The Celtics may be close to the point where the rest of their offseason is about keeping the right people, not chasing more names.
After the Jaylen Brown trade, Boston added Mitchell Robinson and Mike Conley and used draft picks on Chris Cenac Jr. and Dillon Mitchell. With PG waiving his trade kicker, the Celtics are now within sniffing distance of the luxury tax line.
They could get under it pretty easily by waiving Dalano Banton’s non-guaranteed deal or making a few other small moves before the trade deadline. Using the $27.7 million trade exception and pushing right up to the first-apron hard cap is technically on the table, but it’s tough to see a move there that would justify it.
That makes the next phase pretty clear: the Celtics are likely to focus on their own players. Neemais Queta and Ron Harper Jr. already got extensions this offseason, and Brad Stevens has hinted that a major reason for the Brown trade was to create room to keep the roster together.
The biggest decision coming next belongs to Payton Pritchard.
Pritchard has spent the last couple of seasons turning himself into one of the league’s better success stories. He won Sixth Man of the Year and backed it up with another strong year last season. He’s set for a larger role this year, and on October 1st, he becomes eligible for an extension.
Right now, Pritchard has two years left on the four-year, $30 million rookie extension he signed, a deal that has become one of the league’s best bargains. Boston can offer him a max extension of three years and $67.1 million in the fall, a raise that would still look like a bargain if he keeps trending upward.
That contract would begin in the 2028-29 season and would pay him more than $22 million per year on average. For the Celtics, that’s the kind of number that makes sense if they believe Pritchard is part of the core.
Jaylen Brown’s player option for the 2028-29 season alone is $67.4 million, which puts the price in perspective. Pritchard isn’t Brown, but the Celtics don’t need him to be.
They need value, and this would be a lot of production for a lot less money.
That’s the whole point of the best teams in the league right now: they’re built around stars on contracts that don’t crush the cap. A Pritchard extension would take up about 9% of the cap going forward, and if his game keeps climbing, that kind of deal could become one of the Celtics’ biggest advantages. It would give Boston room to keep stacking quality around him instead of paying full price for everything.
Even if he never makes a huge leap, the deal still works. But if he does take another step and signs this extension before breaking out in a bigger role, it could end up looking like a massive discount.
That’s where the dream starts to get interesting. There’s been plenty of chatter about Pritchard as the next Jalen Brunson, and while that’s a big leap to ask for, the idea isn’t completely wild.
With more minutes and more usage, averaging 20+ points and 7+ assists per game on high efficiency is at least within the conversation. If Boston wins big with Pritchard as its second offensive option, an All-Star case starts to come into focus.
He doesn’t have to become Brunson for this to matter. Becoming a true complementary star next to Jayson Tatum would be enough. If the Celtics can lock in a player like that for under 10% of the cap, that’s the kind of edge that has powered title teams in recent years.
There is one wrinkle: Pritchard could decide to play out his deal and test free agency in the summer of 2028. He’ll be 30 then, and at 6’1”, the market would matter. But the chance to secure his future now and stay locked in through age 33 should make this an easy call for both sides.
If it gets done, it could wind up being one of the key moves in Boston’s push to build a roster good enough to raise banner 19.
In Other News...
Chris Cenac Jr. Gave Celtics Fans Exactly The Rookie Promise They Crave
Bostons summer league opener gave fans a first look at the kind of rookie impact theyve been waiting to see, and Chris Cenac Jr. delivered plenty of it in an 83-80 overtime win over Toronto. The Celtics had to rally from a double-digit deficit, but Cenacs debut offered the blend of activity and poise that can make a summer showcase feel a little more meaningful than the average July box score.
He finished with 14 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks, giving Boston a frontcourt presence that showed up on both ends and kept the game within reach when it mattered. Dillon Mitchell also flashed with defense and energy, while Hugo Gonzalez, Amari Williams and John Tonje each had their own stretches, leaving the Celtics with a promising opening-night mix and a few more reasons to keep watching this group closely. [Read more 🡒]
Derrick White Gets Real About Celtics Pressure After Chaotic Offseason
The Celtics offseason has already delivered enough twists to keep the locker room on edge, and Derrick White sounded like a player trying to make sense of it all while keeping the focus on the same old standard: winning. He spoke about the changes around Boston, including the shock of seeing Jaylen Brown moved on and the arrivals of Paul George and Mitchell Robinson, while making clear that his respect for Brown remains intact and that the teams expectations have not changed.
White also touched on the ripple effects inside the roster, from Neemias Quetas new contract to his own push for a better season. He said he wants to sharpen his shooting and clean up a few small areas after feeling he did not play as well as he wanted last year, a reminder that even amid the roster churn, the Celtics are still measuring themselves against the same internal bar. [Read more 🡒]
Jaylen Brown Move May Have Created A Bigger Celtics Problem
Jaylen Browns departure from Boston was framed as a harsh but necessary cap decision, the kind of move Brad Stevens said the Celtics had to consider when so much of the roster-building money was already tied to Brown and Jayson Tatum. It was the sort of front-office choice that can reshape a contenders present and future at the same time, especially when a team is trying to keep its title window open without boxing itself into impossible financial corners.
Now that decision may be echoing beyond Boston. Victor Wembanyamas reported willingness to accept a rookie extension below the maximum has sparked the idea that stars could start viewing a little short-term sacrifice as a way to help their teams stay flexible, and that is exactly the kind of precedent the Celtics would not mind setting in the abstract. The lingering question is whether this becomes a one-off gesture or the start of a broader shift in how elite players approach their next big deals. [Read more 🡒]