BOSTON — The Celtics gave president of basketball operations Brad Stevens, the architect behind the team’s record-setting 18th title, free range last offseason to go to whatever lengths in improving the roster.
That isn’t expected to change this offseason, although the circumstances are significantly different for the Celtics than they were a year ago.
“As far as signing or adding to this year’s payroll, there’s really not much we can do,” Stevens said during Boston’s post-draft media availability on Thursday. “It’s gonna be basically minimum-level contracts or those levels and even if we were to make a trade, we can’t take more in, right? That’s just the way the new rules work. So you kind of know where you’re going to be for this year as currently constructed and yeah we have the green light to do that and we’re just gonna be as good as we can be again.”
Last offseason, Stevens went full throttle on the trade market by acquiring Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday to form a dominant Celtics starting lineup that few teams could compete with. Boston led the NBA in 50-point wins, 40-point wins, 30-point wins and 25-point wins, took 64 total trips to the win column in the regular season, and lost just three times in the postseason.
So far, Porzingis and Holiday have already been re-signed, agreeing to two and four-year extensions respectively before the Celtics entered the playoffs. Jaylen Brown became the league’s highest-paid player after signing a five-year, $303 million extension ahead of Opening Night, leaving Jayson Tatum and Derrick White as the only remaining starters in need of a new deal.
That’s likely where the “green light” will come into play this offseason, rather than testing the limits of the franchise’s payroll — which the Celtics already have without extending Tatum and White yet. Currently, Boston has $210.2 million in cap allocations, but that’s also taking into account Tatum and Sam Hauser — who has a 2024-25 club option — being under contract next season.
Hauser, a reserve unit sharpshooting specialist with an upcoming club option deadline on Saturday, is among the team’s several offseason priorities, which Stevens emphasized.
“I will say we want Hauser to be here for a long time,” Stevens admitted.
The fireworks might not be up to par with last offseason, but then again, that’s not necessary this offseason. Boston found its winning formula, therefore, maintaining riding the horse that brought the Celtics to the NBA Finals mountaintop should be the primary priority. Supplementing the roster with youngsters like Baylor Scheierman and Anton Watson, who Boston selected in the 2024 NBA Draft, certainly helps too.
