In what is sure to be a painful offseason, there’s one thing the Celtics absolutely cannot do … trade Derrick White
Show me a team that isn’t interested in trading for White, and I’ll show you a team run by morons.
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Recent eye-catching headline on Boston.com: Celtics have reportedly ‘rebuffed’ other teams’ attempts at trading for Derrick White.
My ire-raising reaction upon considering said eye-catching headline: Keep rebuffing, Brad. Rebuff every offer, from insulting (which most of them will be) to thought-provoking (if any happen to be, which is doubtful). Rebuff and rebuff some more. Rebuff them into oblivion.
Because in this potentially — probably? — seismic offseason for the Celtics, trading Derrick White is the one move that cannot be tolerated.
Seriously, it might be better to identify the teams that aren’t interested in trading for White — the highest-level kind of glue guy who also happens to swat shots like a young Dennis Johnson and owns the franchise record for 3-pointers in a season — than figuring out which teams are nagging Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens about his availability.
Show me a team that isn’t interested in trading for White, and I’ll show you a team run by morons.
It’s well-established that this is going to be a painful offseason for the Celtics because of their luxury-tax situation and the massive bill coming due. Stevens and Celtics ownership deserve all the credit in the world for keeping their 2024 championship core together and making one more run.
That it came up short with the second-round loss to the Knicks is disappointing in a bunch of ways. It’s disappointing, too, that this core can’t stay together longer given the stunningly punitive tax and basketball penalties. I’ll ask again: Why, exactly, did the Players Association agree to this collective bargaining agreement, which punishes teams built the right way (such as the Celtics) and is going to deeply affect the salaries of non-superstar veterans?
That second disappointment, as much as we tried to put it out of mind during the season, was inevitable. And so three weeks after the title defense ended with a 38-point Game 6 loss to the Knicks, most of us have reached the acceptance stage of Sports Grieving.
We’re resigned to change, realistic about what they might have to do, and intrigued how the savvy Stevens will go about it. The Celtics are more than $20 million over the second-apron tax threshold, and though there is some mystery about how they will proceed because of the pending ownership change, it would be stunning if they don’t reset.
Whether they do a full reset and get below the tax line altogether depends on incoming owner Bill Chisholm’s wishes, not to mention his stomach for being perceived as the guy who sold off a championship-winning roster for parts. I don’t believe they’ll do that. Still, major pieces — accomplished players that Celtics fans care about — will have to go to get below the second apron.
Jrue Holiday seems the most likely, and that’s a bummer. It’s a shame that this quintessential Celtic will probably play just two years here. I wish he’d been a Celtic for life. But he’ll turn 35 this month, and has two years, plus a player option for 2027-28, left on his contract at an average salary of $33.6 million. He should have appeal to any team that believes it’s a piece or two away from true championship contention.
I’ve loathed most of the speculated trade packages that the Celtics could receive in return for certain players, and we probably should get used to that — the need to get under the second apron doesn’t exactly give the Celtics leverage. Any trade return is going to be tolerable, at best. But I must acknowledge, the idea of Holiday — the anti-Kyrie — playing in Dallas with Cooper Flagg (he’s from Maine, you know), Anthony Davis (for the 47 games he’s healthy), and Klay Thompson (a favorite at this address) would be a decent outcome.
Perhaps Kristaps Porzingis — who has played one fewer game (regular season and playoffs combined) for the Celtics in his two years than Bill Walton did over the same span here — could be moved, given he’s in the final year of his contract ($30.7 million cap hit). And Sam Hauser, whose extension kicks in next season, probably goes, too. And we cannot forget that Al Horford and Luke Kornet are free agents. It’s going to take some tricky cap navigation to bring either or both of them back.
Jaylen Brown? It would be extremely difficult to trade someone who came through in the biggest moments two years ago and is so dedicated to the community. But Stevens should listen if his name is brought up … especially by the Spurs. Brown will be 29 in October, and given that his shooting has regressed, the question about what kind of player he will be when his otherworldly athleticism begins to wane at least needs to be asked.
The Celtics can’t totally gut this, though. They can’t have Jayson Tatum returning from his Achilles’ injury (finally coming out of the denial stage on that one) to a misshapen roster featuring this era’s versions of Jordan Crawford, Gerald Wallace, and Kris Humphries. With the right moves — and the right players retained — the Celtics should maintain playoff hopes in the weak Eastern Conference whenever Tatum does return.
The Celtics likely will keep Brown, and valuable players with team-friendly contracts — that’s you, Payton Pritchard — aren’t going anywhere.
And they must keep White. Stevens must keep rebuffing those offers. I trust that he will. No one knows White’s value more than he does.
There’s a reason every team with a clue covets him. There are very few like him. So let everyone else fight for the facsimiles. The original stays here.
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