Top NBA Insider Gives Major Insight Into How Celtics Will Approach Offseason
The phones in the Boston Celtics front office will probably be ringing off the hook this summer.
Everyone around the NBA knows the situation the Celtics find themselves in. After handing out massive contract extensions one after the other, luxury tax penalties have their payroll hovering around $500 million next season.
That’s not a number the Celtics and their new owner Bill Chisholm are expected to stomach. That means changes are coming for the Celtics with the franchise open for business in the trade market as it looks to shed some big contracts.
ESPN’s Shams Charania went on “The Pat McAfee Show” on Tuesday and was definitive that Boston’s roster will go through an offseason shakeup. Charania also detailed who the Celtics could field calls for and how Boston could approach those situations.
“They’re going to make trades,” Charania said. “The Boston Celtics will have a much different roster next season potentially. They’ll definitely have a different roster, the question is just how severe as far as the movement will be for them. You look at Jayson Tatum, of course he’s injured, can’t really trade him. That’s really the face of your franchise.
“I think after that, it’s really going to depend on what value can you get. I think teams are going to express a lot of interest in Jrue Holiday. Teams are going to inquire about Kristaps Porzingis. Teams are going to inquire about Jaylen Brown. I think the Celtics are going to have to identify what value can we get for each of these players, which player does it make sense to trade, is there anywhere where we can get some players back that can help right now, potentially help us moving forward, we can get some assets for.”
Rumors have already started to swirl about potential suitors for Holiday, Porzingis and Brown. NBA insider Marc Stein pointed to the Dallas Mavericks as a team expected to pursue a trade for Holiday.
Boston’s circumstances for next season also changed due to the major injury to Tatum, who ruptured his Achilles in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals against the New York Knicks.
The Celtics won’t be viewed as title contenders like they have been for years now and that could influence how much president of basketball Brad Stevens offloads from the roster.
“This team probably isn’t going to be in the same place as far as contention,” Charania said. “But listen, you have Joe Mazzulla as your coach. You still have a chance potentially to get Jayson Tatum back at the end of the season. If you keep Jaylen Brown, he’s a guy you have a lot of faith in to lead this team.
“I think they’re going to do a lot of things to retool this roster. Again, there’s a lot of question marks around Al Horford’s future, Jrue Holiday, Kristaps Porzingis. We said it on this show, the Celtics will explore trades. They’re going to make moves this summer.”