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The Celtics could trade this package of assets for a 2028 or later protected first round pick and reset the repeater tax in 2026/27.

Who’s in and what kind of protections do you want on your pick?

I should mention they could take back expiring contracts but not 26/27 salary.

I think you could give Hauser away for free. Trade Schierman for free or with cash. Not sure about turning that late of a 1st now into a future pick even with heavy protections. But if you just want off that small gtd money too, you could almost certainly move it for a pile of future 2nds.

But if the goal is to get off the salary, easy. Not sure that you can expect a first back, but maybe teams value Hauser highly enough?

Edit: Ignore this, I read the 26 1st as this years. Yeah you could definitely do what you are wanting to do then, and I would think have several bidders.

The Celtics would need to be careful giving away their 2026 pick, no?

Texas Chuck wrote:I think you could give Hauser away for free. Trade Schierman for free or with cash. Not sure about turning that late of a 1st now into a future pick even with heavy protections. But if you just want off that small gtd money too, you could almost certainly move it for a pile of future 2nds.

But if the goal is to get off the salary, easy. Not sure that you can expect a first back, but maybe teams value Hauser highly enough?

Edit: Ignore this, I read the 26 1st as this years. Yeah you could definitely do what you are wanting to do then, and I would think have several bidders.

Yeah , agree there the 26 1st has more value than pick 28 this year.
The point would be able to get under the tax for 26/27 with a little easier effort than trading Holiday, White, or Brown and get a decent return ( future first).

Tim Lehrbach wrote:The Celtics would need to be careful giving away their 2026 pick, no?

I think ownership really wants to reset the repeater tax. This is one way. That pick is likely around 20ish. Turning it into another a pick in the future would in theory be a wash, but there is some variance on the 26pick which might make it attractive to teams.
There is some risk of course that the Celtics are not very good without Tatum, so maybe they need some protections on it.

Mem could offer Konchar or Clarke , picks could be ironed if its even close .
maybe a 3rd team( or BOS i guess) wants 47,58 from MEM for some future 2nds to toss into the deal ?

maybe just the MLE ? not a ton of MLE guys better than Hauser and you never know if they will sign in MEM + a nice enough prospect .

i think it could a few ways here .

Let's assume the Celtics pick at #28 and #32 this year and sign those players. No other money is added to the books for 26-27. The projected tax line that they need to duck to save the tax is $206,687,000. They would have the following 9 players signed and be at $198,011,223:

Holiday / Pritchard
White
Brown / Walsh
Tatum
Queta
+ 2025 #28 and #32 picks

That leaves them $,8,675,777 to fill at least 5 spots. They'd have to have multiple 2nd round rookies. They have no respectable big man or rotation worthy player off the bench besides Pritchard. Tatum will be in year 1 back from an Achilles injury which likely yields some rust. Jrue is at an age where he's getting worse each season to some degree so whatever he is now you have to discount that back a few notches when looking at 26-27. Brown will be 30 himself and White will be 32.

Tatum is out for all of 2026 and Brown will be coming off meniscus surgery. I feel like if the Celtics are willing to include the 2026 first round pick that next season's results will yield, it should be a relatively valued pick.

To the OP, factoring in the career arc of all of these guys, I'm curious why you wouldn't use the '26 pick to shed a chunk of Jrue's deal instead of Hauser/Scheierman in their respective primes. Are you that enthused by having a 36 year old Jrue Holiday on the team then? By including the 2026 pick I think you're more than able to shed a chunk of that money for 26-27 that lets you Keep Hauser/Scheirman who both look like potentially solid shooting depth.

brackdan70 wrote:

Tim Lehrbach wrote:The Celtics would need to be careful giving away their 2026 pick, no?

I think ownership really wants to reset the repeater tax. This is one way. That pick is likely around 20ish. Turning it into another a pick in the future would in theory be a wash, but there is some variance on the 26pick which might make it attractive to teams.
There is some risk of course that the Celtics are not very good without Tatum, so maybe they need some protections on it.

