Celtics offseason forecast: avoid taxes and make multiple trades Brown stays in team Horford plays for another year

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Less than a year after winning the 2024 NBA championship, Jason Tatum's Achilles tendon rupture and the Boston Celtics' early exit in the 2025 playoffs put the team at an unexpected crossroads.

With their best players (expected) missing the entire 2025-26 season, the Celtics may struggle to justify having the highest-priced squad in the league. Will the Celtics seek to trade one or two (or three) star players? Will the upcoming season become a transitional season? Will the Celtics choose to maintain their current roster and hope Tatum can recover miraculously before the playoffs in time?

Or, will the Celtics find some way to find a balance between these extreme situations?

Below, we will conduct in-depth discussions and solve some of the needs of the Celtics.

The Celtics need to avoid the second rich line...

Even if no trades have been made this summer, the Celtics have surpassed the terrible second rich line by about $20 million.

Apart from that, this means the Celtics could face a huge luxury tax bill, while not being able to package contracts in the deal or accept players who are more paid than the players they give out.

That is, unless the Celtics can make enough deals to cut over $20 million in salary in the 2025-26 season.

The fastest way is probably to trade Jaylen Brown's $53.1 million contract to a team with enough capacities to absorb most of his contracts, but trading the 2024 Finals MVP feels a bit too extreme, especially given how much success he has achieved in the playoffs with Tatum.

In today's NBA, there are not many players who can be called "lifelong players", but Tatum and Brown still feel like "lifelong players" of the Celtics.

If the Celtics can't lower the total salary below that line, other players may be traded.

...and multiple trades are required

, on the other hand, Christapus Porzingis and Ju Holiday, although they are not entirely mercenaries, have only recently joined the team. From an emotional perspective, it will be easier to trade these two players. Porzingis's contract will expire after the end of the 2025-26 season, which will also help the deal.

Trading one or two of them in exchange for young players who have not yet fully proved themselves is very reasonable and almost certainly happening.

Sam Hauser's outside shooting and reasonable contracts can also make him the target of many teams in the league. It is not impossible for the Celtics to trade the draft picks up in the 2025 draft. The Celtics currently have the 28th overall pick, but they can pair it with a second-round pick and one of the above players to get a player with a more advanced first-round pick.

With Tatum missing the 2025-26 season, the upcoming season will be very important for the development of young players.

All of the above situations are expected to result in multiple transactions this summer. The Celtics will leave Jaylen Brown with this point already mentioned above, and although Brown and Tatum are neither 30 years old, they have accumulated impressive partner history.

He and Tatum are ranked fourth and first in the playoff scoring tables since the 2016-17 season (Brown’s first season in the NBA). During the same period, they swapped positions on the playoff win list: Brown ranked first, while Tatum ranked fourth (mainly because Tatum entered the league one year later).

In short, this is one of the most successful duos in the league. None of them have the glamorous statistics that are as noticeable as Nicola Jokic, Luka Doncic or Giannis Antetokounmpo, but playoff wins are the ultimate measure.

And even if Tatum misses the entire 2025-26 season, both of them have enough time to continue to improve their winning totals in the future.

But some short-term help is needed, considering the ongoing imbalance between the NBA West and Eastern Conferences, perhaps the Celtics can make some trades that lower the overall salary level and still easily get into the 2026 playoffs.

Even without Tatum, the Celtics may have at least two star-level wingers or defenders, namely Brown and Derek White. It's obvious that the latter can't make up for everything Tatum has to offer, but his playing level can be improved on the existing basis.

The two players and Payton Prichard form a solid foundation, but the deals between Porzingis, Holiday and/or Hauser may also bring some short-term help.

A handful of 3D character players can help the Celtics bridge the gap between the 2024-25 season and the 2026-27 season.

Al Horford will return to the team for another year. Al Horford has not yet made it clear whether to retire, but he will turn 39 in June. And if the Celtics are forced into a transitional season due to Tatum's injury, it might make sense that he will retire now.

Horford has played a key role in several excellent NBA teams, including the 2024 championship team. Horford's comprehensive game style is very consistent with the changes in center position in recent years. And Horford has long performed well above the league average, so there is a great chance of entering the Hall of Fame.

However, as mentioned above, the Celtics should still have a realistic and viable playoff road, even without Tatum. And Horford's leadership, outside shooting and passing skills will make this path clearer.

Returning to the team with a veteran's basic salary for another year (well, maybe two years, just to be able to fight alongside Tatum again) will benefit both sides.