Brad Stevens revealed little about the Celtics’ offseason plans in his media availability on Monday. The specifics about how Boston could deconstruct its roster this summer will remain a mystery until moves begin in roughly one month. It was already clear some change is inevitable, and that was before Jayson Tatum’s achilles injury.
Tatum begins his super max extension next season making $54.1 million out of the team’s $227.8 million projected salary between 12 players under contract. While that’s already nearly $20-million over the second apron line and $40-million into the luxury tax, Stevens stressed that having so many good players under contract puts the team in a unique position. While that’s true, they still face enormously difficult decisions and probably won’t control the route they take to offload salary. It’s unclear what tax directives the impending new ownership group will force, but resetting the second apron penalty clock is a foregone conclusion with Tatum out.
Rounding out the roster with the 28th overall pick ($2.3M) and a minimum second-round or undrafted free agent minimum salary ($1.3M) would put Boston $23.6-million over the second apron. That’s with Al Horford and Luke Kornet departing, difficult losses that would thin out the interior. Losing three front court players from last season would already raise questions about the prospect of seriously competing next season.
If that is the path the offseason takes, retaining Kristaps Porziņģis ($30.7M) into his contract year makes some sensible while Jrue Holiday’s ($32.4M) departure becomes even likelier. Holiday having two more seasons at $36-million average annual value through his age-37 season complicates trading him, but his defense, shooting and playmaking should intrigue at least one team. That probably won’t be Brooklyn, the only team with enough projected cap space to absorb Holiday or Porziņģis’ salaries outright. Jake Fischer reported on Wednesday that several rivals might expect draft pick compensation in absorbing Holiday’s deal.
That’s the challenge for the Celtics this offseason. They need to construct multi-team trades that offset the money coming back to them if they want to slash payroll and avoid apron penalties. Sam Hauser’s contract moves most comfortably, great value at roughly 6% of the cap for its entirety, and any team with the full mid-level exception could use it to absorb his $10 million salary in full. Boston could also receive compensation for him.
That’s less likely for Holiday, who might return some rotation players, but could cost the Celtics some assets to re-route salary elsewhere. In one popular trade construction, Dallas receives Holiday and trades Daniel Gafford to Boston with several other Mavericks sent elsewhere.
The Mavs don’t have much space below the second apron ($12.7M) and since matching Holiday’s money with multiple players triggers the second-apron hard cap, they need to move additional money to stay below it. Cooper Flagg making $11.5 million as the No. 1 overall pick adds to that sum. Without moving Klay Thompson, that would force them to find new homes for PJ Washington and Caleb Martin at least. Is that worth it for Dallas? They’d probably prefer to do all that for Derrick White.
That move would save Boston $18-million before offloading Hauser would slide them below the second apron line. The Nets, Jazz, Hornets and Grizzlies, among others, could conceivably trade for Hauser with their mid-levels, or in Brooklyn’s case cap space, and would need to accept a first apron hard cap if they use the MLE.
If Horford departs, Kornet returns on a long-term veteran minimum deal ($3.3M) and Porziņģis stays for now, that leaves $206.6 million between 14 players, still nearly $20-million over the luxury tax. As a repeater team, that would cost $77.8-million in tax. It’s important to note that taxes aren’t finalized until the end of the season, so Boston could begin the season as a tax team before sliding below the threshold ($187.9M).
Doing so would require trading Porziņģis ($30.7M) while taking back less than $18.7 million. A difficult task in-season with hard caps set for many teams at the aprons, cap space filled and salary matching rules requiring Boston to take more money back in a one-for-one. Even a team below the first apron needs to send back at least $23.7 million for Porziņģis, only saving the Celtics $7.5 million unless money is re-routed elsewhere.
If you’re following — with Holiday, Porziņģis and Hauser going out, Gafford and Rui Hachimura coming in on expiring contracts, and Kornet staying, the Celtics get below the second apron line and pull within $6.3-million of the tax. Since the first tax bracket ends at $5.7 million, they could save some extra money by declining JD Davison’s $2.2-million team option, waiving Jordan Walsh for $200,000 or stretching Xavier Tillman Sr.’s $2.5 million (3yrs, $830K). Any one of those moves could leave the Celtics with a $13-16 million tax bill.
