The mystery of who will own the Celtics is solved, but there are still plenty of questions about what the sale means for the future of the Celtics.
A new era for the Boston Celtics franchise is set to begin this year after the Wyc Grousbeck-led ownership announced an agreement to sell the team to a group led by STG group co-founder William Chisholm. The franchise will go for a record-breaking $6.1 billion, the most ever for a pro sports franchise in the United States.
The sale will be completed in two parts. Grousbeck, the current governor, is set to remain governor through the 2027-28 season when the second part of the sale is expected to go through.
Chisholm’s ownership group includes current minority owner Robert Hale, president of Related Companies, Bruce Beal Jr. and global investment firm Sixth Street.
That new ownership group could own half the franchise as soon as this offseason depending on when the first part of the sale closes. That timing will be crucial amid a host of pressing questions that will need to be answered by ownership as soon as this summer. Here are some important areas that will need to be watched:
Will new ownership be willing to spend historic amounts as soon as this summer?
The Celtics front office put its foot on the gas with team building last summer, dealing for Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday before the start of the 2023-24 season. They also handed out extensions to that duo and every other meaningful rotation player on the roster (Sam Hauser, Derrick White) in their prime within the last two years.
The moves paid terrific dividends in the short term with a title but the financial bill comes due this summer as extreme repeater tax penalties kick in.
Boston’s current cap commitments for the 2025-26 season are as follows:
Jayson Tatum: $54.1 million
Jaylen Brown: $53.1 million
Jrue Holiday: $32.4 million
Kristaps Porzingis: $30.7 million
Derrick White: $28.1 million
Sam Hauser: $10 million
Payton Pritchard: $7.2 million
Baylor Scheierman: $2.6 million
Xavier Tillman: $2.5 million
Neemias Queta: $2.3 million
Jordan Walsh: $2.2 million (non-guaranteed)
First round draft pick: $2.5 million
Open roster spot x 2: ????
Free agents: Al Horford, Luke Kornet, Torrey Craig
Total: $225 million in payroll committed to 11 players
Full roster payroll: $233 million (14 players) Once roster is filled out with their own picks and vet min signings (I.e. as cheaply as possible)
Luxury tax projected repeater bill: $280 million
Total projected payroll and tax bill: $513 million.
How crazy high is that number? Currently, the record spent by an NBA team in payroll and luxury tax in one season is by the Warriors during the 2023-24 season for $388 million. The highest for this season is the Phoenix Suns at $366 million.
The Celtics as currently constructed for next year would top that historical NBA spending record by $125 million or over 30 percent. That’s an absurd amount of cash for a single season. By comparison, the most Celtics ownership has ever spent on a team payrolls and luxury tax penalties combined would be what they are set to spend this season ($246.8 million). Next year’s projected number would double that.
Needless to say, there’s a lot of healthy skepticism around the league about this current core being kept together, which is why the new ownership group led by William Chisholm is so important. How much that group is willing to spend for next season and beyond will have a substantial effect on the team’s odds of remaining a top-tier contender.
Those projected salary numbers for next season don’t even address some roster holes that will need to be filled. Al Horford is unsigned so if he decides to come back, he’s going to need to be paid. Any other dollar spent at this level will cost at least eight dollars with the repeater tax penalties factored in as well. That means a minimum salary deal would cost Boston’s ownership more than $16 million if they keep this roster together.
These sky-high totals mean the Celtics' new ownership will either need to spend extreme record amounts of money on this group right away or noteworthy changes are coming as soon as this summer.
When the title core gets broken up, who has to go?
This will be a challenge for Brad Stevens and the front office as they will have to maneuver around whatever spending limits they are given by new ownership. There are some obvious trade candidates in play due to their high salaries and age (Jrue Holiday, Kristaps Porzingis) but those players are obviously integral parts of the team.
The challenge for the Celtics brass is that dumping any big-money contracts for no return won’t be easy this summer. There are just a few teams with large amounts of cap space available and those teams may not want to eat up their space with aging (albeit useful) veterans.
Trading a player away like Holiday would clear $32 million from Boston’s payroll (if there is no player return) but the Celtics would have no more spending power in free agency to replace him beyond a veteran’s minimum contract. Finding a taker for Holiday’s big contract without sweetening the pot would also be a challenge given its length (three more years) and his age (34). If they do pull it off, it would reduce Boston’s payroll down to $204 million and reduce the luxury tax penalties to $68 million, trimming off over $200 million in potential repeater tax penalities.
A $272 million spend on payroll and luxury tax penalties for next season would still be a record-breaking amount next year in team history but would not be historically high for the NBA like the projected 2025-26 payroll.
What about long-term spending?
Ultimately, these types of scenarios would need to occur year after year for this decade since Boston is projected to be in the luxury tax for at least the next three seasons with several large contracts on the books, including two supermax deals for Tatum and Brown respectively.
How the Celtics manage these waters all starts with ownership’s willingness to spend over several years. Boston has a path to being top contenders in the NBA for the remainder of this decade but that title window could close sooner than anticipated if big money has to be cut from the books on a regular basis.
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