This Could Be BAD NEWS For The Boston Celtics In NBA Free Agency… | Celtics Rumors

This Could Be BAD NEWS For The Boston Celtics In NBA Free Agency… | Celtics Rumors

[Music] Loaded show ahead as Celtics fans might get some bad news in 2025 NBA free agency as Al Horford might be drawing some interest from around the league. We’ll talk about that on today’s show. And then on the back half, we’ll talk about some moves to help get the Celtics underneath the second apron as we know they need to clear up a bunch of money on their books this off seasonason. But let’s hop right in to the Al Horford news or I guess big rumor that’s being floated around there by ESPN NBA insider Tim Bontemp. Shout out Bontemp’s St. Bon Adventure alum like myself. But he says the rumor is that Al Horford is linked to the Knicks in free agency and basically saying that Al Horford would be an ideal fit for the Knicks as they try to get over their hump, you know, after getting eliminated in the Eastern Conference Finals. The full quote from Bon Temps here, he said Al Horford is a free agent. I don’t think at this point it makes a lot of sense for Horford to be back in Boston. Maybe he will be, but given where things are with the Celtics, I think he’s now much more in play than he might have been a month ago. Obviously, you know, with Jason Tatum injury. Horford is a longtime friend of Carl Anthony Towns and has played with him on the Dominican national team for a long time. If they go get Al Horford this summer, who I think would be an unbelievable fit on this Knicks roster. Look, my immediate reaction, I want to throw up. Like, I I want to effing throw up if even the thought of Al Horford in a Knicks jersey. We already had to deal with him in a Sixers jersey. And shout out to Alf going out going down there and getting his bag. But the overall like instant reaction to this if it were to happen, it would be a killer first impression for new ownership, who by the way is a longtime childhood Celtics fan to go out there and let a franchise legend like Al Horford walk in free agency. not only walk in free agency, but walk to the team’s biggest rival. Yes, the Knicks are the Celtics biggest rival. However you want to shake it, the the most heat comes when the Knicks and the Celtics match up. So, if you were to let him walk away to that team, it would be damning and leave a sour taste in the mouths of Celtics fans who are looking for optimism and and progression in this new era of ownership. Bill Chisum, I doubt he would let Horford walk to the Knicks this summer and and it it would just be bad for his reputation to start his Celtics tenure. And I know the ownership deal isn’t going to be finalized and the control of the team isn’t going to be out there until 2028. But he’s involved right away right now. So, it would be a very, very bad decision to let him walk, especially to the New York Knicks. Look, he might not be on the Boston Celtics next year, but it better not be with the boys in blue and orange. If you want El Horford to retire a Boston Celtic, go down below and show me and like today’s video. Smash that thumbs up icon to show 42 that we want him in Boston forever. All right, so my thing is it’s probably going to be h it’s going to be up to the Celtics in this instance and from my point of view as to whether or not Al Horford comes back for next season because Brian Winhorse also said this. He said this is right after the Celtics got eliminated by the way a couple of weeks ago. quote, “Even if Al Horford doesn’t resign, which I don’t know how these two quotes kind of correlate, but he said he doesn’t plan to retire and would like to return.” And I would like Al Horford to return as well. I mean, yeah, he’s getting up there in age. He’s nearing 40 years old, but he is still an effective basketball player, man, consistently over the past few seasons. And yeah, the numbers have dropped, you know, from 10 points to nine points a night, but like, dude, he’s playing 25 minutes each night. you know, he’s he’s on a little bit of load management now, but he’s still playing at a super high level on both ends of the floor. Look, does he get lost in space sometimes, getting switched onto a guard in the high pick and roll? Yeah, the Knicks hunted that with Jaylen Brunson on the perimeter. But as far as what he can do, defending bigs and hitting his jump shots from the outside, being a floor spacer for a Celtics team that likes to launch threes, then yeah, he’s absolutely a guy that I want to bring back. And he can still put up like solid production in big minutes in the postseason. He played 32 minutes a night this past postseason or excuse me this is in the um in the Knicks series he played 32 minutes a night with you know the hor the the Porzingis illness and all this stuff going on he was still put able to put up respectable numbers throughout the postseason he shot 40% from three-point range look man Al Horford he can still play at a very very high level can he play 35 minutes a night for a 70game season probably not hoping that Al Horford doesn’t have to be in that position next season you’re hoping that with other moves you make this off seasonason, you can probably fortify your front court a little bit more. And who knows if if you don’t trade Chris Esporzingis, you pray to God that he’s healthier next season rather than what what he showed in the postseason in back in March. So look, I I don’t see Al Horford wanting to jump ship like especially with just a couple more years left in his NBA career. like the Philadelphia him signing with the 76ers that’s that whole scop was one thing like he got it was keep in mind this is obviously five years ago at this point and he also got $112 million on the contract like it was obvious that he went over there and just robbed Philly blind and the Celtics get him back for nothing he’s been an impact player each of the last four seasons that that he’s been in town leaving for the Knicks for something in