores and schedules:
The Red Sox lost to the Blue Jays 5-3 on Sunday. Boston begins a three-game series against the Reds at Fenway Park tonight at 7:10 p.m.
In offseason news, NBA free agency formally begins today at 6 p.m. ET.
More from Boston.com:
In case you missed it: Adam Sandler made a cameo appearance at the NHL Draft to announce the Bruins’ first-round pick, James Hagens from Boston College.
U.S. advance: The U.S. men’s soccer team kept their nerve and defeated Costa Rica in a penalty kick shootout after playing to a 2-2 draw in the Gold Cup quarterfinals on Sunday. Guatemala awaits in the semifinals on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
On this day: In 2014, the Red Sox were being no-hit by Cubs starter Jake Arrieta in the bottom of the 8th inning. Boston, in the midst of a post-2013 championship hangover, was already fraying at 38-44 (six games out of first place). Chicago led 2-0 behind Arrieta’s masterful performance.
With two outs, up stepped Red Sox shortstop Stephen Drew, a player in the midst of a bizarre season. Though he had been a member of the 2013 championship (hitting an insurance home run in the decisive Game 6), he had remained an unsigned free agent until late May. Boston finally opted to bring him back on a one-year deal, and Drew made his season debut in early June, struggling at the plate. He walked to the batter’s box just 2-for-38 over the previous 11 games.
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Working the count to 2-2, Drew caught a flat Arrieta fastball over the middle of the plate and swept it into right field for a base hit. It was an admittedly minor achievement (Boston still lost 2-0), but it was fittingly modest highlight for what was a baseball team in a bridge year. Drew would be traded to the Yankees a month later in a rare deal between the two rivals. But despite finishing 2014 with just a .162 average — by far the worst statistical season of his career — he managed one of his 44 hits that season in a moment to help the Red Sox avoid the ignominious fate of being no-hit at Fenway Park.
Daily highlight: Ceddanne Rafaela made an extraordinary catch look almost routine in Sunday’s Red Sox game.
Trivia answer: Anthony Davis
Hayden Bird
Sports Staff
Hayden Bird is a sports staff writer for Boston.com, where he has worked since 2016. He covers all things sports in New England.
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