Even before Jayson Tatum suffered a torn Achilles tendon, the Celtics were contemplating “significant offseason changes” due to a payroll (including luxury tax) that is projected to surpass $500MM in 2025/26, confirms Jay King of The Athletic. But with Tatum likely to miss most — if not all — of next season, a more “drastic shakeup” could be in the works.
Although Jrue Holiday battled injuries and saw his offensive numbers decline in ’24/25, he’s still expected to draw interest from contending teams if the Celtics make him available on the trade market, league sources tell King. Holiday turns 35 years old next month and is owed $104.4MM through ’27/28, but he’s highly regarded around the league due to his championship pedigree and reputation as a strong defensive player, King writes.
Kristaps Porzingis is another clear trade candidate due to his expiring contract. But don’t expect the Celtics to simply shed his salary in a straightforward salary dump, King adds.
Here are a few more rumors and notes on the 2024 champions:
- According to King, Tatum’s heavy workload was an “occasional topic of contention” within the organization prior to the injury. Including the playoffs, Tatum has played more minutes than any player in the league since Boston selected him No. 3 overall in 2017, King notes, and he also won a pair of gold medals with Team USA in 2021 and 2024, so he hasn’t many rest opportunities in recent years. Tatum admitted in March that “a lot of headbutting” occurred prior to games when the team wanted to him rest but he wanted to play.
- Prior to the Game 6 elimination, Chris Mannix and Rachel Nichols of Sports Illustrated speculated about what moves the Celtics might make this summer (YouTube link). “The question is what do you do here? Because I think there’s a pretty decent chance that this team gets dismantled in a major way,” Mannix said. Nichols followed up by asking if Jaylen Brown could be on the move. Mannix doesn’t think so, but said, “I think two or more rotation players in the top seven could be gone next year, and they could use next year as a gap year.” Holiday and Porzingis were two more players brought up in the discussion.
- It’s clear the Celtics won’t be running things back for a second straight summer, according to Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports, who is “pretty confident” that next year’s roster will feature Tatum, Derrick White, Payton Pritchard, Baylor Scheierman, and Jordan Walsh. However, Forsberg is less certain about the rest of the roster, including Brown, who is entering the second season of his five-year, super-max contract. Sharpshooter Sam Hauser is another trade candidate if the team is unable to cut costs elsewhere, Forsberg writes.
- In his Celtics offseason preview for ESPN.com, Bobby Marks lays out some of the options Boston could consider this summer, noting that the punitive restrictions of the second tax apron will likely be the main reason the team decides to make changes. Marks also released a video version of his offseason guide via YouTube.
Its going to be hard to trade Porzingis without adding payroll because so few teams are under the cap.
Trae Young, Zaccharie Risacher, Terance Mann, Georges Niang, #22 pick to Boston for Jaylen Brown, Jrue Holiday & JD Davison works fairly well for both teams.
Hawks bring JB home to be the 21st century version of Nique. We get much better defensively by switching out Trae for Jrue. I love Bufkin/KWallace/Davison battling it out for mins behind Jrue. We don’t really miss TMann bc we have so much depth at the wing already. JB & Jalen Johnson would form the best forward duo in the league imo. Jrue/Dice would be the best defensive guard duo as well.
Celtics would achieve goals of resetting the squad, adding young talent, significantly shaving payroll & making it more possible to tank for Dybantsa next season. Zacch would low-key be the centerpiece of their return. He could eventually be an even better complement to Tatum than JB was, especially as he gets stronger. Trae is obv a polarizing player but anybody that knows basketball understands how elite he is & how him /Tatum/White would be a nightmare to guard.
On the surface, that trade concept isn’t bad! Celtics lose on the defensive side, but might be able to develop Risacher into a 2-way player. JB goes home, TMann comes home too haha.
I’m pretty sure Niang from Mass too
Yeah, celtics could get rid of two of the best two way players in the NBA and get back Trae Young.
Woo.
Jrue Holiday used to be 1 of the best 2way players in the NBA. Those days are over. He’s still a good defensive guard & a good 2way guard in general but he wouldn’t be the best 2way guard on either Atl or Boston. By the time Tatum comes back & the Cs are ready to compete again, he’s gonna be diminished even further.
But you should def get familiar with Risacher tho
Trae Young is not an asset. He is a liability that is paid way too much for the amount of defense he plays. Remember, Celtics have Brad Stevens. I doubt he would trade Jaylen for anything other than the rights to draft Cooper Flagg. Maybe the rights to #2 and assets from SA.
I understand basketball…Trae Young is ONLY elite at shooting 3s. He is a negative defender who has to be baby sat bc he gets owned by every other PG in the league. He is HUNTED by any smart team. He does not rebound, his passing is below average for a PG and again he is such a liability on D, he is almost unplayable.
No. Keep Trae. Brad will never want him. Brad wants players who can play D. Also, Celtics have Pritchard who is a better version of Trae Young bc the guy plays defense and rebounds.
I give you credit for being right about Brad Stevens. He likes bulldogs at pg & has since (future CS head coach) Ron Nored was his guy back in Indy. Even when they were having success with IT a few yrs ago it was apparent that wasn’t his guy.
Literally everything else you said was false tho. Especially that 2nd paragraph, 0% from the field on that one.
