Free Agent, Trade, Buyout, Extension & Conversion Thread, 2025 con't

[phincsfan]

Brad Stevens did best as coach with a crew of hustling professional overachiever types like IT, Olynyk, Smart, Avery Bradley, Jerebko but Brad couldn't manage prickly, primadonna types like Kyrie Irving. So his weakness as a coach was managing the big egos... It seems to me his weakness as GM is he's gone too far on building the team by the analytics. Specifically Brad seems to have embraced the concept that generating 3pt attempts should be the primary purpose of our offense.



I'm less excited about Brad managing this rebuild because I don't think this version of Brad is the best version of Brad.

Well said because Stevens is the ultimate micro-manager. Every second was important, every inbound was an opportunity and every timeout was meaningful. That's why he would be successful at every level of basketball. IMO, he had the Jay's during their infancy and there's no doubt in my mind that he could have won with that same group last season.

[bigfoot_cryptozoology]

I am the point where I think KP should medically retire, take the year off, try to recover and return in 2027...

[Celts17Pride]

I am the point where I think KP should medically retire, take the year off, try to recover and return in 2027...

I’m at the point of trading Holiday, Porzingis, Hauser draft picks and whatever to go get Kevin Durant. Durant would be a great bridge until JT gets back. Keep it going!

[Fierce1]

I am the point where I think KP should medically retire, take the year off, try to recover and return in 2027...

I’m at the point of trading Holiday, Porzingis, Hauser draft picks and whatever to go get Kevin Durant. Durant would be a great bridge until JT gets back. Keep it going!

A lot of teams can offer more than that.

KD's also just too old.

If the 2nd window is to start in 2026-27, the Cs need to get younger, not older.

[djFan71]

I am the point where I think KP should medically retire, take the year off, try to recover and return in 2027...

I say keep him, bring him off the bench always. Less disruption if he’s not available. But he’s a ceiling raiser if healthy. Then sign him for like MLE or less money after next year

[Celts17Pride]

I am the point where I think KP should medically retire, take the year off, try to recover and return in 2027...

I’m at the point of trading Holiday, Porzingis, Hauser draft picks and whatever to go get Kevin Durant. Durant would be a great bridge until JT gets back. Keep it going!

A lot of teams can offer more than that.

KD's also just too old.

If the 2nd window is to start in 2026-27, the Cs need to get younger, not older.

You just don’t understand, Tatum is going to have zero interest in a rebuild. Zero! Your idea is pushing Tatum out the door eventually

[fallguy]

I’m at the point of trading Holiday, Porzingis, Hauser draft picks and whatever to go get Kevin Durant. Durant would be a great bridge until JT gets back. Keep it going!

A lot of teams can offer more than that.

KD's also just too old.

If the 2nd window is to start in 2026-27, the Cs need to get younger, not older.

You just don’t understand, Tatum is going to have zero interest in a rebuild. Zero!

Yeah, they're not rebuilding. This will be a reset financially and to change up supporting players on the roster.

KD interesting. Only one year left on his deal. Huge injury risk. Won't cost as much as people think. You have my attention.

[Fierce1]

I’m at the point of trading Holiday, Porzingis, Hauser draft picks and whatever to go get Kevin Durant. Durant would be a great bridge until JT gets back. Keep it going!

A lot of teams can offer more than that.

KD's also just too old.

If the 2nd window is to start in 2026-27, the Cs need to get younger, not older.

You just don’t understand, Tatum is going to have zero interest in a rebuild. Zero! Your idea is pushing Tatum out the door eventually

Nope!

I don't want a rebuild.

You keep Tatum, White, PP, Luke, and maybe even Sam.

Adding a soon to be 37-year old does not make sense because when JT returns, KD will be 38 going 39.

If you want a bridge until Tatum gets back, go for someone younger.

[Celts17Pride]

A lot of teams can offer more than that.

KD's also just too old.

If the 2nd window is to start in 2026-27, the Cs need to get younger, not older.

You just don’t understand, Tatum is going to have zero interest in a rebuild. Zero!

Yeah, they're not rebuilding. This will be a reset financially and to change up supporting players on the roster.

KD interesting. Only one year left on his deal. Huge injury risk. Won't cost as much as people think. You have my attention.

Don’t know how or if they could do it but it’s interesting because of Durant’s age and contract and it would keep the Celtics relevant until we can get Jayson Tatum back

[Celts17Pride]

A lot of teams can offer more than that.

KD's also just too old.

If the 2nd window is to start in 2026-27, the Cs need to get younger, not older.

You just don’t understand, Tatum is going to have zero interest in a rebuild. Zero! Your idea is pushing Tatum out the door eventually

Nope!

I don't want a rebuild.

You keep Tatum, White, PP, Luke, and maybe even Sam.

Adding a soon to be 37-year old does not make sense because when JT returns, KD will be 38 going 39.

If you want a bridge until Tatum gets back, go for someone younger.

You are making zero sense, do you think before you type? Holiday and Porzingis are not young

[Fierce1]

Like I said, the right formula is what OKC has.

2 supermax players on one team just kills cap flexibility.

If we want to sustain winning until JT is in his 30s, it has to be 1 supermax, 1 all-star caliber, and a very good supporting cast.

Can't have a good supporting cast if 2 players on the roster is eating up close to 70% of your cap space.

[Celts17Pride]

Like I said, the right formula is what OKC has.

2 supermax players on one team just kills cap flexibility.

If we want to sustain winning until JT is in his 30s, it has to be 1 supermax, 1 all-star caliber, and a very good supporting cast.

Can't have a good supporting cast if 2 players on the roster is eating up close to 70% of your cap space.

OKC took 3-4 years. I guarantee you Jayson Tatum is not waiting 3-4 years. He would be on another team.

