DALLAS — The Celtics completed a historic playoff run on Monday night against the Mavericks to earn the franchise’s 18th championship. Boston’s big offseason bets on Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis paid dividends amid a dominant regular season and a 16-3 postseason run.
Stevens and his front office staff will eventually have some time to relish in the hard-fought title but a quick turnaround looms for the offseason with the NBA Draft and the start of free agency under two weeks away. Some of the questions for Boston will be simple, such as a supermax contract for Jayson Tatum that can be officially offered once free agency begins. Contract extension negotiations with Derrick White are also expected, per league sources.
The taller task now comes not for the Celtics but for the rest of the NBA who have a steep hill to climb to emerge as a legitimate contender next to Boston thanks to some sweeping CBA changes. Those changes will eventually harm Boston’s chances of keeping this core together but should help the Celtics’ ability to repeat for one big reason. Let’s take a look at what Stevens has already set up for the Celtics next season and why Boston’s rivals will struggle to keep pace.
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Celtics 2024-25 projected payroll
Jaylen Brown: $49.7 million
Jayson Tatum: $34.9 million
Jrue Holiday: $30 million
Kristaps Porzingis: $29.2 million
Derrick White: $19.6 million
Al Horford: $9.5 million
Payton Pritchard: $6.7 million
Jaden Springer: $4 million
Oshae Brissett: $2.4 million (player option)
Neemias Queta: $2.2 million (team option)
Sam Hauser: $2.1 million (team option)
Jordan Walsh: $1.9 million
Total salary: $192.2 million to 13 players
Total guaranteed money: $188 million to 11 players
Expected salary cap for 2024-25: $141 million
Expected luxury tax line for 2024-25: $171 million
Expected second apron for 2024-25: $189 million
2024 CELTICS FREE AGENTS
- Luke Kornet
- Xavier Tillman
- Svi Mykhailiuk
TRADED PLAYER EXCEPTIONS
The Celtics enter the offseason as a second apron team so they will not have access to any of their traded player exceptions. However, this is inconsequential since Boston’s final sizable TPE was used on Xavier Tillman at the trade deadline.
FREE AGENT SPENDING AVAILABLE
The Celtics will only have access to veteran minimum contract this season. They are already well over the salary cap and are currently $10 million over the second apron, which means they do not have access to the mid-level exception.
DRAFT PICKS
The Celtics have two picks in the 2024 NBA Draft which will take place over two nights starting on June 26th. Boston will pick at No. 30 overall in the first round and also have the No. 54th overall pick (via Dallas).
WHY CELTICS WILL STAY HEAVY FAVORITES
The front office did their work early last offseason, taking big swings on the trade market by landing Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis before highly restrictive team buiilding limitations were set to begin for the 2024-25 season with high-spending (luxury tax) teams. Stevens wisely extended Holiday and Porzingis for reasonable deals, positioning Boston well to bring back their top eight players as long as Celtics ownership is willing to pay a hefty luxury tax (Boston is currently projected to be $21 million over the luxury tax line).
Starting this week, there are a host of new limitations that impact second-apron teams and inhibit their ability to improve their teams. Those restrictions include an inability to use a previously created trade exception, aggregate contracts, and send out cash in a trade. All first and second-apron teams will also be unable to take back more money than they send out in a trade, making putting together big deals very challenging for any second apron squad.
These rules help Boston’s chances for now since they already have their core in place. However, most of Boston’s top challengers for the crown next season (Denver, Milwaukee, L.A. Clippers, Minnesota, Phoenix) are projected to be second-apron teams and have already used significant draft capital in trades. That gives them very few paths to catch Boston from a talent standpoint beyond internal improvement. Stevens and Boston’s front office got all his ducks in a row not just for this season but beyond with his wheeling and dealing, knowing this would be his only chance to do so. Signing extensions with Holiday and Porzingis early helped to keep their prices far more reasonable than they would be coming off an NBA championship.
A few teams can get creative with more spending flexibility (76ers, Thunder) but there is a sizable gap to catch up with Boston’s firepower. With Boston’s All-Stars and several members of their supporting cast in their prime and improving, Stevens and his staff can simply keep trying to add good fits as supplemental pieces in attempts to repeat.
Tough financial decisions are looming for the core after the 2024-25 season when Tatum’s supermax contract kicks in and repeater tax penalties kick in for Boston. For now, the Celtics roster is very pricy but sustainable.
The Celtics are set to become the hunted after their 18th title but they have given themselves a nice head start over the rest of the pack to sustain a championship window for at least one more year.
