Celtics Fans Get GREAT NEWS From Brad Stevens After Damian Lillard Signs With Blazers

Celtics Fans Get GREAT NEWS From Brad Stevens After Damian Lillard Signs With Blazers

Where do the Boston Celtics go from here? As this came across everyone’s timeline last night, Damen Lillard will be headed back to the Portland Trailblazers and will not be a Boston Celtics. He inked a three-year $42 million contract. So, on today’s show, we’re going to talk about where the Celtics go from here and some great news that Brad Stevens provided for Celtics fans this offseason. Before we get into all of it though, make sure you are subscribed to the channel for the best Celtics offseason content on YouTube. If you look at the leaderboard right now for chat sports channels covering the NBA, well, Celtics today is not doing so hot. We’re actually almost half of what 76ers now has gained in the month of July. So, do me a favor, go down below and hit that subscribe button for daily Boston content all offseason long and to climb up this leaderboard a little bit. We want to beat the Warriors, Sixers, Heat, and Knicks. Come on. All right, let’s talk about it. Damen Lillard headed back to the Portland Trailblazers on a three-year $42 million contract to return to the Pacific Northwest. And the deal is expected to include a couple of things that, you know, Boston really could not surmise in an offer to Damen Lillard. Not only the non-t taxpayer mid-level exception of $14 million a season, but also Lillard will be getting a no trade clause in this deal where you have to have eight years of service in the NBA and spend four years with a specific team and then you’re eligible for a no trade clause on a new contract. Lillard is getting that here. So, I guess the recruiting that D that Jason Tatum was doing for Damen Lillard to bring him to Boston, uh it just just wasn’t enough. But in reality, it’s not like Lillard didn’t choose Boston because of, you know, Tatum or or the organization. No, he got a fat payday to go back to Portland, be around his family, and that’s the situation that he was wanting this entire off season. And the Celtics did offer a deal to Dame as well as the Minnesota Timberwolves and a bunch of other teams around the NBA. They offered up just a regular taxpayer mid-level exception because that’s all that they could offer at that point. There was really no way that they could have gotten to $14 million. And even with the non- taxpayer mid-level exception or the excuse me, the taxpayer being offered to Dame Lillard, they still would have had to make moves in like before getting that all finalized. Like they’re still over the second apron at this point. So they wouldn’t they wouldn’t really even have access to the tax pyramid level exception until they got under that number. So now we shift gears as Dame is not going to be a Celtic at this point. It seems like ever unfortunately for C’s fans to where we look at the Celtics roster as a whole as it stands today. And Brad Stevens was talking to media at summer league and all this good stuff. And he had to say this which I thought was was pretty great news all things considered. We know how the Celtics roster looks at this point. He said, “We’re very comfortable with this group heading into next season.” And look, he he could say this. I’m sure he has to say this. I’m personally not that comfortable with this rotation heading into the next season, but we all knew with Tatum going down with the Achilles, the ceiling of the Boston Celtics would be capped. And we see right now that it’s looking like a starting five will consist at least of Peyton Pritchard, Derek White, and Jaylen Brown. After that, there’s question marks, but my best guess at this point would be a George Nyang at the four. Maybe a Sam Hower could get slotted in there as well. And then Neimius Kada just for the familiarity alone being the starting center as it stands right now for Boston. Off of the bench, you have a Anthony Simons, a Luca Garza, Sam Hower, Xavier Tilman who potentially could be in the starting lineup as a small ball five as well. Baylor Shyman, Jordan Walsh, Ugo Gonzalez, as well as Josh May not and JD there as far as the young talent goes. Some of those contracts are non-g guaranteed heading into the season. So, as it stands right now, the Celtics are $700,000 around uh above the second apron. I think it’s 2020 207.8 and they’re at 208.5 million on the payroll. So, they have to make some moves like they they’re not going to be heading into this next season as a second apron team. Yes, they’re probably in all likelihood going to still be a taxpayer next season with just the limited funds around the league that are are able to absorb these big Celtics contracts like an Anthony Simons or maybe even a George Nang, which that wouldn’t even get you to the luxury tax line. So, they’re going to be a first apron team come this season. So, to get there, as they are still, like I said, 700K over that second apron, they’re not going to be there. They have to cut some guys. And there’s some non-G guaranteed contracts on the bill right now that are looking like the guys on the chopping block for Boston. Nimas Kada and it seems to me that he is clearly the more unlikely of these two to be cut this season just with how the Celtics front court looks and the depth at that position. You’re going to need a guy like Neimius Kada who has been in the system for a couple of seasons now to have at least some continuity at that center position. So now we look to a guy like Jordan Walsh who could be on the chopping block here as his contract is non-g guaranteed at least fully non-g guaranteed. And Walsh uh he was a second round pick a couple of years ago. He’s still a very young talent. I think he’s only 21 years old potentially at this point. And throughout the summer league where it kind of felt like do or die for Jordan Walsh, she put on is now actually the Celtics all-time leader in summer league points as he has uh gone through three different tours over in Vegas. 