The Boston Celtics went all-in last season by making big splashes to acquire the likes of Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis, following that up with major contract extensions for their entire starting five. While their faith has paid off with the 2024 NBA Championship, the New York Post reports that the team’s rising payroll is one of the major reasons why Irvin Grousbeck wants to sell the team.
“Irving Grousbeck… balked at funding big losses on the horizon from the massive contracts that helped the Celtics capture a record 18th NBA championship in June… The team barely broke even last season during its championship run, sources said.”
“It is expected to lose roughly $80 million because of luxury tax fines for being over the salary cap for the upcoming season that tips off next month, a source close to the sale process said. That figure likely will rise significantly in the 2025-26 season when harsher salary cap fines kick in.”
Irving Grousbeck, the 90-year-old patriarch of the family, is engaged in a heavy disagreement with his son at the moment. Wyc Grousbeck is the one aggressively re-signing the team’s star players on massive contracts to maintain their winning core, something his father doesn’t appreciate.
The news of the Celtics being available for sale broke before big-money summer contract extensions were handed to Jayson Tatum, Derrick White, and Jrue Holiday. The Celtics payroll and luxury taxes are expected to come out to $262 million for just the 2024-25 season.
The $262 million figure doesn’t even include the supermax contract Jayson Tatum signed this summer, which will kick in next summer. With Tatum and Brown both on ascending supermax contracts with very well-paid role-players such as White, Holiday, and Porzingis, the Celtics payroll and tax amount is expected to balloon up to more than $500 million for the 2025-26 season.
These finances aren’t sustainable for more than a few seasons, with the 2024 offseason seeing teams like the Warriors and Clippers let star players go to fix the finances of their team. Even the Nuggets have been forced to let players like Kentavious Caldwell-Pope walk in free agency because the new CBA’s tax implications are far too severe.
The Celtics are in a proven contention window right now so they likely won’t take a step like that this season, but it’s clear that this isn’t sustainable for them. The NBA will start freezing future assets and impose massive fines on the Celtics, which isn’t going to be a headache for a new franchise owner until the Celtics sell.
The most successful franchise in NBA history has arguably the best team in the NBA right now, but these reasons might complicate the sale more than anything for the Celtics, especially with nearly a billion dollars owed to their starting five over the next five seasons.
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