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Difficult decisions loom for the Boston Celtics in the aftermath of seeing their season come to an end at the hands of the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference semifinals. With Jayson Tatum out for a long period of time due to an Achilles tear, there is plenty of uncertainty regarding the Celtics and their championship-contending viability for next season.
And with the Celtics having a new ownership group, there are plenty of rumors floating around that they will be looking to make some cost-cutting moves this offseason. If not, they are looking at a player payroll worth nearly $500 million after factoring in the luxury tax penalties brought forth by being in the second tax apron.
Suffice to say, major changes appear to be afoot for the Celtics. Breaking up the core of their 2024 championship-winning team will be a difficult undertaking, but they are necessary for the long-term health of the franchise especially with a bit of a gap year looming in the 2025-26 season.
With that said, this is the core member of the Celtics team that the front office must find a way to trade.
Jrue Holiday's time on the Celtics is up
Jrue Holiday is the very definition of a winning player. Even in his declined state, Holiday is someone every contending team would want — a defensively versatile guard who can even match up against bigger wings who crashes the boards and always makes the right play. Acquiring Holiday pushed the Celtics over the top during the 2023-24 season, as he was an upgrade over Marcus Smart on nearly every front.
Holiday was then deservedly rewarded with a huge contract extension worth $135 million over four years. Even with the new CBA, the Celtics wanted to keep their championship core intact and rewarded their key guys with contract extensions to keep them content in Beantown. But as is the case in the NBA, the contending bill comes due, and it is coming due for them in a hurry.
In an ideal world, the Celtics would be able to keep their current core, buying time for when Jayson Tatum returns from injury. But the luxury tax penalties are too much for any ownership group to bear (except for perhaps Steve Ballmer and the Los Angeles Clippers), and Holiday is looking like the most likely cap casualty for the Celtics.
For starters, Holiday's production is on the decline. This past season, the 34-year-old guard put up measly numbers of 11.1 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 3.9 assists per game, which hardly justifies his annual salary that exceeds $30 million a year. His impact goes beyond the box score, but in today's very stringent CBA landscape, it is difficult to accept that kind of meager production for that amount of money.
Moreover, Holiday's contract runs until he's 37, and for a good chunk of change as well. Small guards don't typically age well, and Holiday's impact could be even more muted as he continues to age.
Now, part of why Holiday's production has suffered is that the Celtics haven't needed him to do much heavy lifting over the past two seasons. Regardless, it will be a hard sell for a team that's not close to championship contention to trade for Holiday, limiting Boston's options as to where to send the veteran guard.
But for teams that are in need of just a few pieces, they know that Holiday can be the piece that pushes them over the hump. Holiday certainly did that for the Milwaukee Bucks in 2021, and he did so as well for the Celtics in 2024. However, that limits Holiday's market to not even a handful of teams, as there aren't too many teams that can stomach the cap impact of bringing in the 34-year-old guard.
At the end of the day, letting go of Holiday appears to be the path of least resistance for the Celtics. Other players that could possibly be on the move are Derrick White and Kristaps Porzingis, but both of them will be harder for Boston to let go of.
White is not someone the Celtics should be thinking about trading. He's one of the best volume three-point shooters in the NBA and one of the best defenders in the league, full stop. He is someone Boston should have on the roster when Tatum returns from injury. Moreover, the four-year, $118 million extension he signed that would keep him on the team until at least the end of the 2027-28 season, is very team-friendly for what he does.
Meanwhile, Porzingis is on an expiring contract and has plenty of health issues, rendering him a bit expendable for the Celtics. Perhaps he should be the player the Celtics must trade with utmost urgency.
But Holiday is someone who will require extensive maneuvering from the Celtics so that he could be traded away, while Boston should have an easier time dangling Porzingis in a trade in a salary dump due to his expiring deal. Thus, Holiday is someone Boston must be actively shopping.
