Celtics Agree To Trade Tillman, Cash To Hornets

It’s a minor move relative to its on-court impact. Tillman, 27, has played an extremely limited role in Boston this season, appearing in just 14 games and averaging 2.2 points and 1.8 rebounds on 7.9 minutes per night. It’s possible the Hornets won’t keep him on the roster after finalizing their trade.

However, it was a crucial move for the Celtics from a financial perspective. After opening the 2025/26 league year operating above the second tax apron, Boston has now moved all the way below the luxury tax line.

The team made cost-cutting moves involving Jrue Holiday, Kristaps Porzingis, and Georges Niang last summer, then moved Tillman, Anfernee Simons, Josh Minott, and Chris Boucher in deals this week to duck slightly out of tax territory. That will help the team avoid repeater penalties in future seasons.

Boston’s margins are very small — after its deadline deals and its promotion of Amari Williams to a standard contract are all official, the team will have 12 players on standard contracts and will be below the tax line by roughly $842K, tweets Yossi Gozlan of The Third Apron.

The Celtics will likely take full advantage of the rule that permits teams to carry fewer than 14 players for up to two weeks at a time and up to 28 days in total. It also seems likely that Max Shulga, another two-way player, will be promoted sooner or later — he would only count for the rookie minimum for tax purposes since he was drafted by Boston, whereas any free agent signing would count as a two-year veteran’s minimum.

The $3.5MM Charlotte will receive in the deal will more than cover Tillman’s remaining salary, so it’s essentially free money for the Hornets, who remain comfortably below the tax line themselves and won’t have a problem taking on the big man’s $2.55MM expiring contract.