I don’t see how trading Brown makes any sense at all. Who would you bring back that is just as good or better? Definitely not Trae Young. Celtics still have most of their draft picks, an incredible trio of Brown, Tatum and White. Brown and Tatum are just starting their prime years. They have been winners their whole career with a changing team around them. Get your cap sheet sorted out and find some role players that fit. Don’t turn this thing upside down.
Trae Young is just as good as JB. Risacher could potentially be as good as JB. Trading JB makes it more possible to tank & get Dybantsa who would also potentially be as good or better than JB.
I see why you’d wanna try to keep them together or at most just tinker around the edges. But I’d def consider the option of making a bigger move, esp in pursuit of Dybantsa. Just going off history the Cs would have a pretty good chance of landing him if they’re anywhere near the middle of the lottery
The Celtics aren’t tanking. They have made the playoffs every year with these two guys. Even with just JB and white this team is making the playoffs in the east. Sounds like you like Trae, but I can tell you the Celtics fans would be irate if that was the trade.
Brad will never even consider Trae Young. They run a switch everything D all the time. Trae is such a liability on D.
Brad wouldn’t prefer Trae but he would def consider him. He won with IT he knows he can win with Trae
They were great every yr when they had both. Next yr they don’t have both. That’s the point. With JB/White/Pritchard they may make the play-in or get bounced in the 1st rd… or you could be like Auerbach & have some vision beyond the immediate future & shoot for AJ Dybantsa.
Smh dude just because I realize that Trae Young is great at basketball doesn’t mean i love Trae Young. Some things are just facts. He’s not getting all these assists by accident. I honestly have never wanted him on the Hawks. Much like Stevens I highly value toughness/size in a pg. I obv wanted Luka when we got Trae. Ever since I’ve wanted us to move him for a bigger 2way pg. That being said, Trae Young is clearly an elite pg. Even taking his defense into consideration he’s a top5 pg in the league. Whatever Cs fans that don’t understand that yet will understand if he ever gets to play there with Tatum. He is definitely one of the best pgs the game has ever seen.
Trae Young is just as good as JB
Freaking insane. Jaylen guards the best players in the NBA. Does Trae play Defense? Jaylen was guarding KAT last night, could Trae Young even stay in front of Duece?
I get you want JB on Atlanta, who wouldnt, but I guarantee you Brad Stevens will never take on Trae Young and is horrible contract.
Nope, never. not gonna happen. Celtics want players they dont have to hide on D, they switch everything.
Plus they already have Pritchard.
Lol bro how, with a straight face, can you bring up last night’s performance to argue JB’s defensive greatness? Didn’t he foul out w/ bout 18mins left with his team down 40? JB is a good defender but I def think Zacch will be as good as him defensively if not better. Obv he’s a better defender than Trae but Trae is obv a better offensive player than JB. Same way we don’t see Trae locking anybody down we also don’t see JB generating offense near the same level as Trae.
Celtics have plenty of terrible defenders that they have to hide defensively lol have you ever seen Sam Hauser. Also how does Trae have terrible contract? He’s obv a max player & he only has 1 yr left on his deal.
Lol my guy if you can’t see that Trae & Pritchard are 2 different levels of player then you might wanna go back & start at the beginning fr.
You finally got the best guy you could ever pair with Trae. And now you want to trade him. Hawks just need to grow as a team. And get their bigs settled. Get younger at center and depth.
Celtics arrogance got the best of them. They never faced a full Knicks team during season. Knicks have been a work in oryall year. Still getting better with Mitch back in playoffs. Knicks stole gm1 and gm2. And Celtics never really recovered. You gotta show in the playoffs. Nobody cares what you did before.
Imo Celtics are still one of the best teams healthy. They just need to regroup. Moving Holiday for a big SG. Is probably all they need to do. Christie in Dallas fits the bill. Good young 2way player.
Both Celtics and Cavs will be better next year.
Knicks, Pacers, Pistons, Magic still getting better. They are not finished products. Knicks bench is still an issue. Mitch has stepped up big time.
I’m a big Holiday fan. I also think White has become big time. They both are very similar players. Jrue still has plenty game left. He can really help a team desperate for a PG. Boston can get back more a true SG. That makes Celtics better. That’s the only move Celtics need to make. They can add a player thru the injury exception for Jason. And just play till he gets back. Celtics should be healthy for next yrs playoffs. And as a low seed. It makes them very dangerous. There’s no need to break them up.
Kristaps Porzingis for DeMare DeRozan
Aswell as
Jrue Holiday and a future first for Nic Claxton and Dariq Whitehead
At 28th in the draft select Johni Broome and at 32 take Miles Byrd.
Line up:
White DeRozan Brown Tatum Claxton
Pritchard Whitehead Walsh Hauser Horford
Davidson Byrd Scheierman Broome Queta
You save money from your trades.
KP to DeRozan is rough 30mil down to 22mil.
I think Claxton would be a huge addition. You need a younger more athletic big man to lock down the paint. Horford is getting old and KP is a great defender. DeRozan would help fill the scoring void with Tatum out aswell as be a good vet on this team. Yes he can’t shoot the 3 ball but he’s still good for 20/25 points per game along with 4/5 assists and not many turn overs.
After that I think it’s important to keep the depth and develop guys. Think Byrd and Broome would be really really good late first/early second picks.
I know Tatum likely misses all/most of next season but I think this team is good enough to get a playoff spot without him and maybe if they battle long enough he can come back and they have a chance at something.