The Boston Celtics saw their quest for a second straight NBA championship and 19th overall come to an unceremonious end on May 16, when they lost Game Six of their Eastern Conference semifinal, falling in the series 4-2 to the New York Knicks.
With the Celtics sitting idle through the second half of May for the first time since 2021, the organization’s attention turned to the increasingly tricky matter of what comes next.
As a “second apron team,” one of only three in the NBA, the Celtics are now compelled to slash their payroll by at least $23 million to get under that threshold or face not only a staggering luxury tax bill but even more importantly, severe restrictions on trades, free agent signings and other roster moves that could cripple their ability to rebuild their team a few years down the road.
Celtics Have No Choice But to Make Big Changes
That means, the Celtics starting in 2025-2026 will look significantly different than the team that won the 2024 NBA championship, and was on track to win a second in a row until they fell victim to the upset-minded Knicks.
Their situation is only made more complicated by the torn Achilles tendon suffered by franchise player and four-time All-NBA first teamer Jayson Tatum. The 27-year-old star suffered the catastrophic injury late in Game Five of the series against the Knicks, and is expected to miss most or, more likely, all of next season.
The Celtics have no choice but to make trades, unloading at least one and probably multiple members of the team’s nucleus that won them the 2023-2024 title.
One trade that could be on the table, according to Boston Sports Journal Celtics beat reporter John Karalis, who also hosts the Locked on Celtics podcast, would not on its own get Boston under the second apron, but would take a meaningful first step toward that goal.
On his Tuesday Locked on podcast, Karalis floated the idea of trading 16-year veteran and two-time All-Star point guard Jrue Holiday to the Utah Jazz â the team with the worst record in the NBA in the just-completed regular season.
“I think Holiday fits a lot of what the Jazz need. You want a culture setter, a culture builder. Very simple. You trade for Holiday,” Karalis said on the podcast. “I’m just saying this particular thing makes sense. Holiday to the Jazz makes sense.”
Holiday would be entering the second year of a four-year, $134 million contract extension that he signed with the Celtics prior to the 2024-2025 season.
Known as one of the best defensive guards in the league, for the past two years Holiday has teamed in the Celtics backcourt with Derrick White to form the “Stock Exchange,” a nickname earned for the duo’s propensity for stealing the ball and blocking shots â a combined stat known colloquially as “stocks.”
Return For Holiday Not Ideal, But the Money Works
Holiday, of course, won a championship with the Celtics in 2024 â but also took home a ring in the 2020-2021 season, his first of two with the Milwaukee Bucks.
But who would the Celtics get in return for Holiday? Karalis’s suggestion â eight-year veteran power forward John Collins, who has spent the last two seasons in Utah after six with the team that drafted him 19th overall out of Wake Forest in 2017, the Atlanta Hawks.
“John Collins, not at the top of my list but he’s a guy who can score. He’s 27. He did just come off a very good year,” Karalis said. “He’s going to he’s going to make $26.6 million in a player option. Is that ideal? No. And so, not my top choice. But money-wise it works. You can just do Collins for Holiday.”
The Celtics would be sending out a $32.4 million salary by trading Holiday, while taking back the $26.5 million owed to Collins under the player option year of his contract. The deal would, therefore, bring the Celtics $5.9 million closer to clearing the second apron.
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