Celtics Plan to Make More Trades This Summer, Says Front Office Exec

Just a little over a year removed from capturing their 18th NBA title in a five-game NBA Finals demolition of the (very different-looking) Dallas Mavericks, the Boston Celtics have already made massive changes to their championship core.

After six-time All-Star Boston forward Jayson Tatum tore his Achilles during an eventual second round playoff series defeat to the New York Knicks, the Celtics pivoted quickly to teardown mode in an effort to avoid the league's brutal second luxury tax apron. They're still over it, as of this writing.

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The Celtics flipped six-time All-Defensive Team and two-time All-Star combo guard Jrue Holiday to the Portland Trail Blazers in a straight-up deal for defensive sieve Anfernee Simons, who has massive upside as a scorer.

Boston next offloaded starting center Kristaps Porzingis — who in fairness wasn't healthy in either of his playoff runs with the team and ultimately was supplanted by his ostensible backup Al Horford — to the Atlanta Hawks as part of a three-club exchange with the Brooklyn Nets. The Celtics received sharpshooting forward Georges Niang and a second round draft pick in the deal.

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Center Luka Garza and small forward Josh Minott both inked minimum deals with the Celtics, shifting the team above the second luxury tax apron. For now.

One anonymous front office executive revealed in a conversation with Keith Smith of Spotrac that the team fully intends to make further deals this offseason.

NBA Summer League is a bit about watching basketball and a lot about talking to people around the NBA about basketball.
For @spotrac I emptied out half of my SL notebook. Here are notes from executives, coaches & scouts for all 15 Eastern Conference teams!https://t.co/P4zchFOk7f
— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) July 21, 2025

"Still figuring it all out. As you’ve noted, we’re still above the second apron. We won’t finish there," the executive asserted. "It sucked to trade Jrue (Holiday) and KP (Kristaps Porzingis), because we loved those guys and they loved Boston.”

Floor-spacing forward Sam Hauser, essentially a pricier Niang at this point, feels like the easiest player to offload. Simons and Niang could also probably be moved.

“But it was being brutally honest that we aren’t the same level of team without Jayson (Tatum)," the executive conceded. "We’ll be good. We’ll be a playoff team, but…you know. It’ll come for every team that lands where we did. You can’t be over the second apron and not a title contender. It’s just poor management for both the short- and long-term. The frozen pick and pick dropping stuff is real.”

More Celtics News:

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For more news and notes on the Boston Celtics, visit Boston Celtics on SI.