I'd top-three protect it, at minimum. Hauser is a rotation-worthy player, so you're not paying to give him away. Schierman may or may not be anything, but he's a prospect with size -- again, shouldn't cost to move him. So, you're left with the perceived value of the 2026 pick. Boston is not only missing Tatum but could see further cost-cutting moves and/or further regression from Holiday and Horford. They're bad lack or injuries away from dipping into the lottery. Highly unlikely they finish near the very bottom of the standings, but you top-three protect to hedge against the improbable bad regular season luck and even more improbably good lotto luck.

I think it's a pretty attractive package to a good team seeking a solid minutes-getter and a pick with some upside. I would expect a lightly protected pick in return from that good team. Maybe top-eight in '28?

hugepatsfan wrote:Let's assume the Celtics pick at #28 and #32 this year and sign those players. No other money is added to the books for 26-27. The projected tax line that they need to duck to save the tax is $206,687,000. They would have the following 9 players signed and be at $198,011,223:

Holiday / Pritchard
White
Brown / Walsh
Tatum
Queta
+ 2025 #28 and #32 picks

That leaves them $,8,675,777 to fill at least 5 spots. They'd have to have multiple 2nd round rookies. They have no respectable big man or rotation worthy player off the bench besides Pritchard. Tatum will be in year 1 back from an Achilles injury which likely yields some rust. Jrue is at an age where he's getting worse each season to some degree so whatever he is now you have to discount that back a few notches when looking at 26-27. Brown will be 30 himself and White will be 32.

Tatum is out for all of 2026 and Brown will be coming off meniscus surgery. I feel like if the Celtics are willing to include the 2026 first round pick that next season's results will yield, it should be a relatively valued pick.

To the OP, factoring in the career arc of all of these guys, I'm curious why you wouldn't use the '26 pick to shed a chunk of Jrue's deal instead of Hauser/Scheierman in their respective primes. Are you that enthused by having a 36 year old Jrue Holiday on the team then? By including the 2026 pick I think you're more than able to shed a chunk of that money for 26-27 that lets you Keep Hauser/Scheirman who both look like potentially solid shooting depth.

Very good points. It’s all much easier if they can trade Jrue for sure.

hugepatsfan wrote:Let's assume the Celtics pick at #28 and #32 this year and sign those players. No other money is added to the books for 26-27. The projected tax line that they need to duck to save the tax is $206,687,000. They would have the following 9 players signed and be at $198,011,223:

Holiday / Pritchard
White
Brown / Walsh
Tatum
Queta
+ 2025 #28 and #32 picks

That leaves them $,8,675,777 to fill at least 5 spots. They'd have to have multiple 2nd round rookies. They have no respectable big man or rotation worthy player off the bench besides Pritchard. Tatum will be in year 1 back from an Achilles injury which likely yields some rust. Jrue is at an age where he's getting worse each season to some degree so whatever he is now you have to discount that back a few notches when looking at 26-27. Brown will be 30 himself and White will be 32.

Tatum is out for all of 2026 and Brown will be coming off meniscus surgery. I feel like if the Celtics are willing to include the 2026 first round pick that next season's results will yield, it should be a relatively valued pick.

To the OP, factoring in the career arc of all of these guys, I'm curious why you wouldn't use the '26 pick to shed a chunk of Jrue's deal instead of Hauser/Scheierman in their respective primes. Are you that enthused by having a 36 year old Jrue Holiday on the team then? By including the 2026 pick I think you're more than able to shed a chunk of that money for 26-27 that lets you Keep Hauser/Scheirman who both look like potentially solid shooting depth.

Yeah with the Math it would be 2nd round or undrafted rookies and one vet min. That Vet min or 28 or 32 needs to be a legit big.
Seems realistic right

Utah steps up but you get the worst of our 27 first round picks.

Utah can eat unwanted salary as well but that changes the dynamics of the value being sent and received.