Boston Celtics Exec Admits It ‘Sucked’ to Trade Jrue Holiday, Kristaps Porziņģis

The Boston Celtics traded Jrue Holiday to the Portland Trail Blazers and Kristaps Porziņģis to the Atlanta Hawks to reduce their payroll for the 2025-26 NBA season.

A Celtics front office executive told NBA reporter Keith Smith of Spotrac that it “sucked” to trade Holiday and Porziņģis.

“Still figuring it all out. As you’ve noted, we’re still above the second apron. We won’t finish there. It sucked to trade Jrue and KP because we loved those guys and they loved Boston,” the Celtics front office executive said. “But it was being brutally honest that we aren’t the same level of team without Jayson (Tatum).

“We’ll be good. We’ll be a playoff team, but…you know. It’ll come for every team that lands where we did. You can’t be over the second apron and not a title contender. It’s just poor management for both the short- and long-term. The frozen pick and pick dropping stuff is real.”

The Celtics lost to the New York Knicks in the second round of the 2025 playoffs in six games. The franchise won the 2024 NBA Finals against the Dallas Mavericks in five games.

Jayson Tatum is expected to miss all of next season recovering from his torn right Achilles tendon, so the Celtics won’t be a championship contender.

Boston acquired Anfernee Simons from Portland and Georges Niang from Atlanta. Both players could be traded this offseason.

“I think the Celtics are still very active in taking trade calls, maybe even making trade calls,” NBA insider Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report said. “There was some conversation last week between Memphis and Boston about something. We’re still looking to track down more info on that, but rival NBA teams are definitely still under the impression that Boston is looking for deals involving both Anfernee Simons and Georges Niang.”