Recently, Jayson Tatum and the Boston Celtics finally finished the job, hanging banner number 18 for the franchise with a resounding Game 5 win over the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Finals. While Tatum didn't have a great series on the whole, he was brilliant in the Celtics' clinching victory, dishing out 11 assists to go along with 31 points but ultimately losing out on the Finals MVP award to teammate Jaylen Brown, who was much more consistent throughout the series.
In the days since, the Celtics have been busy handing out hefty contracts, including making Tatum the richest player in NBA history as well as shelling out north of $30 million per year to Derrick White, another integral part of the team.
Then, on Monday, it was announced that the Celtics' ownership group would be putting the team up for sale, perhaps not coincidentally as they eye a potential luxury tax bill of over $250 million in a couple of years if this current roster stays together.
This of course raises the question of who will be the next person or group to own the team, and recently, Bill Simmons of The Ringer chimed in with some potential ideas.
“You could talk about there’s all these people that are coming in. It could be a casino, a casino could be built in downtown Boston,” said Simmons, via The Bill Simmons Podcast. “Some just super rich person, some mystery rich person that’s just always wanted to own the Celtics. You could give me a bunch of scenarios but I think the next owner of the team is already an owner of the team.”
Simmons also gave a specific name as a potential new owner.
“I think it’s Steve Pagliuca, who was really the number two owner on this team the whole time, and was somebody that you’d see him on the podium,” said Simmons. “He didn’t have the steering wheel, and you always knew he wanted it, and he ran for political office in Massachusetts, spent a ton of money on his campaign and didn’t get it. He went for the Nets a few years ago and had it, he had the Nets, and I forget what happened at the 11th hour, something happened, he froze or he backed off for a split second and Joe Tsai stepped in and took it.”
Pagliuca is the chairperson of Bain Capital and also owns an Italian soccer team.
Can the Celtics repeat?
While financial concerns will begin to become an issue in the near future, there's no reason why the Celtics shouldn't be able to win another championship in 2024-25 if they stay healthy. Despite some high profile moves made around the league so far this free agency and trade period, Boston still has far and away the most complete roster in the league and could theoretically still see improvement from both Brown and Tatum, who will be 28 and 27 next year, respectively.
While the name at the helm of the organization might be changing soon, the Celtics sure look like they are going to be around for the long haul.
