The Boston Celtics have a new owner. On Thursday, Bill Chisholm, managing partner at Symphony Technology Group, agreed to purchase the team at a $6.1 billion valuation, making it the largest sale for a sports franchise in North America. While current team owner Wyc Grousbeck is expected to remain in a CEO and governor role for the next three years, this will have ripple effects on the team.
One of those effects will be on the roster itself. The Celtics are a historically expensive team as they are currently constructed. They owe over $225 million in salary for the 2025-26 season, more than any other team in the NBA. And this is only for 11 players under contract. The Celtics will presumably want to give new contracts for Al Horford and Luke Kornet, who are pending free agents.
This means that the Celtics will be more over the tax threshold than any team has ever been before. The current projections give the ownership a tax bill of over $250 million for next season. Per the collective bargaining agreement, this tax bill goes up every year if the Celtics choose to be a second-apron team.
How much appetite the new ownership will have to pay these exorbitant amounts remains to be seen. This brings about difficult decisions that will need to be made this offseason.
Jrue Holiday May Be on Thin Ice After Celtics Sale
This means that one of the expensive Celtics veterans like Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis could be out the door in the offseason. At age 34, Holiday is showing signs of decline, and he is under contract for three more seasons at nearly $35 million per year. Moving on from him while he still has solid trade value and cutting the tax bill will be an appealing option for the Celtics' leadership. Payton Pritchard could easily step in and take on a larger role in his stead.
GM Brad Stevens has never been the one to shy away from trading valuable players for the long-term benefit of the team. We saw this with fan favorite Marcus Smart in the 2023 offseason and can see it again with Jrue Holiday.