The Boston Celtics did a lot of work to get under the NBA salary cap's luxury tax.
It's hard to think that they'd go back over that line just to sign Bradley Beal, who they've been linked to in free agency.
But if they don't want to go over the luxury tax line, they're going to have to release someone else to make room for Beal.
The most likely candidate? The recently signed Mike Conley, at least based on how the money lines up.
Celts have $1.7M of space before the luxury tax and an open roster spot
Vet min for Beal is around $3.9M
That would put Celts $2.2M over the luxury tax, which they have to shed by February
Enter, Mike Conley's $2.4M pic.twitter.com/Bk0CXtpq24
— Dan Greenberg (@StoolGreenie) July 22, 2026
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That post sums things up pretty well, although it misses one key point -- Conley actually has the same $3.9 million salary as Beal, but the veteran minimum for either player only counts as $2.4 million against the cap.
Given that, swapping in Beal for Conley keeps the rest of the math exactly the same.
Now, would the Celtics release Conley so soon after signing him? That's a hard one to figure out.
Beal is maybe an upgrade, but he's also not a point guard. So depending on where the Celtics feel they need depth, it's not a given that this would be the right move.
Boston could also move cap around in different ways, but that risks making a worse long-term decision than just releasing the aging veteran Conley.
All this to say: Signing Beal wouldn't be straightforward for Boston.
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