The Boston Celtics have carefully built one of the best teams of the modern NBA by carefully acquiring talent and assets to surround their homegrown superstar duo of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. Over years of trial and error, they perfected the formula last season with the additions of Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday to win the NBA Championship.
The Celtics look fierce this season with a 47-18 record, but they don’t look like the best. The Cleveland Cavaliers have seemingly surpassed them this regular season, currently amid their second 15-game win streak of the season. Their overall record (55-10) seems out of reach for the Celtics already, who similarly dominated the East last season.
With the Celtics taking an apparent step back, Bleacher Report has suggested a fairly radical trade that sees them move on from Jrue Holiday for Tobias Harris.
Trade Details
Boston Celtics Receive: F Tobias Harris, G Marcus Sasser, 2025 second-round pick (via Toronto Raptors)
Detroit Pistons Receive: G Jrue Holiday
This is a move based around the potential salary cap realities the Celtics will be faced with going forward, with a $223.9 million projected payroll for next season. Harris’ $26.6 million expiring contract next season looks more appetizing than Holiday’s contract which will pay him $32.4 million next season, and $72 million until 2028.
The Celtics Knew What They Were Getting Into
The Celtics were aggressive in retaining their championship core in the summer. Role players got big contract extensions as rewards for their performance, as Brad Stevens bet on keeping this core together and building a championship dynasty. They’re still the favorites in the East for many due to their extensive Playoff experience compared to the emerging Cavaliers.
Holiday is averaging 10.7 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 3.6 assists this season. While he’s never been a major offensive threat, he can be a reliable shooter and has been one of the best defenders in the NBA for years. He complements Derrick White in the backcourt perfectly with their similar skill-sets often proving to be ideal high-level fits around the more high-usage forward duo of Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum.
The reason the Celtics are willing to build a core that is this expensive after last year’s easy championship is that they can be competitive for years to come. Holiday is 34 years old but is still holding up his end defensively, with the team aided by Payton Pritchard’s offensive contributions off the bench.
Even if the Celtics fall short this season, I don’t see how it’s plausible that Brad Stevens would overreact by making a depth trade to break down Holiday’s expensive deal into one for an overpaid rotational player and a young guard. This also makes them materially worse on defense and increases the load for White and Brown on that end.
Tobias Harris is averaging 13.9 points and 6.1 rebounds while Marcus Sasser is averaging 5.7 points. It might be a lesser salary in the long and short term, but it’s not worth it for the Celtics to give up on a potential championship window.
If they had to dump salary, they’d likely move the likes of Kristaps Porzingis first due to his availability concerns. If not them, potentially some of the recently-extended bench players like Sam Hauser.
Even the Pistons would balk at this deal. There is little incentive for them to take on the expensive contract of Holiday if he’s presumably declining. His veteran presence would be great for them, but a Cade Cunningham-Jrue-Holiday backcourt might not be the move for the franchise, they have the flexibility to pick a long-term partner for Cunningham, and Holiday isn’t an ideal short-term option.
In the same way, the Celtics knowingly handed out contracts in the summer, the Pistons knew who they were paying for with Tobias. His veteran influence is useful for a young team learning how to compete with a starting role for him. He’d be a definite backup on the Celtics behind Tatum and Brown, with his low-usage style being a terrible use of resources for the second-team Celtics, who picked this core.
Change for the sake of change can be fruitless, and this would be precisely that. Even if the Celtics flame out of the Playoffs, such a drastic move doesn’t seem plausible. They’re in the prime of a championship window, and even if Holiday is surplus to requirements, the Celtics would find a better win-now deal than a half-measure salary dump which could extend their timeline but make them measurably worse.
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