the realm of like $5 million would be totally different than making that move for Al Horford. So, I I I really don’t see this happening. I don’t think that when free agency hits, Al Horford’s going to be super antsy to just jump at the first deal that he goes and gets. Like, he’s not going to be getting more than the contract that he got this season. I don’t think he’s going to get get more than $10 million. So, I don’t anticipate him just jumping at the first thing that he’s offered. I expect him to let Brad Stevens do his job. let Brad Stevens work a little bit, make a couple of moves, maybe try to get under the second apron that can make them more flexible to be able to resign Al Horford and potentially Luke Cornet as well, who is a free agent. And yeah, like like I kind of alluded to, with Horford on his current salary at $9.5 million, he would technically need to take a pay cut to remain with the Boston Celtics. I also don’t think that any team in the NBA like has a ton of money and is willing to throw $10 million at Al Horford this summer. So, yes, he’d probably have to take a pay cut either way, but it might even have to be something close to the veteran minimum if he were to return to the Boston Celtics. Now, like I mentioned, Boston has two free agents in their front court this summer. And if there’s some crazy reason that you can’t resign Al Horford, but then you have to, I mean, you must resign one of the two of Al Horford or Luke Cornet, especially considering what Cornet gave you in that Knicks series for a couple of games. He could be seeing a little bit of a pay bump this summer, but I don’t know. He seems to like it in Boston a lot. Um, he seems to be, you know, have great chemistry, be great in the locker room. And is he going to get a substantial bigger, you know, financial figure from someone else than he is from Boston? Only time will tell. But if you could get these guys back together after potentially getting under the second apron for a combined around $10 million, that would be awesome for the Boston Celtics. But there’s a chance that you can only sign one this offseason. So, pick it for me down in the in the comments section. I anticipate we’re going to get a lot of also. If it’s Al Horford that you want to resign, type Al for me. If it’s Luke Cornet, give me a Luke down in the comment section as he is substantially younger than Horford at this point. All right. Next, we’re going to talk about some moves to get Boston under the second apron. Some I some specific trade ideas that help Boston get some money off their books and become a more flexible team down the line. that in a moment. But first, I got to give a huge shout out to our sponsor on the program, and that is Prize Picks. Prize Picks is America’s number one daily fantasy sports platform because it’s Daily Fantasy Made Easy. This year’s basketball playoffs are headed towards crowning a firsttime champ in more than 50 years. Don’t miss your last chance to cash in on history with prize picks. Pick more or less on player stats like points, rebounds, assists, or and more for your shot to win up to 2,000 times your cash today. Sign up and get $50 instantly when you place your first $5 entry. You just pick more or pick less on players projected stats. 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All right, before we get into the moves that kind of display how the Celtics get underneath the Second Apron, let’s look at what the Second Apron exactly is. And thank you CJ McCollum for ruining the NBA. But regardless, it’s the reality we live in now. The Celtics projected salary this this next season is looking at 230 million as number one in the league. And that would put them about $22.5 million away from the Second Apron. Once you’re pass second apron for a couple of seasons, you face all these repeater taxes. And that’s why the Celtics are going to be, you know, looking at a $500 million, you know, bill this next season if they don’t make some moves and get some money off of their books. Are they going to get underneath the first apron? Ah, it’s going to be difficult. Are they going to get underneath the tax? Absolutely not. So, let’s just focus on getting underneath the second apron where you’re able to be more financially flexible with certain trades and signings and all that good stuff. So, let’s talk about it. As of, you know, today, we’ve heard reports that as Celtics fans, we should not be expecting straight salary dumps. Like for a Chris S. Porzingis who carries a big-time expiring $30 million contract, even in that situation, like don’t expect too many just straight salary dumps to just move off the money and the Celtics don’t get a ton of, you know, return back in any deal. But with that being said, let’s talk about what’s going to happen for the Celtics in the trade market. Look, a a Drew Holiday trade is is is looming, I would say, at this point. I think it is very likely that Holiday has played his last game with Boston. It’s unfortunate because I know he wants to come back to the season. He’s been awesome and was the X-factor in my opinion that helped Boston win the title last season. He just carries too big of a salary figure at this point at age 34 and there he’s has more value to a couple other contending teams around the league at this point than he would with Boston where with their championship ceiling kind of capped at least for next season. So Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports Boston kind of laid out an array of moves that can get Boston underneath the second apron kind of the cleanest way possible and wi with the most of the core coming back intact uh while while you know escaping some of this money. And here’s one of his first trade ideas which sends Daniel Gaffford to Boston, sends Drew Holiday to the Mavericks and then PJ Washington and some draft assets from Boston and Dallas for the Nets, you know, participating in this deal as the third team. And I I I don’t hate this deal. I