The Boston Celtics could be without their best player for most — or even all — of the 2025-26 season.
Six-time All-Star power forward Jayson Tatum tore his right Achilles tendon late into the fourth quarter of an eventual Game 4 second round playoff series loss to the Boston Celtics. Boston would limp along for another two games before finally being put out of their misery in a six-game series defeat.
Jayson Tatum today underwent successful surgery to repair a ruptured right Achilles tendon. No timetable is currently available for his return, but he is expected to make a full recovery. Further updates will be provided when appropriate. pic.twitter.com/TTXziFtMQB
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) May 13, 2025
Even prior to free agent centers Al Horford and Luke Kornet being retained, the Celtics could owe their roster $231.5 million, which would yield $270.6 million in repeater taxes. That will make the team's on-court personnel costlier than any other group in league history.
Given that the Celtics have virtually no shot of winning a title without Tatum at his very best — and that fissures within the rest of the roster were exposed during that Knicks series, even with Tatum available — it seems unlikely that new owner William Chisholm will have an appetite for paying everybody.
A trade of some members of Boston's core around Tatum now seems likely.
Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report proposes a bold move that will both help Boston cut costs and give the team some frontcourt youth.
Mavericks receive: Jrue Holiday (from Celtics), $3 million trade exception (Olivier-Maxence Prosper)
Celtics receive: Daniel Gafford (from Mavericks), PJ Washington (from Mavericks), Drew Timme (from Nets), $32.4 million trade exception (Holiday), $2.5 million trade exception (Xavier Tillman Sr.), $2.4 million trade exception (Neemias Queta), $2.2 million trade exception (Porziņģis)
Nets receive: Kristaps Porziņģis (from Celtics), Dwight Powell (from Mavericks — contingent on Powell picking up his $4 million player option), Olivier-Maxence Prosper (from Mavericks), Xavier Tillman Sr. (from Celtics), Neemias Queta (from Celtics), 2026 protected first round pick (from Celtics), 2027 first-round pick swap (from Celtics)
Pincus expects Chisholm to want to hold on to both Tatum and the Celtics' second-best player, four-time All-Star swingman Jaylen Brown.
The deal would allow Boston to get off the pricey $32.4 million the team is slated to pay Holiday and the $30.7 million it owes Porzingis, while bringing in proven, cheaper veterans Washington, who could replace Tatum while he recuperates from his Achilles surgery, and Gafford, a rim-rolling big man who can supplant Porzingis.
Although Gafford lacks Porzingis' floor-spacing ability, he's a solid lob threat and a springy downhill big man, with a youth and health edge over the 7-foot-2 pro. Both players are eligible for contract extensions.
Offloading a first round draft pick next summer and a pick swap in 2027 is a limited price to pay for such massive cap relief.
Pincus notes that, assuming the team retains Horford and/or Kornet at a $10 million price tag, the Celtics' 15-man standard roster would be making $205.1 million, and Boston's tax bill would be reduced to $63.2 million — meaning the team would shave off a whopping $233.8 million from the total it owes with Holiday and Porzingis rostered.
