The Boston Celtics' impending luxury tax bill for the 2025-26 season, as things stand right now, is so historically astronomical that the entire NBA universe expects the 2024 champs to make massive trades for some cap relief.
But things have already started getting punitively pricey.
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Per Brian Robb of MassLive, the earlier-than-expected end of the Celtics' 2024-25 season (the team was eliminated by the New York Knicks in the second round of the playoffs) has proven costly from a financial as well as health standpoint.
"Since Boston finished the 2024-25 season above the second apron, its first-round draft pick seven years away (2032) is 'frozen' i.e. can’t be traded for at least the next three years," Robb writes. "If Boston stays under the second apron in at least three of the next four seasons, it becomes 'unfrozen' and tradable again at the start of the 2028-29 league year."
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The new Collective Bargaining Agreement is shockingly punitive. The fact that Boston won't be able to float even a 2032 first rounder in trade talks until at least 2028 feels like an unnecessarily harsh punishment for a club that has proven itself more than willing to pay big bucks on a championship-caliber roster.
Healthwise, Boston is likely to be without five-time All-NBA superstar power forward Jayson Tatum for most or all of the 2025-26 season.
Meanwhile, four-time All-Star small forward Jaylen Brown was playing with a meniscus tear throughout the playoffs that could require surgery, while center Kristaps Porzingis was playing through lingering viral symptoms from a March infection (which are at least consistent with Long COVID, although they have not been diagnosed as such) and his long-term healthy is shakier than ever.
The Celtics have now finished with two straight 60-plus win seasons with a starting lineup of two-time All-Defensive Team guard Derrick White, six-time All-Defensive Team guard Jrue Holiday, Brown, Tatum, and Porzingis.
The club is so expensive now that trades for Holiday, Porzingis, sharpshooting reserve forward Sam Hauser, and even mainstays like White and Brown (inarguably the club's third- and second-best players, respectively) all seem possible this summer. Boston needs to think bigger picture about its future, at least as long as this CBA is so intense.
More Boston Celtics News:
Celtics and Lakers Fans Divided Over Trading Stars in Wild Trade Rumor
Celtics Could Part With Star Guard to Land Defensive Antagonizer
Celtics Could Part With Star Guard to Land Defensive Antagonizer
Celtics Confident Team Can Contend For Title Next Year Without Jayson Tatum
For more news and notes on the Boston Celtics, visit Boston Celtics on SI.
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