The Celtics took plenty of heat last year for trimming salary and stepping away from the tax line, but the bigger picture was always clearer than the noise around it. Boston was already above the second apron and deep into the repeater tax, which meant the team was staring at a future with almost no roster flexibility, frozen draft picks, and a bill that would have pushed close to $5 for every $1 over the tax. That wasn’t a clean basketball decision so much as a financial wall.
Now that wall is showing up everywhere else.
The Nuggets are the latest team to run headfirst into it. They’ve kept Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, and Aaron Gordon together longer than most teams can dream of, but that stability is starting to come apart under the weight of the apron rules.
Denver is sitting right up against the second apron with only nine players on the roster. On top of that, they’ve already watched multiple bench pieces leave in free agency, while Peyton Watson and Spencer Jones remain unsigned in restricted free agency.
There’s no easy fix here. Denver could simply spend and push far beyond the apron, but that would leave the team boxed in with no real ability to make moves, a roster that still might not be good enough to contend, and a tax bill that would climb into the hundreds of millions of dollars. That path is off the table.
Instead, the pressure is already forcing talent out the door. Oklahoma City signed Jones to an offer sheet on Saturday, and that’s the kind of move Denver may have trouble matching. The Nuggets still need a plan for Watson, and they may end up needing to move a starter like Cam Johnson just to make the numbers work.
It’s a rough spot, and one that could shape the rest of the Jokic era. Denver has clearly put itself in a bind, but the larger force at work is the current CBA.
The Celtics were the first team to take the full hit and get criticized for it, and now other contenders are finding out why. What looked like overreaction then is starting to look a lot more like foresight now.
In Other News...
Celtics Just Lost A Summer Standout In A Brutal Two-Way Twist
John Tonjes summer with Boston had been one of the more encouraging subplots of the Celtics offseason, enough to keep his name in the mix as the team sorted through its two-way picture. The guard, who played in six games for Boston last season after arriving as a second-round pick by the Utah Jazz, also turned heads with a strong showing in summer league and gave the staff a reason to think he might stick around longer.
Instead, his next stop changes the Celtics calculus in a hurry. With Tonje no longer part of the equation, Bostons two-way situation becomes a little less crowded as the front office weighs its remaining options and looks at players such as Amari Williams, Dillon Mitchell and Milos Uzan for the spots still available. [Read more 🡒]
Brad Stevens May Have Just Made Bostons Biggest East Threat Even Worse
Philadelphias offseason has already had a Celtics-shaped edge to it, and the latest move only sharpens that storyline. After Boston sent Jaylen Brown to Philadelphia, the 76ers have kept building around a core that now looks far more dangerous on paper, with Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid and VJ Edgecombe already in place and the front office clearly betting on a faster climb back into the Easts top tier.
For Boston, the concern is less about one transaction than the way the ripple effects keep stacking up. The 76ers pushed the Celtics to seven games in last seasons first round, and now they have added another layer of star power to a roster that already had plenty of it. If the pieces fit the way Philadelphia hopes, the path back through the Eastern Conference could get a lot steeper for the Celtics. [Read more 🡒]
Celtics Fans Just Got The Rival Scenario They Feared Most
The Eastern Conference just got a lot more complicated for Boston, with Philadelphia reshaping itself around a move that instantly changes the balance of power. However the rest of the season plays out, the Celtics now have to prepare for a rival that looks very different from the one they expected when the schedule was set, and the ripple effects go well beyond one marquee addition.
For Boston, the real unease is in what comes next. The Celtics will see this new version of the 76ers often enough to get a close look, and the possibility of a postseason collision adds another layer of pressure to every meeting. What had been a familiar rivalry suddenly carries a far more uncomfortable edge, and that is exactly the kind of scenario Celtics fans were hoping to avoid. [Read more 🡒]