Boston Celtics president Brad Stevens on the importance of flexibility to the team
After the Boston Celtics had dealt away 2024 title core veterans Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis, it was clear that the plan from Boston's front office was to get under the NBA's second apron. They did it to dodge not only a potentially historic tax bill, but also to avoid the team building penalties the league's collective bargaining agreement (CBA) mandates against teams carrying that much salary over time.
Speaking after the Celtics made their selection in the 2025 NBA draft, Boston President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens shared some of the thinking behind the moves made by the team ahead of the draft. "I think the biggest thing is there clearly is a need to prioritize regaining our flexibility and maximizing, from an asset standpoint, what we can," shared the Celtics president via CLNS Media.
"As far as whatever moves that those are a part of, they're all separate and hard and ... you're just going to have to do your best to make sure you put yourself in the right positions."
"But I do think that this is about what we do have to, and we knew this was coming, right?" asked Stevens rhetorically. "This isn't a huge surprise -- we have to make sure we prioritize that flexibility." Boston now has that with Anfernee Simons and Georges Niang coming back as salary ballast and potentially helpful players for the Celtics in the deals that sent out Holiday and Porzingis.
Instead of being forced to deal players already on the roster for whatever further goals the team may have, Boston now has two newcomers who still have some value, putting the team in a more flexible position moving forward as Stevens and the Celtics organization seem to value over all in the short term.
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