The Boston Celtics Next Trade is Going to Break The NBA

The Boston Celtics Next Trade is Going to Break The NBA

They are phone lines are still ringing on Jaylen Brown and Derek White. They’ve got a very high price threshold. So, if someone blows them away, you have to listen on that. What if I told you that a defending NBA champion just completely dismantled their titleinning roster in a single off season? What if I told you it wasn’t because they wanted to, but because the league’s own rules literally forced them to destroy everything that they built? Well, buckle up because the Boston Celtics 2025 off season is the most insane story in recent NBA history and it’s about to get even crazier because they are not done making trades yet. And in this video, we’re going to be talking about multiple trade rumors involving the Boston Celtics. Before we get to the content, we are giving away a NG jersey each and every week to a subscriber that turns on our notifications on this channel. We’re doing the same thing for my Instagram page. page if you have my notifications on there at the flight mic. Just comment on any of my posts what jersey you’d like and I’ll reach out to you if you won. Now that we got all that out of the way, cue the intro. [Music] [Music] What’s going on everybody? I wanted to say really quickly that the OKC Thunder might be going through the same thing here. And it might be a couple of years down the line. If you guys are interested in seeing a video on that, let me know in the comment section. But for now, our story begins on May 12th, 2025 at Madison Square Garden. The Celtics were up against the Knicks in game four of the Eastern Conference semi-finals. And Jason Tatum was in the middle of putting together an instant classic of a performance. The man had 42 points, eight rebounds, four assists, four steals, and two blocks in a playoff game. One of his best performances ever. But with 2 minutes and 58 seconds left in the fourth quarter, everything changed. Jason Tatum dove for a loose ball. And in a split second, his entire career trajectory shifted. Not only the trajectory of his own career, but the trajectory of his teammates as well. This one moment altered multiple NBA careers. A non-cont injury, right heel. The diagnosis was a complete rupture of the right Achilles tendon. For those of you guys that don’t know, this is the same exact injury that affected Kevin Durant. And this is the same injury that has ended careers before. Right before Jason Tatum, there was Damen Lillard. And right after Jason Tatum, there was Tyrese Hallebertton. But here’s where this story gets really interesting, and stick around because what happens next will blow your mind. Within 24 hours, Jason Tatum was in surgery with Dr. Martin Ali at the Hospital for Special Surgery. the exact same surgeon who worked on Katie’s Achilles back in 2019. But here’s the kicker. The medical timeline is a minimum 10-month recovery, meaning that Tatum will unfortunately miss the entire 2025 to 26 season. And this one moment didn’t just end Jason Tatum’s playoffs. It didn’t even just end his 2026 season. This one moment triggered the most shocking roster demolition in NBA history. And it all comes down to three words that are about to change everything. The second apron. I remember when the CBA changed, my subscribers were getting sick and tired of me consistently needing to explain what the second apron is. And the reason why I did it so much was because the CBA is practically the basketball bible. It is the guidelines of how you can build a successful NBA team. And the rules have never been this strict before in NBA history. The previous CBA sought to discourage teams from signing maximum free agents and forming super teams the way the Boston Celtics did in 2008. Although obviously Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett were acquired via trade or the Miami he did in the early 2010s. The next CBA sought to discourage another team being able to sign Kevin Durant despite being one of the greatest regular season teams in NBA history. But this CBA was special. This particular collective bargaining agreement was going after teams that drafted well and developed its homegrown talent. Is it fair? I don’t necessarily think so. But does it make the NBA significantly more interesting? Absolutely. All right, so let’s discuss the Second Apron for a little bit. It’s basically a financial quicksand for successful NBA franchises. The Second Apron is set at $17.5 million above the luxury tax line. And the penalties aren’t just about money. They’re about destroying your team’s future. We’re talking about freezing your draft picks. There’s no mid-level exception. There’s brutal trade restrictions and luxury tax multipliers that can literally bankrupt your franchise. Now, get this. The Boston Celtics were already staring down a projected $500 million total bill for the 2025 to 26 season when you combine salary and luxury tax. That’s not a typo. Half a billion dollars for one season. Even their owner, Wick Ruse, admitted months before selling the team, you can’t stay in the Second Apron. But here’s the plot twist that nobody saw coming. And this is where the story gets absolutely insane. Just 6 weeks after Jason Tatum’s devastating injury, Brad Stevens already got to work. And after I tell you what he did, you’re going to understand how desperate this situation had become. The Celtics traded Chris Taps Porzingis, a key piece of their 2024 championship run to the Atlanta Hawks in a three-team deal for basically nothing. Georgees Nyang and a 2031 second round pick. That’s it. But here’s the kicker. This single trade saved Boston $180 million in luxury tax penalties. Let me put that into perspective for you. The Celtics just gave away a former all-star who helped them win a championship to save hundreds of millions of dollars. Porzingis