15 points a game this time around, four rebounds. He was shooting the three ball at a really solid clip as well. And we know the physical tools that Jordan Walsh possesses as a defender. Really long wingspan, solid frame, uh that doesn’t really get pushed around all too much. So, I I like his defensive versatility, but you know, is he actually an NBA level like threat offensively? Uh that that the jury is still out on that and and we’ll see early on in the season if Walsh can actually carve out a role in this lineup. But there’s a chance that he might not end up being on the roster when it’s all said and done and the season begins in October. Walsh could be cut, but then you think about that like, yeah, they get right under that first apron. Are there going to be more moves after that for the Boston Celtics? we know they want to get as close to the luxury tax or at least try to get rid of some of these repeater penalties or minimize them as best they can uh when they’re not really contending this next season. So yeah, Jordan Walsh could get cut under the first apron. Um but where will more moves come? I think the Celtics will be wanting to cut even more salary next season and beyond. Brad Stevens had this to say about what their mindset is with trades and moves and stuff like that. He said, “We don’t want to take away our chance to use our draft picks to become the best that we can be over the next few years just to make a move to help save money.” I think that that’s been very clearly stated to me. We’ll continue to look uh at how we can make things a little bit better or tweak things around the edges and maybe something comes up in the next couple of weeks, but that’s been our mindset. Look, we continue to hear the same thing over and over again with Brad Stevens and how he’s kind of going about maneuvering this Celtics roster and salary cap books. To be quite frank, he’s not going to make a hasty move just to get off of the money. And if you like disagree with that and point to the Drew Holiday and the Porzingis trades, well, around the league like people have thought that the sellers would have to attach first round first round draft capital in order to move off of those big deals. Well, actually, Brad Stevens didn’t have to do that and he got off of $24 million or so in the process. So, like those weren’t straight cost cutting deals. Those were deals that made sense for the Boston Celtics as far as keeping their first round draft capital for the foreseeable future and getting off of massive chunks of money in the process. And I guess kind of looking ahead to who could potentially be moved in the Celtics at this point with the Damen Lillard news coming out, I think it at least marginally doesn’t guarantee a spot for Simons by any means, but Lillard to Portland at least kind of to me marginally increases the chances of keeping Anthony Simons heading into next season. Now, we have heard over the past couple of weeks or so, honestly, dating all the way back to when the Celtics acquired him in the Drew Holiday trade, that they’re not married to Anthony Simons in the slightest. And according to multiple reports that we’ve heard at this point, the Celtics not only could be open to, they could be actively trying to trade Anthony Simons in order to gain more salary cap relief heading into next season. Pretty ironic that we got the uh the welcome post here at the Celtics posted on Twitter. So Brad Stevens has said that, you know, that they like the skill set that Simons can provide heading into next season, but I know if the right deal comes along that Brad’s not going to hesitate if it makes the most sense for the Celtics and their future. So predict it for me down in the comments section. Does Anthony Simons play a full season in Boston? We’re not done talking Celtics trades just yet, but you let me know down in the comments section. Yes or no. What do you think? Simon’s playing a full season in green. All right, we’ll talk about more as far as the Celtics trade and and all all the things that, you know, they have to do in order to, you know, clean up their books for next season. And I love, you know, the Brad Stevens kind of mentality through this all like he feels comfortable and he feels confident, calm, like that even with the Celtics roster looking kind of bleak and they’re still being, you know, really, really tied up financially over that second apron. It is great news. I’m not I’m I’m not being like facitious here. I’m telling you, this is great news that we hear from our GM that he is comfortable being in the position that they are right now because it’s one of the ugliest in the NBA. Brian Rob from Mass Live had this uh to kind of say about the whole situation and he said that the public stance from Stevens is a very encouraging message from an ownership level, assuming it holds true. Boston having the ability to stay in the tax from a financial flexibility standpoint during a non-contending season bodess well for this group’s spending power in the future. If you think about it, the the new ownership or at least even the old ownership as well, they would be in a position where, you know, they probably wouldn’t want to spend as much money this upcoming season with the not being contenders. So, the fact that they’re open to doing that is really, really awesome. Now, they also said that plenty of contenders around the NBA have given up first- round picks to cut some spending and tax bills lately. The Celtics posturing that they will not be one of those teams publicly should at least help Stevens in trade negotiations while cutting payroll or where cutting payroll could be a goal. So like I said it seems like ownership both old the Grusbeck crew and new with Bill Chisman company they trust Brad Stevens like that they understand that he’s one of the smartest basketball minds on the entire God’s green earth. So, they’re going to put in their full like confidence that that he’s going to make the moves that help them financially as well as help this team contend for years to come with Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown, you know, leading the way. We’ll talk more Celtics trades and what could be happening down the line