I don’t love not getting anything back in addition to Daniel Gaffford who’s also on an expiring contract, but the Celtics do shed $18 million in this deal. And I mean, that’s about as good as it can get when you’re getting some value back from another team. Like Daniel Gaffford is a very, very solid player. Can kind of help fortify Boston’s front court a little bit and provide a little bit of insurance in case that Chris Porzingis is not healthy for next season. And in Forsber’s projection here, Porzingis is not traded. He’s coming back for 2025, 2026. And I it’s I I I understand because how much value does he have around the league at this point? It’s not going to be much. It’s probably an all-time low for his career. So, it’s going to be difficult to receive anything of value back for him. And there aren’t a ton of teams that can just absorb $30 million into their books at this point. Like Brooklyn is one of them. Detroit can get close, but like Atlanta, like it’s a very very short list of teams that can just take on a big contract like Porzingis. Now, the expiring aspect of it will be pretty, you know, enticing for teams to go out there and trade for, but there’s a chance that he could be back with the Celtics next season. And in Forsber’s scenario, he decides to porzing and trades Sam Hower away instead, who carries a $10 million salary for next season. And that’s a really, really good deal. His extension is kicking in for four years 50 million this coming season or four years 45 million, excuse me. But with the tax, you know, kind of penalties that are going to come with keeping Sam Hower on this roster and and staying over the second apron, it would make sense to just try to trade him to a team that can absorb 10 million rather than Porzingis’s full 30 million. The Celtics would get draft compensation back for Sam Hower to send him to a team that has the non-t taxpayer mid-level exception available, which is up to $14 million. you can slot his $10 million right into that kind of hole and the Celtics get some draft comp back for Sam Hower. Could it be in this coming draft where they could get some assets back? They could play next season maybe. But, you know, this this feels like a little bit less of a straight salary dump than it is, you know, the last pillar of them getting over and under, I should say, the second apron. The Celtics spent $10 million in that deal because they don’t take any salary back. So, that would be something that helps them, but you do lose a solid contributor on the wing off of the bench. You’d hope in this scenario that Baylor Shyman looks really good and he could slot into Sam Hower’s role next season and see his shooting kind of come along like Howers did early in his career. And after these moves that that Chris Forsber kind of maps out, the Celtics are at $22 million which is well under the second apron at this point. They shed about $28 million in these deals and then they have flexibility to go out there and resign Luke Cornet, ressign Al Horford for a combined around $10 million. It would be really, really cool. But could we get it all done in one swing of the bat? We got a bonus trade idea on today’s show and it’s going to be a three team monster. Kind of similar to the first trade that we just discussed, but it’s got a lot more involved. Look, this is a doozy. Let me let me flesh it out for you guys right here. The Celtics in this scenario would be shedding $25 million and they would get to get receive the services of PJ Washington back in this deal, but they would be giving up Chris Espingis. So, the Celtics, they would receive Daniel Gaffford, PJ Washington, Drew Timmy, who drove a couple of decent games for the Nets this season, but you know, he’s not going to play too much. They get a $32 million trade exception from Drew Holidayiday, a $2.5 million trade exception from Xavier Tilman, a $2.4 million trade exception from Neimius Kada, and a $2.2 million trade exception from Chris Porzingis. I think I got that all right so far. The Mavericks would get Drew Holiday and they would get a $3 million trade exception trading Omax Prosper to the Nets who all received the crop of kind of expiring salaries and short contract deals like Chris Porzingis, Dwight Powell, Omax Prosper, Xavier Tilman, and Nemius Kada along with getting some draft comp back for participating in the deal. They get a 2026 first round pick from Boston, which would be top four protected, and then a 2027 first round pick swap from the Celtics as well, which you never know how that could shake out. This comes from Bleacher Report and I love this deal, man. You get a great combination of shedding $25 million away and you get players who can contribute right away in Daniel Gaffford and PJ Washington. If you were to run a lineup next season of Payton Pritchard, Derek White, Jaylen Brown, PJ Washington, and Daniel Gaffford. I mean, the Celtics have as good of a chance as anybody in the Eastern Conference to come out and win that, you know, Eastern Conference Finals trophy. Like, they could make the NBA Finals with that fiveman unit. I don’t have any doubts about that. So, I like that deal the most. But, if there’s a deal that, you know, we haven’t talked about yet on the channel and you want to get creative and be the GM for me in the comments section, go down below and comment your moves to get Boston underneath the second apron, whether it’s one trade, whether it’s two trades, whether it’s three or four, what do you got for me, general managers, let me know in the chat in the comment section down below. And make sure you are subscribed to the channel. That will do it for today’s edition of Celtics Today by Chat Sports. If any more rumors or anything interest comes out, Celtics free agency, Celtics trades, does not matter. This offseason, we’re covering literally every single part of the map. So, lock us in, hit that sub button. We’ll see you guys on the next one. And as always, let’s go SE’s. [Music]

