The Celtics could be facing their reckoning sooner than anyone anticipated.
The defending NBA champions fell to the Knicks 91–90 on Wednesday night to go down 2–0 in the series before it heads to Madison Square Garden this weekend. In both games, the Knicks have overcome 20-point deficits to win.
Boston went all-in on this title window, handing out the two richest contracts in NBA history for co-stars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. Those two deals alone are worth more than $600 million over the next five years.
This year’s team cost $193 million, plus an estimated $50 million in luxury taxes. That total trails the Suns and Timberwolves for this season, but it’s next season when the bill really comes due. Keeping this roster intact could cost about $500 million when the NBA’s luxury tax is accounted for.
It’s unlikely that any ownership group would be willing to foot that bill, and the Celtics are in the process of being sold. So this spring’s playoffs have taken on an extra urgency. While the Brown/Tatum duo is here to stay, they might not have another supporting cast stacked with expensive players like Jrue Holiday or Kristaps Porzingis again. Both Holiday and Porzingis are set to make more than $30 million next year and are prime candidates to be traded to shed salary.
For both games of the Eastern Conference semifinals, the Celtics have looked like the more dominant team, holding a double-digit lead for most of the game only to let the Knicks rally and pull it out in the end. The Celtics, known for hoisting 3s, aren’t making many, shooting just 25% from deep in their first two games.
If the Celtics stand pat, that would mark their second straight year in the league’s dreaded second apron. Being in the second apron for three years in a five-year span would move their first-round draft pick to 30th, take away their mid-level exception to use in free agency and prohibit the use of trade exceptions in transactions, all of which make it harder to stay in contention.
Brad Stevens has made a seamless transition from coach to general manager and has drafted well, which could help replenish the roster with cheaper, team-friendly contracts, but the Nuggets have tried the same and have shown it isn’t a guaranteed quick-fix.
What’s unknown about the Celtics’ payroll is if incoming owner Bill Chisholm will change course once he takes control. Chisholm, a lifelong Celtics fan and Massachusetts native, is buying the team for $6 billion, but will keep current team governor Wyc Grousbeck in his position through the 2027–28 season. Chisholm recently secured the funding to secure the deal. Chisholm has said all the right things about extending the team’s title window, but he’s currently not footing the bill for it.
“My approach is to win and raise banners,” Chisholm previously told ESPN. “That’s in the near term and the long term. I’ve had a couple of sit-downs with Brad, and it’s been about aligning our goals and extending the window of this team. The plans that Wyc and Brad have laid out make perfect sense to me.”
Will Chisholm continue to let Grousbeck make decisions for the team at his own expense? It’s a question the Celtics might be faced with sooner than they were expecting.
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