The dominant Boston Celtics team that cruised to the 2024 NBA Championship, the record 18th banner for the franchise, is no more. Confronted with the severe penalties that would be inflicted for staying above the second apron payroll threshold, president of basketball operations Brad Stevens was forced to deal away guard Jrue Holiday and center Kristaps Porzingis.
“We’ve known for a long time that hard decisions were coming,” Stevens told reporters earlier this month, as quoted by ESPN. “The second apron is why those trades happened. I think that is pretty obvious.”
In addition, the Celtics were not able to re-sign breakout backup center Luke Kornet, who inked a four-year, $41 million pact with the San Antonio Spurs. And in a particularly painful blow, 39-year-old fan favorite center Al Horford, though he has not signed with any team as of Wednesday, appears gone as well, likely to the Golden State Warriors.
Trade Proposal Jump-Starts Celtics Rebuild
Of course, the Celtics will be without four-time All-NBA first team selection Jayson Tatum, who suffered a torn Achilles tendon in a playoff game against the New York Knicks in May. Tatum appears likely to miss all, or at least most of the 2025-2026 season.
The only starting players from the Celtics championship team, as well as the 2025 squad, who remain for the upcoming season will be All-Star forward Jaylen Brown, and guard Derrick White, who will be playing the first season of his four-year, $118 million contract extension signed prior to last season.
Unless, that is, Stevens keeps trading, perhaps with an eye to laying a foundation for the Celtics future with the knowledge that the next season — or possibly several seasons — will see the legendary franchise in transition.
A new trade idea proposed by a user on the site FanSpo, which provides tools for automatically calculating the salary cap and financial implications of proposed deals, would do just that. For White, it would mean a return to a championship team. Just not the Celtics.
Reminiscent of 2013 Deal That Built Current Nucleus
Here’s how the three-team trade idea would play out:
Celtics receive:
• Toronto Raptors shooting guard RJ Barrett.
• 2028 first-round draft pick from Raptors.
• 2029 first-round draft pick from Oklahoma City Thunder.
• 2030 first-round draft pick from Raptors.
• 2031 first-round pick swap rights from Raptors
Raptors receive:
• Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Alex Caruso.
• Oklahoma City Thunder shooting guard Cason Wallace.
• 2026 first-round draft pick from Thunder.
Thunder receive:
• Shooting guard Derrick White from Celtics.
• 2027 second-round draft pick from Raptors.
While Celtics fans would likely be heartbroken to see White join the reigning NBA champions, the draft pick haul Boston receives in the proposed trade hearkens back to a trade made more than a decade ago by previous basketball chief Danny Ainge.
That trade, while controversial at the time, turned out provide the building blocks of the Celtics team that would end up making two Finals appearances, six Eastern Conference finals appearances, and an NBA title.
That 2013 trade sent two iconic players, forward Paul Pierce and power forward Kevin Garnett, to the Brooklyn Nets. In addition to getting four players in return, the Celtics received first-round draft picks in 2014, 2016 and 2018, and the right to swap first-round picks with the Nets in 2017.
The 2016 pick became Brown. The 2017 pick swap became Tatum.