found out about the trade while he was literally asleep, though he knew it was coming because of the team’s financial situation. He posted a classy goodbye on social media saying, “Boston will always be special in my heart and he’s forever grateful.” And meanwhile, trade analysts gave Atlanta an A for basically stealing an all-star caliber player. But even more shocking than that was what Brad Stevens did with Drew Holiday. He traded Drew Holiday, a future Hall of Famer who was absolutely crucial to their 2024 championship to the Portland Trailblazers for Anthony Simons. Now, this is where it gets really messy. The original trade was supposed to include two second round picks going to Boston, but it got altered after Holiday’s medical review revealed new findings. though nothing serious enough to void the deal. The final result was a straight one for one swap. Here’s what makes this so brutal. Holiday had just earned all defensive honors. The man was the defensive anchor of a championship team. According to heavy.com Steve Bullp, Holiday was pissed about being sent to the rebuilding Portland Trailblazers and did not want to go there. Though Portland beat reporters actually disputed those claims. Stevens later called it one of the hardest phone calls he’s ever had to make, acknowledging that Holiday had stamped his Hall of Fame candidacy in Boston, but this trade saved another $40 million in luxury tax penalties. Now, here’s where this story takes the most insane turn you could possibly imagine, and I guarantee you, you won’t see this coming. Remember Anthony Simons, the guy that Boston just traded Drew Holiday for? Well, ESPN’s Brian Windhorse just dropped a bombshell on his podcast. I have talked to other teams who have said the Celtics are actively trying to trade Anthony Simons. Let me repeat that for the people in the back. Boston traded away a future Hall of Famer for a player that they’re now immediately trying to flip. Simons, who averaged 19.3 points per game for Portland last season, hasn’t even played a single regular season game in Celtic Green. And he’s already on the trade block. Why? because his $27.7 million expiring contract represents Boston’s best chance to get even further under the luxury tax line. With Jason Tatum out for the season, the Celtics are prioritizing financial flexibility over actually having good players, and multiple teams are already interested in Anthony Simons. With Chicago being mentioned as the most likely landing spot, Bailey Bassid of Clutch Sports also suggests that the Washington Wizards could offer Cory Kispert, Rashawn Holmes, and two second round picks in return for Anthony Simons, adding another young three-point shooter to their impressive young core. At his recent press conference, Celtics president Brad Stevens talked up Anthony Simons. I think Anthony is a guy that, you know, people out here probably don’t see as much because of the time that they play. His ability to score, his ability to shoot the ball, make really hard shots is pretty elite. And you look at a guy that’s 26 years old that’s averaged 20 a game for three straight years. You know, I think he’s a really good player. I think he can get better and that’s a big part of it. But here’s where it gets really difficult. The Boston Celtics have to determine whether they want to pay more luxury tax and keep Anthony Simons and roll the dice on him and potentially extend him for the long haul or reroute him to another team. But if you think this is as crazy as this story is going to get, buddy, buckle your seat belt because we have not even dove into the craziest part of this video. Now, we’re going to get to the part that’s going to absolutely blow your mind. We’re talking about Jaylen Brown, the guy who just signed a 5-year 285.3 Supermax contract extension in 2024. Despite the Celtics vice president saying that they aren’t even close to trading Jaylen Brown, the rumors just won’t die. Chris Manx has identified the San Antonio Spurs as the closest team to watch for a potential Brown trade because they could trade Dylan Harper, Devin Vel, Kellen Johnson, and future selections. Think about that for a second. They’re considering trading a guy that’s making $53.1 million who just helped them win a championship. Why would they consider doing that? Because the financial reality of Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown’s contracts don’t make sense in the modern NBA. Jaylen Brown makes $53.1 million in salary and Jason Tatum makes $54.1 million. That’s $17 million committed to two players, one of whom isn’t even going to play this year. Even Paul Pierce thinks this is nuts. But he also said he hopes that they don’t trade Jaylen Brown. But in this new CBA landscape, Sentiment doesn’t pay luxury tax bills. And then there’s Derek White, arguably one of the most undervalued players in the entire association. Derek White is literally one of the league’s best two-way players. His 4-year, $126 million extension looks like incredible value compared to current market rates. But here’s the kicker. Boston has reportedly set Derek White’s asking price at a Muel Bridges type of package. You heard that right. For context, the Mikuel Bridges deal netted more picks than the Luca Donuch trade. Well, honestly, that’s not really saying very much. and the Luca Don trade did include Anthony Davis, but I digress. To give you an idea of how much Boston values Derrick White, the Toronto Raptors offered the ninth overall pick in this year’s NBA draft for White and the Celtics laughed at the proposal. According to Zack Low, White himself seems unbothered by the speculation, stating that I feel like it’s cool to be wanted by other teams, but I want to stay in Boston. At $28.1 million for 2025 to 26, he represents another salary shedding candidate if the right offer comes along. But wait, there’s one more twist to the