The Celtics lost another key part of their roster on Monday night when Luke Kornet agreed to a four-year deal with the Spurs according to a league source. Kornet is set to earn the biggest deal of his career with the $41 million pact after playing four years in Boston. With Al Horford potentially heading out the door behind him to a contender, the Celtics offseason just took a dramatic shift with a Luka Garza deal being Boston’s only move so far to fill a hole at center.
What are the next steps for Brad Stevens following Kornet’s departure with the potential for a bigger roster reset on the horizon? Let’s explore where things stand now and what are still some decisions that need to be made in the coming days and weeks.
CELTICS DEPTH CHART FOR 2025-26
Guards: White, Pritchard, Simons, Davison (non-guaranteed)
Forwards: Brown, Hauser, Niang, Scheierman, Walsh (non-guaranteed), Gonzalez, Tatum (injured)
Bigs: Queta, Tillman, Garza
Two-ways: Miles Norris, Max Shulga, Amari Williams
Free agents: Al Horford, Torrey Craig
Players signed to 15-man roster: 14 (Walsh, Davison non-guaranteed)
Two-ways deals: 3 (max)
Total: $205 million to 14 players
Luxury tax line: $187.8 million (C’s over luxury tax line by $17.2 million)
First apron: $195.9 million
Second apron: $207.8 million
FREE AGENCY OPTIONS
The bargain-basement shopping began early when the Celtics agreed to a two-year fully guaranteed deal with Garza for the veteran’s minimum. Beyond that, the Celtics are going to have to wait things out now and see what players fall through the cracks and potentially settle for the veteran’s minimum. Boston will have some playing time that can be earned in the frontcourt pending on what happens in subsequent trades.
GETTING UNDER THE LUXURY TAX
MassLive has reported dipping under the tax for Boston as a possibility for weeks and Kornet’s departure makes it all but a certainty that the Celtics will try to trim more payroll and begin to reset the stiff luxury tax repeater penalties. There is still plenty of work for Brad Stevens to do on this front as Boston sits about $17 million over the tax line. Dumping Niang somewhere feels like a doable option and Hauser’s long-term deal is probably something the Celtics would rather hold onto unless they get a good offer for him. That leaves Simons as the next obvious choice to move
Whether the Celtics can find an appealing deal trimming some salary while dealing Simons remains an open question but it may be more of a challenge than suspected with a deep guard pool in free agency in which almost all will make far less than Simons at $27.7 million. The return for Simons if he ends up on the move will almost certainly be underwhelming for that reason. It probably also may need to include some draft assets heading out to achieve some payroll savings.
Boston does not have to get under the luxury tax until the trade deadline so they could try to save some salary trimming for during the season when the trade market could potentially improve for one of their players. However, cutting big money midseason can be a major challenge when other teams know that’s your priority and none have cap space. The more work Stevens can do now on that front while teams still have roster openings and money to spend, the better.
EXPLORING A BIGGER DEAL?
The odds remain strongly in favor of the Celtics keeping their core talent in place (Jaylen Brown, Derrick White). However, if Boston ends up losing Horford, Kornet, Holiday and Porzingis all for minimal or no compensation, it will be intriguing to see if more suitors take a run at Brown or White in the coming days and weeks. The Celtics will undoubtedly keep their asking price extremely high for either player but building around the trio just got tougher for the future with all the departures this offseason.