Celtics' Brad Stevens Hints at More Roster Moves Amid Busy Offseason

Boston Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens teased further moves coming for the team's roster.

The Celtics traded away two key veterans during the offseason already in guard Jrue Holiday and center Kristaps Porzingis.

Boston got back forward Georges Niang and guard Anfernee Simons in the deals, saving more than $20 million in salary. Both Niang and Simons are expiring contracts who can be moved down the line to save additional money.

More news:Celtics' Brad Stevens Reveals Motivation Behind Anfernee Simons, Georges Niang Trades

During a press conference regarding the trades becoming offical, Stevens opened kept the door open to further dealings down the line.

“We have most of our first round picks still other than the 2029 one,” Stevens said.

“We have a lot of second (round picks) now so we have some flexibility there and we don’t want to take away our chance to use those to become the best that we can be over the next few years just to make a move to help save money. I think that that’s been very clearly stated to me.

“We’ll continue to look at how we can make things a little bit better or tweak things around the edges and maybe something comes up in the next couple weeks, but that’s been our mindset.”

The Celtics were facing a summer full of trades before Jayson Tatum tore his Achilles — though his injury further clarity that the team needed to move on from veteran players on big deals.

Boston was deep into the luxury tax and reached the second apron, which limited the team's ability to get deals done via trade and free agency.

If Tatum was healthy, the Celtics might have only traded one of Holiday or Porzingis in order to keep the entire core of the team together, but his injury rules the team out from contending for a title.

Ownership and the front office made the calculation that it isn't worth paying the massive bill in terms of money and team-building to keep so many expensive veterans around.

The team's two big trades might just be the start of several moves done to save money and retool the roster.

More news: Celtics, Blazers Make Major Change to Jrue Holiday, Anfernee Simons Trade

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