in just a moment. Make sure you guys get hooked up with this awesome deal that we have with our friends over at Fanatics. Let’s let’s reminisce on the good times here. Let’s let’s let’s rock a Celtics championship shirt from 2024 when things were good and confetti was falling from the top of TD Garden. Go get it today for an absolute discount at the link that we have in the description. It’s in the second paragraph. So, scroll down, open the description box and you guys can see a clickable link in there to go get this discounted Celtics 2024 championship shirt for 17 bucks. It was nearly 40 bucks. Now it’s 17. So, go get that awesome deal. Link is in the comments section and description of today’s video. Go get yourself a Celtics 2024 title shirt today. So, when you think about what the seller’s going to do next and you think about the ownership standpoint of all this, yes, Brian Rob says that from an ownership level, this is all encouraging, but are they really going to let Brad Stevens still amass $88 million in luxury tax penalties? I’m sure they want to get it down as low as possible, uh, you know, when the trade deadline comes around and we know that the luxury tax repeater penalties hit at the end of the season. So, they have to make a deal before the deadline in order to get off as much money as possible. More from Brian Rob right here, saying that it’s evident that more moves are coming here for this year. When you look at the reality of Boston’s roster outlook and their luxury tax math, finding ways to trim money now as as far as moving Simons potentially or Nyang without f losing future assets like draft picks feels like it will be the path for Boston heading into next season. luxury tax bills don’t lock into the end of the regular season. So in seasonason maneuvering is also very much in play at this point and look I think it’s going to be until the season until all any of those moves are made. As far as what Boston could be doing um they’re not really married to Anthony Simons. They’re also not really married to George Nyang either and he is in a unique situation because the $ 8.2 million that he makes on his contract that fits into a lot of trade exceptions around the NBA. I’ve already looked at a couple of suitors out there that probably could use a guy like George Nang on their roster. So, I don’t think it’ll be all too difficult to move off of him, whether it’s before the season or into game action in 2025, 2026. Now, as far as who else could be dealt for Boston, I really only think there’s like three names that make sense to even deal because if you’re not one of these three guys, then you either make a ton of money or and you’re a big-time starter, long-term piece, or you’re on an elite value like a Payton Pritchard, or you make like $2 million and just not even worth trading uh at that point. So, as far as the trade candidates in order of most likeliest to least likely getting traded, I’d say George Nang is number one, Anthony Simon is number two, and Sam Hower is number three. They’ve been pretty uh clear throughout this offseason so far that they want to keep Sam Hower and they love the value of his contract. So, looks like he’s going to be staying in Boston for the foreseeable future. Look to Niyang and Simons as names that will be moved in the next calendar year for Boston in order to get their books all cleared up. But look, I I don’t expect that move to come in the next week or so, the next two weeks, even the next month or so. To be frank with you guys, I I would say that I don’t expect another big move or like a Simons level trade all the way until the season begins and we see what we have out there on the basketball court. There’s a chance, you know, that a guy like Simons could even increase his trade value with the opportunity that he’ll have in Boston this season. So, I don’t expect any fireworks to go down over the next couple weeks or so, but we will always be locked in and keeping our eyes and ears peeled to see if anything ends up materializing. So, with that being said, before we get out of here, I got to ask you guys one more question. Get out your crystal balls for me and predict it. What will Brad Stevens’s next move be? Will it be trading Anthony Simons? Will it be trading George Niang? Will it be cutting a guy like Jordan Walsh or JD Davidson? You let me know what you think down in the comments section. Make sure you are subscribed to the channel. That will do it for today’s edition of Celtics Today by chat sports. Lock us in for the best Celtics content all offseason long on YouTube. We’ll see you guys in the next one. And as always, let’s go SE’s.

Boston Celtics fans just got great news from President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens following Damian Lillard’s decision to re-sign with the Portland Trail Blazers. Despite missing out on Lillard, Stevens expressed strong confidence in the current Celtics roster and emphasized a long-term vision focused on asset preservation and roster flexibility. With trade buzz swirling around players like Anfernee Simons and Georges Niang, and non-guaranteed contracts like Jordan Walsh’s still in limbo, Celtics rumors are heating up as Boston looks to stay competitive while managing luxury tax penalties. Stevens’ comments signal that Celtics ownership is fully behind him as he explores smaller roster tweaks ahead of the 2025 NBA season. Subscribe to Celtics Today by Chat Sports with Tyler Smith for daily Celtics news, trade rumors, and updates on Brad Stevens’ next move!

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Brad Stevens:
“We don’t want to take away our chance to use (our draft picks) to become the best that we can be over the next few years just to make a move to help save money. I think that that’s been very clearly stated to me.”

Celtics’ Non-Guaranteed Contracts:
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– Jordan Walsh

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Jordan Walsh Summer League Stats:
– PPG: 15.0
– RPG: 4.0
– SPG: 1.0
– FG%: 46.3%
– 3P%: 38.9

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