Last summer, after the Boston Celtics celebrated their championship with parades and festivities, the focus shifted to the team`s business matters.
Just ten days after their championship celebration, on July 1st, team governor Wyc Grousbeck surprised the NBA by announcing his family`s decision to sell the controlling interest in the franchise.
Despite this news, the Celtics, with their prime-aged talent, decided to run back the same roster, pushing hard for a repeat title and their 19th banner.
They achieved 61 regular season wins and advanced smoothly through the first playoff round in five games. The clear intention was, and remains, to focus on winning over the next six weeks and then handle the business aspects following another potential championship parade.
However, the Celtics now unexpectedly face a critical Game 3 on Saturday afternoon at Madison Square Garden, finding themselves astonishingly down 2-0 in their conference semifinal series against the New York Knicks.
If the Celtics cannot turn this series around, especially reversing their ill-timed shooting slump that resulted in missing 75 three-pointers in the first two games while blowing back-to-back 20-point second-half leads, their continued existence as the current group will suddenly be in doubt.
Regardless of how this season concluded, this championship-winning group of Celtics was already facing an uncertain future due to the high cost of keeping the team, masterfully assembled by team president Brad Stevens, together.
The Celtics are in the process of being sold to a group led by investor Bill Chisholm for a valuation exceeding $6 billion. This record-breaking transaction has pleased NBA executives and reinforced confidence in the league`s financial health.
Chisholm, who is reported to be a lifelong Celtics fan and a Massachusetts native, has reportedly been forming a coalition to finance this substantial acquisition.
Once the sale is finalized, it appears evident that the Celtics, last sold for $360 million over two decades ago, will have a significantly larger financial burden to manage.
The Celtics recognized that their current and future success depended on their two-way wing stars, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, and prioritized securing them with long-term contracts. This strategic step was successfully executed, with Brown signing in 2023 and Tatum in 2024, committing them to the team until the end of the decade at a combined cost exceeding $600 million.
Looking back at least three years, as the new collective bargaining agreement between team owners and the players` association was being developed, the Celtics identified 2025 as a potentially difficult financial year.
That point is only weeks away, regardless of the playoff outcome, because Tatum`s new contract begins, and the Celtics will face the status of being a `repeater` luxury tax payer.
Among the current core group, only veteran Al Horford is a pending free agent, being in the final year of his contract. All other key players, including guards Derrick White and Jrue Holiday (who signed extensions in 2024), center Kristaps Porzingis, and Sixth Man of the Year Payton Pritchard, are signed for future seasons.
Ordinarily, this situation would be praised as astute management. When you have assembled a strong team, the goal is typically to keep it intact, which Stevens and his front office have successfully done.
However, the realities of the modern NBA introduce complexities that even expert roster construction struggles to overcome.
This is the source of the widely discussed, enormous financial figure – a staggering and historic amount that has been a topic of conversation for the past year.
Even if Horford does not re-sign (though sources indicate he intends to continue playing and wishes to return), Boston faces a combined payroll and luxury tax bill of $464 million next season, according to ESPN front office insider Bobby Marks.
If the Celtics keep their first-round draft pick – which they frankly need for the inexpensive contract it provides – and fill out the rest of their roster with minimum salary players, the team`s total payroll will surpass the $500 million mark.
Last season, the Celtics achieved record revenue due to their championship run and hosting playoff games across four rounds. Notably, losing Game 4 in Dallas last year after holding a 3-0 lead proved beneficial, as it allowed the Celtics to clinch the title in front of their home crowd during a highly profitable home Finals game. This contributed to the franchise`s revenue reaching approximately $450 million, according to a Sportico report.
One doesn`t need a graduate degree from a prestigious institution like the University of Pennsylvania`s Wharton School, which Chisholm possesses, to grasp the emerging financial challenge.
This impending financial challenge has largely remained out of focus during the Celtics` current season. Multiple sources indicate the team deliberately avoided discussions with player agents about future spending adjustments, maintaining a purposeful strategy to keep the team`s concentration solely on their on-court performance.
The Celtics players and their families share strong bonds, which have been nurtured by deep playoff runs and consistent roster continuity since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to sources within and around the team, Stevens and his staff have effectively aimed to shield the players from concerns about ownership uncertainty, allowing them to focus on their goal of winning another championship banner.
Earlier this season, NBA teams received positive news when the league significantly increased its debt limit per team, from $275 million to $425 million. This increase is a result of the new 11-year, $77 billion media rights deals set to begin next fall, offering teams a potential financial buffer.
In February, Fitch Ratings upgraded the NBA`s credit rating from `A-minus` to `A`, signaling the league`s robust financial health. The financial security of the NBA owners is not a concern.
However, if the Celtics are eliminated in this second-round series against the Knicks – failing to defend their title, a fate shared by the past five NBA champions – the extent of the repercussions remains uncertain. It doesn`t require expensive consultants to question the wisdom of spending $500 million on a roster that didn`t even reach the conference finals.
While the Celtics players shouldn`t be focused on this, and ideally aren`t, the league-wide conversation about the potential existential threat facing this team will undoubtedly intensify with each loss. This financial reality represents a far more significant consequence than discussions about players` and coaches` reputations, legacies, or other typical springtime NBA narratives.
