Boston Celtics Sign Summer Standout As Part of Continued Plan To Duck Luxury Tax

You may remember Bassey as a summer league standout last July, with many (myself included) making the case for him to at least get a training camp invitation. His defensive instincts and bouncy athleticism made him an intriguing possibility, especially before anyone realized what the Celtics actually had in their center rotation. 

Bassey has played in three games this season in two stops with Memphis and Philadelphia. He has played 36 minutes with nine points and 15 rebounds combined in those games.

There is a temptation to think he’s here to bolster a frontcourt missing Nikola Vučević, who is out for about two more weeks with a fractured right ring finger. And while he might, over the next 10 days or so, get a few minutes here and there, it’s more likely that he’s part of the shell game the Celtics are playing to duck the tax. 

NBA teams are required to carry at least 14 players on their roster, but they have 28 days of leeway, no more than 14 at a time, throughout the season. The Celtics have used up all 28 days, so now they have to fill their final two spots today. Signing Bassey is the first step. 

They will have to sign someone else, most likely a rookie with no NBA experience, to be the cheapest possible seat-filler for the remainder of the season. By going as cheap as possible, the Celtics will be able to slide under the luxury tax like Indiana Jones barely making it under a falling door.

And just like Indy reaching back to recover his hat, the Celtics will likely recover enough money to sign one more player on the final day of the season. My guess is that it will be Ron Harper Jr., both as a reward for his season and to make him eligible for the postseason. The Celtics are using him in actual rotation minutes some nights, and he just put up a career-high 22 against San Antonio, so Joe Mazzulla will likely want someone he can trust at the end of the bench in a “just in case” role come playoff time.

The Celtics efforts will not only save them a lot of money, they’ll be eligible for a tax payout from other taxpaying teams. Further, if they are able to stay under the tax next season, they will reset the repeater tax penalty, which taxes them at an exponentially higher rate than non-repeater teams. Being a repeater is defined as paying the tax in two of the previous four seasons. While it’s not imperative for the Celtics to do so, it would allow them to be more freewheeling spenders in future seasons when Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are both over 30 and Boston is making a final push to maximize their championship chances.