In Part 2 of our Boston Celtics offseason mailbag, Jared Weiss answers your questions about the franchise sale, the future of the roster and memories from the title run.
Editor’s note: Questions have been edited for style, length and clarity.
Jaylen Brown for Cooper Flagg. … No matter who the new owner is, no one will pay over half a billion for one season. A cost-cutting trade will have to take place; the real question is which player? In my eyes, the answer is Jaylen Brown. Two-way wing, under 30 years old, and locked up on a long-term deal. The reasons the Celtics should keep him are the same reasons other teams want him. With that in mind, who has the right pieces to execute a Jaylen Brown trade? The logical choice is whoever wins the Cooper Flagg sweepstakes next year. What if Detroit or Houston wins the lottery, both are loaded with teenagers and young prospects. Would they look to consolidate and make a win-now trade? — Dan B.
The first thing I think of reading this is the grimace on Brown’s face if he were to read this, sunlight flickering on his NBA Finals MVP trophy. It’s ironic that after Brown earned some untouchable status from Celtics fans, now he’s being thrown into trade discussions because the team may be too good to afford him.
Credit to Dan B., this is a great question, even if the first sentence is audacious. With the way the collective bargaining agreement is structured, trading a surefire star prospect like Flagg for anyone who isn’t an MVP candidate seems like a non-starter. The Pistons are more than one star away from a title. A team in its position would rather bet Flagg becomes a more complete player on a timeline that fits its roster progression. Plus, Jaden Ivey has too much potential to be a salary throw-in.
But forget about Flagg and whatever team ends up getting him. This is about what the Celtics are going to do as they transition to new ownership. The presumption that nobody will pay half a billion dollars for a single season is too strong. Everything I’ve heard from team sources is that the front office wants to keep this going for several years, and Jrue Holiday’s four-year extension was a good indicator that this is more than a one-year window. If Kristaps Porziņģis can stay healthy — we’ll be saying that for the rest of his career — this team should remain a top contender for at least a couple of years. It doesn’t seem like the second apron penalties are going to force it to take a step back before that window closes.
This is more about whatever the ownership situation looks like a year from now. Wyc Grousbeck said he wants to sell 51 percent of the team by that point but still maintain operational control. Unless Steve Pagliuca manages to bring in more investors and obtain controlling interest, there will be a new managing governor. What better way for them to win over the Boston fan base than to break up the team? They could campaign for fiscal prudence, but their first impression to the fan base would be that they aren’t willing to spend whatever it takes for a champion — the same cloud that loomed over this ownership group for years.
Given Wyc’s experience in venture capital and his desire to maintain control for a few years after the sale if possible, has any consideration been given to making the Celtics either a public company or private-public hybrid? Or is this not allowed? Seems like at some point, the NBA will need to consider creative ownership structures given how valuable (and unobtainable) franchises are becoming. — Brett B.
While there aren’t any NBA teams that are specifically publicly traded entities, the Toronto Raptors and New York Knicks are both owned by corporations. Washington Wizards owner Ted Leonsis has also said he views his Monumental Sports & Entertainment as a “pre-IPO” company, though he did not say he wants to go public. The trend seems to be ownership groups making their franchise an asset for a larger corporation so they can expand into other media, real estate and entertainment properties. The exception is the Raptors, as publicly traded telecom companies Rogers Communications and BCE own the majority of the franchise.
Leonsis did sell a 5 percent share to the Qatari Investment Authority in 2023, something Grousbeck has discussed as a viable pathway in the past. The NBA limits sovereign wealth funds to a 20 percent stake in a franchise. A key part of these investments is the stadium rights, but TD Garden is owned by the Boston Bruins. The NHL team’s CEO Charlie Jacobs said on WEEI’s “The Gresh and Fauria Show” Tuesday that the Celtics have signed a lease with TD Garden for another 12 years. Without the real estate asset, it may be more challenging to make the Celtics the center point of a publicly traded company. But that all depends on who buys them and how the Celtics could fit into their portfolio.
Celtics fans celebrating the 2023-24 championship and the winning of banner no. 18. (Maddie Malhotra / Getty Images)
It is June 2025. The Celtics repeat as NBA champions. Brad Stevens steps down and Jared Weiss takes over as president of basketball operations. The new owner wants to get under the second apron. What do you do to get below the second apron, POBO Weiss? — Andrej P.
If that’s the order from ownership, it’s more of a financial concern than a roster-building issue. The Celtics have about $221 million in guaranteed money committed to seven players for the 2025-26 season, while the second apron has been projected to be around $208 million. If they can find a team to take on Porziņģis’ contract, they should be able to fill out the roster with minimum players and duck the second apron. Right now, only the Brooklyn Nets and Houston Rockets have enough cap space to do so, and that could leave Boston prohibitively thin on center talent.
But getting out of the second apron a year from now may not be necessary. Because they are a second-apron team this upcoming season, their 2032 first-round pick is now frozen and cannot be traded. That initiates a four-year “draft pick penalty” window in which one more season over the second apron would send that 2032 pick to the end of the round, even if they have a bad record that year. That’s designed to tell teams if they want to pay for a contender now, it’s going to be hard for them to rebuild when that core ages out.
