Should the Celtics Tank for AJ Dybantsa? Boston’s BIG Decision

Should the Celtics Tank for AJ Dybantsa? Boston’s BIG Decision

The sale was approved and it’s been going through the channels. We’re waiting for the league to approve it. You cannot be the front-facing governor of a team if you don’t own enough of a percentage of it. He will not and that Wick will no longer own enough of a percentage. So, he simply cannot remain the front-facing moment of this. But this sets a little panic in for Celtics fans, Caroline, because they’re looking around at a team that’s had to offload some contracts. They’re up against the apron. Everybody’s talking about money. And it raises that question of like what’s happening in Boston? Should they just sit this season out, basically tank and sort of reset the organization? Yeah. And I think that this ownership move, it also has an effect on the Connecticut Sun in the WNBA. It was reported a couple of weeks ago that the Boston ownership group were interested in buying the Connecticut Sun and moving them to Boston, which was a move that the WNBA kind of put brakes on. But now with a change in ownership, what does that mean for the WNBA? And of course, that’s a a secondary story as far as this uh this move is concerned. But I how I view the the Boston Celtics at this point right now, just tank tank this season. What’s the point of trying to win as many games as possible? I mean, the Celtics have already traded away Drew Holiday. They already traded away Chris Apps Porzingis. They’re taking a ton of money off of their books. Jason Tatum will be out for the entirety of the 202526 season. You are not going to be a good basketball team. So just go all in on being bad. As long as you have Jason Tatum, you’re not going to be bad enough to be in the lottery conversation. You’re not going to be bad enough to be picking top five, top 10 in the NBA draft. So take advantage of this time that you have without Jason Tatum. Be bad. Tell your fan base, hey, look, we understand that if making some of these moves means that we’re not going to get to the Eastern Conference Finals, but we’re going to be better in 26 and 27 and beyond, then so be it. I know that it might feel like this team is getting burned at the stake in the city of Boston because that fan base just can’t deal with being bad, but you’re not going to be good anyway. So, just go ahead and go all in on being bad. Potentially put yourself into a lottery pick. that’ll be potentially in the mix for drafting a Massachusetts kid and AJ Dyansa. So, why not? Like, you’re gonna be bad anyway, so just dive in into the sea of suck. I think the the hard part about that is, you know, possibly, possibly, possibly. Like, well, there was a 1.8% chance the Mavs were going to end up with the first overall pick and that’s what they got. So, what do you get when you tank, you know, and it’s it’s okay. Well, I mean, if the Mavs can fix the NBA, certainly the Celtics. Put my tinfoil hat on here and say maybe there was a a little nefarious action going on behind that pick. And look, yeah, there’s no guarantee that you’re going to get the number one overall pick. But if you can be a lottery pick and then you get, you know, a top 10 pick and you get Jason Tatum back for the 2627 season, that’s a refreshed perspective and refreshed optimism for this Celtics franchise. I think the other hard part about this though is like at his core, Wick has always been a governor that loved the Celtics. Like there are certain owners, governors in the NBA that are more notorious for their fandom than anything. And Wick’s one of those guys. Like he just he loves this organization. So when you have a new ownership group come in and there’s this concern particularly in modern sports about venture capitalist owners that may or may not even like the team, they’re just trying to make a bunch of money. Can you tank and still send the right message to your fan base? I just it gets look, it’s not the new ownership’s fault that they’re up against the apron and making some of these transactions. I believe that that would have happened either way. But it is also important context that if you come in as a new ownership group, what most of the time what do we see? Like when the Suns were sold, all of a sudden aggressive moves were made. Why? Because their new ownership group wanted to show everybody we want to win championships. Now they’ve had to dismantle all that. It didn’t work. But they still want to make that statement. What happens in the first 18 months of a new ownership group, I believe, really sets the overall tone of what fans expect for forever from that ownership group. If you come out and you tear apart the Celtics and you trust the process, Boston, man, I think you lose the city, you lose the NBA, you lose respect, you’ll get you’ll get crushed on every show. Like from ours to Bill Simmons, you will get you’ll get crushed 24/7. That just takes a level of man, you got to be able to shut off the noise and just do the damn thing that I don’t know many people can do. And I don’t think it’s worth the culture problem that can be created from it just because you get the higher draft pick. If I’m the Celtics, I’m going out and saying, “Hey, we’re going to figure out how to win as many games as we can this year with Tatum. Tatum’s going to be back and when he’s back, we’re going to be just fine and we’re going to be one of the best teams, if not the best team in the East.” But I don’t think tanking long-term actually helps them get to that goal. Even though it feels like it does from the lottery portion of it. Look, they would get torn apart by shows like ours and especially local shows in Boston. I mean, I have local shows in Boston. Ei would crush them all all day. Oh, I mean I like I would want to go to Boston just for funsies, just to pop in to see what the what the local conversation was. But who cares? Like who cares if you are getting torn apart by talk shows? Look, I love our talk show very much, but if general managers and owners across America are listening to our show for advice, well, then they’re not very good at their job, and they’re probably not going to keep their job for very long. It’s one season, one season after basically an entirety of the entirety of the franchise being an excellent team in the NBA. He just won the NBA Finals two years ago. You can take one year of taking a few steps back with the idea of taking a leaps and bounds forward over the next few years. You extend your window with younger players. I mean, I’ll take a a few months of being torn apart by talk shows in order to be a championship contender for years to come. We’ll keep you updated as the deal is hopefully going to be completed in the next week for the Celtics.

The Boston Celtics are under new ownership… and facing a massive decision. With Jason Tatum out for the 2025–26 season and stars like Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porziņģis gone, is this the perfect time to tank?

Caroline Fenton and Jason Fitz break down why some fans want Boston to embrace the “Sea of Suck” — all for a shot at drafting Massachusetts native and projected No. 1 pick AJ Dybantsa in the 2026 NBA Draft.

🤔 But can a new ownership group risk alienating Celtics Nation by waving the white flag? Should the Celtics chase AJ at all costs… or fight to stay competitive? Let us know in the comments!

🎧 Listen to the full podcast: [https://youtube.com/live/hhP3ZJPTfZ0]

0:00 – Celtics ownership change explained
1:04 – Caroline’s take: Celtics should tank without Jason Tatum
3:28 – How new owners set the tone in their first 18 months
5:10 – Ignore the noise, build for the future

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