Boston Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens will have a new boss at some point in the future.
That’s because while Stevens was busy extending players like Jayson Tatum and Derrick White, the Celtics went up for sale by majority owner Wyc Grousbeck.
The news, which came two weeks after Boston captured the NBA title, stunned the basketball world and even “saddened” NBA commissioner Adam Silver.
Stevens, who joined the Boston franchise in 2013 as the team’s head coach before successfully making the jump into the front office in place of Danny Ainge just over three years ago, plans to carry on as usual despite the uncertainty of the Celtics ownership looming overhead.
“Well, I mean, I learned not long before everybody else did that was going to happen,” Stevens told reporters Wednesday in Las Vegas from a Celtics Summer League game, per the Boston Globe’s Gary Washburn. “I obviously am very thankful for Wyc and his family and everything that they’ve done. I’m looking forward to seeing what happens from here. I don’t want to get too far into the weeds of it all but how does it affect us? It doesn’t really right now. From the standpoint of the corporate side or basketball operations we’re just head down, doing what we think is best for the now of the Celtics and the future of the Celtics. We’re lucky we (have) a good team.”
It was announced that Grousbeck’s majority interest is expected to be sold in 2024 or early 2025.
Whoever takes over as primary owner of the Celtics — Steve Pagliuca intends to throw his hat into the ring — will inherit a talented team, but a very expensive one, too.
The current Celtics starting five will make over $900 million over the length of their contracts and force Boston into the league’s tax penalties.
If the new Celtics owner plans to pay the hefty fees that come with Boston’s star players’ salaries, not much should change for Stevens. But if the Celtics have to cut payroll in a couple of years, it could force Stevens into some tough decisions.