Boston Celtics News Today comes from ESPN NBA Insider Tim Bontemps who brought up the idea of Al Horford signing with the Knicks in 2025 NBA Free Agency. After the Knicks knocked the Celtics out of thew 2025 NBA Playoffs, Al Horford could be looking to play out the remainder of his NBA career in a situation more likely to contend, which could be with New York considering the Jayson Tatum injury news. Celtics trade rumors continue to heat up as we enter the month of June, and the Celtics need to get out of the second tax apron to avoid paying $500 million in payroll and taxes. NBC Sports Boston Celtics Insider Chris Forsberg laid out a plan to clear up some money on Boston’s books, and Bleacher Report dropped a brand new blockbuster Celtics trade idea, which we react to on the back half of today’s show. Celtics Today host Tyler Smith breaks down all the latest Celtics rumors and news early in the 2025 NBA Offseason on today’s Boston Celtics YouTube video.

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ESPN NBA Insider Tim Bontemps On Al Horford Free Agency:
“Al Horford is a free agent. I don’t think at this point it makes a lot of sense for Horford to be back in Boston. Maybe he will be, but given where things are with the Celtics, I think he’s now much more in play than he might have been a month ago. Horford is a longtime friend of (Karl-Anthony Towns and) has played with him with the Dominican National team for a long time. If they go get Al Horford this summer, who I think would be an unbelievable fit on this Knicks roster.”

Al Horford Highlights: 2025 NBA Playoffs Stats
– 8.0 PPG
– 6.0 RPG
– 1.3 BPG
– 47.2 FG%
– 40.0 3P%

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– PICK ONE TO RE-SIGN! Al Horford Type ‘AL’, Luke Kornet Type ‘LUKE’
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Boston Celtics Trade Idea To Get Under 2nd Apron Per Bleacher Report:
– Celtics Receive: Daniel Gafford (C), PJ Washington (F), Drew Timme (C), $32.4 MM TE, $2.5 MM TE, $2.4 MM TE, $2.2 MM TE
– Mavericks Receive: Jrue Holiday (G), $3 MM TE
– Nets Receive: Kristaps Porzingis (F), Dwight Powell (F), O. Prosper (F), X. Tillman Sr. (F), N. Queta (C), 2026 1st (BOS, T4), 2027 1st swap (BOS)

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We got you covered with more Boston Celtics YouTube videos for your viewing pleasure:
– 🚨Boston Celtics LINKED TO GIANNIS TRADE By NBA Insider | Celtics Trade Rumors – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23lvDJzKLIQ
– 🚨NEW TEAM Interested In Jrue Holiday TRADE per NBA Insider | Celtics Rumors – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyxGJn8v_FY
– 🚨MAJOR Celtics Trade REPORT via Shams Charania: BIG MOVES COMING? – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXFDoHnAjF4

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