Despite the dreams of becoming the first back-to-back champions in over six years, the Boston Celtics fell short of their ultimate goal, slumping to a disappointing series loss to the New York Knicks in the conference semi-finals. This post season has caused many dilemmas for the franchise as perennial all-star Jayson Tatum suffered a devastating ruptured Achilles in game 5 against New York, it has also since been announced that Jaylen Brown underwent surgery to repair a partial tear to his MCL which he suffered during the regular season. In addition, the NBA’s addition of new financial constraints has further limited the Celtics’ ability to retain the same roster, therefore it is essential Boston moves away a major piece of their core which brought Banner 18 to Boston last June.
Reducing salary will be the priority for Brad Stevens and the Celtics front office this summer, but they will also want to restructure this roster in hopes of competing in the future especially with Tatum returning from injury either towards the end of the season or in 2026. Kristaps Porzingis will likely be the player Boston are desperate to move on from, there is no doubt that he is a fantastic two-way big when healthy. Unfortunately seeing his name on the injury list has become a common sight for Celtics fans during his time in Boston. He has struggled with a multitude of injuries and illnesses that have kept him from performing at his best. Especially during this year’s playoffs, where he missed a significant amount of games after being unable to recover from a viral illness. Overall Boston has a real hole to fill at the center position, Al Horford is well into the twilight years of his career and will likely retire in 2026 and Luke Kornet is an unrestricted free agent this summer.
Boston is left with three options this summer to improve their frontcourt depth before next season. Option one is to move off either Porzingis or Jrue Holiday’s max contracts in order to get a starting center in return. Option two would be to use their late first round pick to take a chance on center they feel can be developed into the starting center position or finally use the money from Tatum’s injury exception to bring in a center that will temporarily fill the hole at the 5.
The reality for Celtics fans is that their squad will be vastly different from 2025, as the franchise’s new owners will do their best to whittle down the quarter of a billion dollars of luxury taxes the team will currently have to pay throughout the season. The likely solution will be acquiring expiring deals for some of their larger contracts and moving players like Sam Hauser, whose ten-million-dollar contract alone would cost the team over $80 million in tax.
Joe Mazzulla will also have utilize the younger guys currently on the roster for more production in 2026. Guys like Baylor Scheierman, Jordan Walsh and JD Davison will likely see consistent minutes coming off the bench and if Jrue Holiday is moved it is highly likely that sixth man of the year Payton Pritchard will find himself as the club’s new starting point guard. The objective of this offseason will be to reset the current roster resetting Boston’s championship window as they look to find more success of the next half a decade. One thing is for certain the Celtics will be back in the hunt for playoff success next season and the Jays will do everything in their control to propel Boston to a second championship in era of Boston Celtics’ basketball.
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