The second apron could grow year-to-year at a rate that would allow Boston to get under it for the 2026-27 season, without even sacrificing a starter. The Celtics plausibly could stay out of the second apron from there on and fix their draft-pick issues. That would allow them to start trading core players to get younger and extend the window to win with Jayson Tatum and/or Brown.
In the end, cutting salary a year from now would be more about the massive luxury tax bill. As addressed earlier, it would be tough for a new owner to win over the fan base if he took that route. Of course, this presumes Grousbeck backs down from his condition that he maintains managerial control of the franchise until the sale is complete. Considering how ugly the Minnesota Timberwolves’ two-phase sale has gone, we’ll see if the Board of Governors signs off on Grousbeck’s plan when it’s time to ratify a deal.
What should we expect from Jordan Walsh, Jaden Springer, JD Davison, Xavier Tillman and Baylor Scheierman? Will any of them make the rotation in 2024-25? — Matt F.
Finally, some basketball talk. We know Tillman is the one player who absolutely should see minutes next season. The Celtics are going to use their entire center rotation for the first few months of the season, and Tillman should compete with Luke Kornet for a lot of those minutes. Don’t forget Al Horford sits out back-to-backs, so Kornet and Tillman are going to play on those nights.
Tillman has the biggest potential for improvement this year because he did not look in sync last season. A full offseason with Boston should give him much more comfort in the defense and a feel for where he needs to space on offense. If he can start shooting decently, he will fortify his place in the rotation.
In his one game in Las Vegas, Springer showed he’s getting more comfortable with his midrange pull-up and also spotting up from 3. If he can hit 3s here and there, then coach Joe Mazzulla certainly will find ways to get him into the rotation. His on-ball defense is so good, he can change the tempo of the game much like Payton Pritchard when he checks in and starts pressing full-court.
Scheierman has the best chance to play out of the perimeter players in this group because he’s a good shooter who can rip and go against closeouts. The Celtics are most vulnerable when they are making bad decisions on offense, so Scheierman’s vision and understanding of spacing likely give him an edge.
Davison has shown enough growth that he could be the surprise of training camp. When he’s taken the floor for the Celtics in the past, he looked completely out of rhythm and had some ugly misses. But his pace on the ball has improved, and he looks like a legit point guard when he’s not leaving his feet before he has a passing window. He’s stronger and now can put a shoulder into defenders, allowing him to get to spots he usually would sprint to in the past.
How much potential do you feel Jordan Walsh has, and is there a player you would compare him to if he reached his full potential? — Scott A.
Walsh is in a similar situation as Davison, as his touch is erratic and the game is often moving too quickly for him. His dribble is way too high to maintain against NBA defenders, and he will get into foul trouble quickly. But when he’s on his game, you can see the potential there down the road. He reminds me a bit of Ronnie Brewer, a solid defender who could move well off the ball and had some athleticism. Ideally, Walsh becomes a passable spot-up shooter who can be a defensive hawk in a similar vein to Justin Holiday, but with slightly better finishing ability like Brewer.
What’s been the most fun or interesting thing about the Celtics winning the title for you personally as a team reporter? Do any cool stories, moments, etc. come to mind in the wake of the title? Thanks for all you do, it’s a pleasure to read your work! — Kevin P.
This was my first time covering a championship season from start to finish, but the funny thing is it was fairly anticlimactic. There were a few points in the season where it didn’t feel like Boston was the clear title favorite, especially in the playoffs. There weren’t those moments of suspense that made the last few playoff runs so tense and exciting.
But once the final buzzer of the season went off, there were a few things that felt unique. Right away, I noticed how strange it was to watch a championship moment as a journalist in person since there is always this dramatic narration and close-up shots when watching on TV. When you’re a fan, you’re probably jumping around screaming. For me, I was observing as a green fog of confetti filled the Garden. It’s a bizarre, sterile feeling to be in a room with nearly 20,000 people whose dreams are coming true and you’re still in work mode.
I brought a rain jacket with me that night so I wouldn’t get drenched by the champagne, but when I walked into the locker room, I immediately got soaked and realized I left my jacket behind. That ended up being the right call, because the locker room was so packed that the room felt like a sauna. Trying to get in there was like fighting through a mosh pit at a concert.
At one point, a cameraman spun around right in front of me and I fell into a beer cooler dodging the big lens. Before I could get up, one of the Celtics staffers asked me to toss him a couple of beers. I then fought my way over to the Celtics owners to interview them, but it was so loud and I was getting sprayed with so much champagne that I couldn’t even hear them until I listened back to the recording hours later. I’ve had to work in some tight scrums in my time, but that was wild.
Then on parade day, it’s just a different experience being on the truck. You have this high vantage point to see how massive the crowds are, and you have thousands of people staring at you, ready to scream. My truck was between the music float and Mazzulla’s duck boat, so I could barely hear out of my left ear the rest of the day because it was so loud. I’d just pick up my camera, and the crowd would erupt. There was nothing quite like it.
(Top photo of Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck: Billie Weiss / Getty Images)