If Boston’s new ownership group is willing to pay some tax to keep as much of the roster together as possible, they can reduce the roster cost to roughly $200 million between payroll and tax — less than half of the current projection. Doing so, however, would continue to limit the team’s flexibility into the future by maintaining their repeater tax status. To escape the repeater tax, a team must exit the tax for two out of the four previous years. The Celtics have an opportunity to return to the tax at normal rates in 2027-28 if they dodge it for the next two seasons.
That would be painful.
Whether the Celtics offload Holiday, Porziņģis, Hauser, Horford and Kornet alongside trimming just enough off the edge of the roster, or decide to shop White, allowing themselves the greatest possible return for multiple rotation players, or go one step further and trade Jaylen Brown, they stand to take a significant step back from their recent talent level.
Moving Brown could save at least $10-million in a straight-up trade with the cap space team in Brooklyn able to absorb much of if not the entire contract in a potential trade. The Celtics would still need to shed salary elsewhere in other potential trades, so that’s probably the one they want to avoid above all others.Unless they decide their best path into the future is building around only one super max contract while breaking up Brown’s into a variety of players, skill sets and prospects.
The Nets, Rockets and Spurs could offer Boston lottery picks in this year’s draft for Brown, who would make $5-10 million next in 2025-26 with 7-8 years of relative cost control. It’s an option worth exploring, as the repeater tax returning, continued second apron threat and forthcoming draft capital owed to San Antonio and Portland from the White and Holiday trades in 2028-2029.
The Spurs, who own the No. 2 pick in the draft and No. 14 from Atlanta, become intriguing trade partners because they own Boston’s 2028 pick swap from the White trade in 2022. They, like Houston, could focus on acquiring Giannis Antetokounmpo before turning their focus toward Brown. San Antonio also owns Atlanta’s picks in 2026 (swap) and 2027. The Rockets own Suns picks in 2027 and 2029.
Doing the Spurs deal, moving well below the second apron and within striking distance of the tax threshold, could allow Boston to retain one of Holiday or Porziņģis, White, Horford, Kornet and Payton Pritchard alongside Devin Vassell (4yrs, $105.7M) and two first round picks. The Rockets’ No. 8 overall pick makes $5.7 million. San Antonio’s No. 14 selection will make $4.1 million. Boston would benefit from saving on the rookie scale.
Moving on from Brown would be an excruciating decision, but no path is ideal here.
Staying above the second apron this year froze the Celtics’ 2032 first round pick, and it would move to the end of the first round following three years above the second apron line out of five. Three years below the apron unfreezes that for Boston.
Would all those penalties be worth waiting it out until the day Brown and Tatum reunite with little remaining around them?
It will depend on what’s out there this summer for a franchise that suddenly finds itself in a difficult position. Without much control.
“Jaylen and Jayson have gotten the majority of attention because of how good they are,” Stevens said. “And I have full faith that, any game that you have those guys on the court, or one of those guys on the court, you have a great shot.”
If the Celtics need to utilize draft capital to offload money this summer, they only have their No. 28 pick in this year’s draft, one of their 2026 or 2027 first-rounders and a 2030 pick swap to offer. Since their 2032 pick is frozen, they cannot trade their 2031 first. For seconds, they have: No. 32 this year, a 2026 from Detroit and their own 2031-2032 picks.
Boston will receive a disabled player exception worth $14.1 million, the mid-level exception, in the near future if the NBA rules that Tatum’s injury is most likely season-ending for next year. That can only be utilized in one signing or trade, even if only part of the exception is utilized.
As a reminder: the Celtics cannot aggregate multiple players/contracts together in a trade while they’re over the second apron. They cannot receive players via sign-and-trade. They cannot use the mid-level exception. They cannot trade cash. Their 2033 first round pick will freeze if they finish the year above the second apron line. Once Boston goes below the second apron, it can perform any of the moves above, but would be hard-capped at the second apron for the rest of the 2025-26 season. They CAN, however, take back multiple players/contracts for one.