Celtics Champion Guard Named Top Trade Candidate for This Offseason

A summer full of tough decisions lies ahead for the Boston Celtics. The 2024 NBA champions are hard capped at the second apron.

The team needs to shed salary to ease the transaction restrictions imposed by the latest Collective Bargaining Agreement.

The Celtics' salary sheet limits how the team can structure trades and what free-agent exceptions the team can use. As a second-apron team, the Celtics can only make salaries work in trades with one player.

They cannot group salaries to match the salary of another player in a trade. Due to their age and high salary, Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis stand out on Boston's payroll.

Both are set to make over $20 million next season. That kind of salary is justifiable if the Celtics are contending next season, but star Jayson Tatum is out for the year.

Instead, the Celtics are even more incentivized to move on from those veterans since it will likely be a couple of seasons before Tatum recovers.

According to Dan Favale of Bleacher Report, Holiday is the more likely of the pair to be traded.

"Everyone outside of the injured Jayson Tatum is on the negotiating table as the Boston Celtics inevitably look to trim the $25-plus million required to duck out of the second apron," Favale wrote in an off-season preview article.

"Jrue Holiday’s remaining contract—three years, $104.4 million—is simultaneously the toughest to move and most likely to go. Having just turned 35, the backcourt defensive ace isn’t going to be part of the next great Celtics team.

"Next year is kaput while Tatum recovers from his Achilles injury, and Boston may need a feeling-out season in 2026-27 when he returns. Holiday will be entering his age-37 campaign by the time this team is anywhere close to whole again.

"Just breaking him up into multiple smaller contracts that are easier to reroute can go a long way, and at least one suitor should be enticed by the idea of exchanging filler for an All-Defense punch."

Holiday still has two years left on his deal, making more than $30 million per season. His contract features a player option in the 2027-2028 season.

It remains unclear if the Celtics can fetch meaningful players or draft picks for Holiday. The massive guaranteed money left on his deal could make a Holiday trade more of a salary dump.

There could be some more interest to bubble up, which could lead to a bit of a bidding war that gives Boston a return.