Just look at Giannis right now

[djFan71]

Like I said, the right formula is what OKC has.

2 supermax players on one team just kills cap flexibility.

If we want to sustain winning until JT is in his 30s, it has to be 1 supermax, 1 all-star caliber, and a very good supporting cast.

Can't have a good supporting cast if 2 players on the roster is eating up close to 70% of your cap space.

It may be an ideal formula, but it's not super reproducible.
You can have 2 supermax guys. And you hold on to top 25 players when you have them. You rotate the supporting players as needed financially.

[Fierce1]

Like I said, the right formula is what OKC has.

2 supermax players on one team just kills cap flexibility.

If we want to sustain winning until JT is in his 30s, it has to be 1 supermax, 1 all-star caliber, and a very good supporting cast.

Can't have a good supporting cast if 2 players on the roster is eating up close to 70% of your cap space.

OKC took 3-4 years. I guarantee you Jayson Tatum is not waiting 3-4 years. He would be on another team.

Just look at Giannis right now

Guess we'll just have to wait for what Brad does after the season is over.

[Fierce1]

Like I said, the right formula is what OKC has.

2 supermax players on one team just kills cap flexibility.

If we want to sustain winning until JT is in his 30s, it has to be 1 supermax, 1 all-star caliber, and a very good supporting cast.

Can't have a good supporting cast if 2 players on the roster is eating up close to 70% of your cap space.

It may be an ideal formula, but it's not super reproducible.
You can have 2 supermax guys. And you hold on to top 25 players when you have them. You rotate the supporting players as needed financially.

Yes, keeping 2 supermax guys is possible, but only for a few years.

The repeater tax hurts too much, financially.

A compromise would be to keep the Jays together but give up White, Jrue, and KP.

JT, JB, PP, Luke, and Sam supplemented by other role players is doable.

But that would still be an over the cap team.

[djFan71]

Like I said, the right formula is what OKC has.

2 supermax players on one team just kills cap flexibility.

If we want to sustain winning until JT is in his 30s, it has to be 1 supermax, 1 all-star caliber, and a very good supporting cast.

Can't have a good supporting cast if 2 players on the roster is eating up close to 70% of your cap space.

It may be an ideal formula, but it's not super reproducible.
You can have 2 supermax guys. And you hold on to top 25 players when you have them. You rotate the supporting players as needed financially.

Yes, keeping 2 supermax guys is possible, but only for a few years.

The repeater tax hurts too much, financially.

A compromise would be to keep the Jays together but give up White, Jrue, and KP.

JT, JB, PP, Luke, and Sam supplemented by other role players is doable.

But that would still be an over the cap team.

That's kinda my plan, but keep White instead of Sam and not get under the tax line til 26-27 season. It's too painful asset loss wise to get under the lux tax next year. So just minimize as much as you can while staying competitive.

Rough Outline
Split Jrue into multiple players that are still good, but with shorter contracts (PJ, Klay - or similar).
Send Hauser to some team's exception while getting a low first or couple 2nds back. You lose a little value here, but probably unavoidable.
Ride out KP unless you can add picks and upgrade on-court - don't just dump him. He's good when available, so keep him and either let him walk or re-sign for much less $ for 26-27 and beyond.

Super Rough Math
For 26-27 you'd have $153k for JT, JB, White, Prichard and 10 spots to fill with about $50M to stay under the tax line.
It's tight, but doable.
Luke and Al on vet mins helps a lot. But call it $10M between them in case one gets more this summer.
Queta, Walsh, Baylor, #28 on min/rookie deals still, another $12M

You're at 4 spots left with ~$28M to do it.
Trade Klay & pick(s) for someone useful in the $10-15M range. Resign KP for say $10-12M. $25M total between the 2.
$13M left on 3-4 more vet mins / 2nd round exceptions.

Squeeeeeaaakkkkkkk - but you're under. And you still have a pretty solid contender.

[djFan71]

The other point is - while you're in a position to duck the tax, you're also in a position to consciously make the choice to go for it and not duck the the tax. Resign PJ (or whoever it is), use TPMLE, etc. You still try to avoid the non $ penalties of the 2nd apron, but with willing pockets, you can pay the repeater to get a better chance at a contender.

Main point is don't shed assets just to duck things pre-emptively. Obviously if you get a great return, anyone can be traded. But we don't have to do TOO many of those deals yet where it's just about $. And it's super hard to get top 25 guys. There's only, checks notes, 25 of them.

[playa-hater]

Well for those who have entertained the Idea of trading Brown (including myself) I would just like to add that Brown just kicked up his stock a bit tonight.

J Brown +28 to SAS for Castle #2 + #14

[Fierce1]

Get a Castle for our King Tat!

[chrisab123]

A lot of teams can offer more than that.

KD's also just too old.

If the 2nd window is to start in 2026-27, the Cs need to get younger, not older.

You just don’t understand, Tatum is going to have zero interest in a rebuild. Zero! Your idea is pushing Tatum out the door eventually

Nope!

I don't want a rebuild.

You keep Tatum, White, PP, Luke, and maybe even Sam.

Adding a soon to be 37-year old does not make sense because when JT returns, KD will be 38 going 39.

If you want a bridge until Tatum gets back, go for someone younger.

But it will take 3 or so years for that player you’re talking about to develop into a Jaylen Brown like player if they ever do. If they don’t then you’ve just put yourself on the treadmill and Tatum will be wearing a Knicks Lakers or Heat jersey sooner rather than later. I understand that’s the end game that a lot of posters want anyways provided the Celtics will keep churning new and exciting top prospects to salivate over but if you trade Brown for picks you’re effectively starting the clock on Tatum.