story that is going to hit Boston Celtic fans right in the fields. Adding emotional complexity to this financial nightmare is the potential return of Marcus Smart. The heart and soul of the Boston Celtics for nine seasons, currently stuck with the rebuilding Washington Wizards, Marcus Smart could return potentially via a buyout, according to Jake Weinbach. But here’s what makes this so complicated. During his April 2025 return to TD Garden, the crowd chanted, “We want Marcus.” despite him not even playing. But fan reaction is mixed. Some credit the 2024 championship to his departure, allowing Tatum and Brown to develop as leaders, while others miss his defensive intensity and emotional leadership. Bill Simmons called the original Smart for Porzinga’s trade part of a borderline miracle that helped Boston win the title. But nostalgia runs deep in Celtic nation. Now, I want to put the Celtics current situation in historical context because what’s happening in Boston has never happened before in NBA history. And it’s going to start happening a lot more as a result of this new CBA. You remember the 2007 big three? The Celtics transformed from 24 and 58 to 66 and 16 by acquiring Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen. They won the 2008 championship, but that was under the old CBA with no punitive luxury tax multipliers. Teams could spend freely without basketball penalties. In 2013, Danny Ang’s masterpiece turned aging stars Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett into the picks that would eventually become Jaylen Brown and Jason Tatum. That strategic rebuild took four to 5 years to pay off, but it was a choice made from a position of strength. But in 2025, this isn’t a rebuild by choice. It’s a capmandated dismantling of a championship core due to CBA restrictions that literally didn’t exist in previous eras. Teams are now being forced to choose between keeping their best players and maintaining competitive flexibility. This is the difference between rebuilding because you want to and being forced to tear apart a championship team because the league’s own rules make it financially impossible to keep them together. Let’s take a look at the Boston Celtics current financial position. Their total payroll is 227.8 million. Brad Stevens has already admitted that the second apron is why these trades happened. The basketball penalties associated with those are real. Stevens also emphasized that these were the hard decisions that were coming regardless of Jason Tatum’s injury. Though the Achilles rupture certainly accelerated the timeline, the organization is essentially playing the long game, preserving flexibility for Tatum’s return in 2026 to 27 while avoiding the penalties that would their ability to build around him. And their current championship odds tell the full story. Boston dropped from plus 1,800 to plus 4,000 after Jason Tatum’s injury. While teams like OKC are at plus 225 and Houston is at plus 850 after acquiring Kevin Durant are shooting up to the top of the projections. The Celtics went from defending champions to longshot contenders in a single off season and they still have huge decisions coming. One is are they going to immediately trade Anthony Simons for cap relief? This would be embarrassing. This is pretty much telling your fan base that we are in the business of saving as much money as humanly possible. Two is determining whether they’re going to trade Jaylen Brown or Derek White. And if a team meets their astronomical asking price, then they probably should consider it. Three is potentially facilitating a Marcus Smart buyout reunion for veteran leadership and you know to give the fans someone to root for. And four is just signing some minimum salary players. The Celtics have made it clear that they’re retooling and not rebuilding according to Brad Stevens. But the difference between these two things is getting harder to see every day. And here’s what should terrify every other NBA franchise. If this can happen to a defending champion, it can happen to anyone. As one anonymous Eastern Conference executive told The Athletic, “What’s happening in Boston should scare every team. You can do everything right, win a championship, and still have to tear it down because of the CBA. This is the new reality. Think about the precedent that this sets. We’re talking about a franchise that did everything right. They developed young talent, made smart trades, won a championship, and were rewarded by being forced to dismantle their team because of the financial rules. This isn’t about bad management or poor decisions. This is about a CBA designed to punish success. The long-term implications of what’s happening in Boston extend far beyond just one franchise. We’re potentially looking at a future where championship windows are artificially shortened not by age or injuries, but by accounting spreadsheets, where front offices have to choose between keeping their best players, and maintaining the flexibility to improve their roster. The Celtics situation is a perfect storm of catastrophic injury, punitive CVA rules, and financial necessity. But it’s also a warning sign for what’s coming for other successful franchises. And I’m looking at the OKC Thunder and I think I’m going to cover their situation next because they could be in the same situation in about two years from now. The Second Apron isn’t just changing how teams operate. It’s fundamentally altering the competitive landscape of professional basketball. So, here’s where we stand. Let me know what you guys think about all this in the comment section down below. Are you a fan of the new CBA as a result of this? And do you agree with the Boston Celtics moves? I’d like to hear what you have to say. Aside from that, I’m your boy Mike and I’m dropping our mic until our next upload.

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