BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS – MAY 11: Boston Celtics President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens … More
The Boston Celtics are staring down the prospect of fielding the most expensive roster in league history. The Celtics have $445 million in projected salary and tax penalties in 2025-26. That figure could exceed $500 million when the roster gets filled out.
As new ownership, led by William Chisholm, enters the picture, the expectation is that Boston’s roster will undergo a summer makeover.
“The rest of the league is bracing for some level of change,” said Shams Charania in a recent appearance on the Pat McAfee Show. “Sources have been telling me for weeks now that the Celtics will be exploring trade options this offseason.”
Exploring Celtics’ most likely offseason trade candidates
Boston has five players on the books for at least $28 million next season. Under this more punitive collective bargaining agreement, that may not be tenable, even if the Celtics repeat as NBA champions.
For a franchise that spent this and last year over the second apron, the repercussions and roster-building restrictions of going that route further incentivize making changes this offseason.
Perhaps the most likely trade candidate is starting center Kristaps Porzingis. The former All-Star is under contract for $30.7 million for the 2025-26 campaign. Boston won the title last season despite Porzingis missing most of its playoff run.
The Celtics’ chief competition is more challenging this go-around, but parting with Porzingis’s expiring deal to alleviate some of their financial burden and acquire pieces that could help beyond next season could push the team’s president of basketball operations, Brad Stevens, to reroute him.
Jrue Holiday, currently sidelined by a hamstring injury, owns the Celtics’ third-largest cap hit next season. At $32.4 million, Holiday, who turns 35 in June, may also find himself on a new team next year despite his two-way impact.
While Sam Hauser, who signed a four-year, $45 million extension last summer, is under contract for slightly north of $10 million for the 2025-26 campaign, a team-friendly figure, the tax hit raises the cost of carrying him on the roster dramatically. That could make him a cap casualty, creating an increased role for promising rookie Baylor Scheierman.
One can’t rule out an even more significant shakeup in the form of a Jaylen Brown trade. However, from this vantage point, it’s more likely that the 2023-24 NBA Finals MVP remains with the franchise that drafted him.
A trio of Brown, Jayson Tatum, and Derrick White represents a title-contending core that can keep the Celtics in championship contention even if one or more of the starters that helped raise Banner 18 to the TD Garden rafters are in their final playoff run with Boston.
Further reading
