Celts
If you're a Celtics fan (and as all the time, when you're reading this, we're assuming you might be), please remember: These are the nice years.
On Sunday, the Celtics front office probably stretched out in its confetti bed, yawned, and began calling current members of the roster to ask them in the event that they would love to re-sign with the team that rode straight to the Larry O'Brien Trophy in a season stuffed with good vibes.
Would Luke Kornet prefer to spend one other 12 months with a championship team that generally describes him as comic relief while remaining within the rotation? But yeah, thanks, he would.
Would Neemias Queta be up for a multi-year take care of the championship-winning team that believed in him enough to sign him for his or her last roster spot? Please and thanks, and he definitely didn't want that. conform to the deal before the beginning of free agency.
Would Derrick White want $125 million to proceed his championship profession with one in every of the NBA's legendary teams? Yes, in fact.
And in fact: Would Jayson Tatum need to sign the most important contract in NBA history, with all of the bells and whistles (like a trade kicker and a player option)? Would he want to stick with the franchise that drafted him and – after a number of rocky years – put him at the highest and entrusted him with superstar status? Yes, he would.
The Celtics are intact. One of essentially the most statistically dominant teams in history is basking in the attention of the free agency hurricane while all their rivals are racing to catch up. Baylor Scheierman, welcome to the NBA's quietest offseason. The Summer League ought to be a blast.
Of course, the nice years can't last perpetually in any sports league, but perhaps especially so within the NBA. The Heatles – and a number of years later, the dynastic Warriors – scared other owners a lot that the NBA put up guardrails in its final CBA negotiations to forestall superteams from emerging. Putting together an elite, multi-year dynasty became rather more difficult. In the means of creating parity, the league can have made true greatness significantly less attainable (or at the least less sustainable).
Even a comparatively mature title team just like the Celtics will struggle to retain its stars financially long-term, especially given the brand new, punitive second apron rules. The Celtics' luxury tax bill within the 2025-26 season, if the present roster stays together, can be a staggering $250 million, bringing the entire cost of the roster to well over $400 million.
Wyc Grousbeck and other members of the Celtics ownership group have spoken openly about their willingness to spend money in the event that they have an actual contender, and their actions over the past two days are testament to that willingness. But even the wealthiest owners might blanch at such a high luxury tax bill.
This, in fact, brings us to arguably the most important Celtics news on a day when the franchise's superstar committed to staying with the team for five more years: Boston Basketball Partners, which has owned the Celtics since 2002, is selling all of its shares within the team for somewhat cryptic “estate and family planning reasons.”
In a transient statement, the team announced that Grousbeck plans to stay governor through 2028, however the managing owner board will sell in 2024 or early 2025 at the most recent.
We can't know what the Celtics' recent owners will appear to be, but you'd be hard-pressed to search out a gaggle more dedicated to the project of “giving the Boston Celtics a chance to win basketball games” than Grousbeck, Steve Pagliuca and their partners. They were removed from the league's most financially powerful owners, but there was never any real query about whether or not they were more focused on winning games or their very own bottom line (which, somewhat fittingly, is partly how they managed to show a $360 million investment right into a franchise value nearly $5 billion — it seems that sports franchises that win quite a bit, especially in New England, are value quite a bit).
Unless a Manchester City-like scenario within the NBA occurs, this roster will eventually be too expensive. Then Brad Stevens could have to trim down his championship roster. Presumably, that's one in every of the explanations the team has granted all those contract extensions: when that moment arrives, the team should give you the option to regain the worth as a substitute of losing (for example) Klay Thompson for a pair of second-round picks.
Even now, at the height of the Celtics' profession, when you squint you possibly can see the tip – blurry but inevitable – in the gap. Such is life within the NBA.
None of this is supposed to be a cause for concern for the Celtics. In fact, when you're a Celtics fan, you shouldn't trouble squinting.
After all, the Celtics won. The front office built a champion. The players won the title. Fans can brag about every TV host who has doubted the team over the past 12 months – whether in point of fact or in an try to generate engagement with offended quote-tweets.
Celtics fans now not should worry about whether Tatum and Jaylen Brown are a very good fit (final verdict: they're an excellent fit). They now not should worry about whether Tatum will persist with the franchise long-term. They now not should hearken to jokes about Brown's left hand or the team's playoff failures.
The Celtics are once more ahead of the Lakers in titles, whether you count Minneapolis or not. Heat fans can now not attack the Celtics with jibes about their last title in 2008. Bucks fans are rightly appalled that they inadvertently handed the Celtics the right substitute for Marcus Smart after they traded Jrue Holiday for the aging Damian Lillard.
The Celtics are favorites for at the least one other 12 months. They ought to be great for some time and good for some time longer. They won the title. There's no downside.
These are the nice years. Enjoy them.
image credit : www.boston.com