Examining Celtics' Salary Cap, Decisions for 2025 NBA Free Agency After Knicks Loss
The Boston Celtics entered the 2024-25 season as defending champions, and they did little during the regular season to suggest that a repeat was unattainable.
Boston found itself in a somewhat unexpected race with the Cleveland Cavaliers for the No. 1 seed. While the Celtics never quite caught Cleveland in the regular season, they entered the playoffs with plenty of momentum.
However, Boston crashed when it ran into the New York Knicks during the second round of the playoffs. The Celtics repeatedly allowed games to slip away and then met disaster when star forward Jayson Tatum suffered a torn Achilles.
Boston rallied without Tatum to win Game 5, but it couldn't keep its season alive much longer. The Celtics were eliminated with a 119-81 blowout loss against the Knicks in game 6.
Now that Boston's playoff run is at an end, it's time for head coach Joe Mazzulla and general manager Brad Stevens to undertake the task of preparing for next season. The 2025 draft is rapidly approaching, and free agency will open on July 6.
Reloading might not be easy, as the Celtics are set to be over the second luxury-tax apron. However, navigating the offseason will be a necessary step toward making another run during the 2025-26 season.
Here, we'll examine Boston's salary cap outlook, top impending contract decisions and some potential top targets for 2025 free agency.
2025 Salary Cap
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The Celtics shouldn't be looking to shake up their core this offseason, and they shouldn't have to. Boston is set to have 11 players under contract, including starters Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Jrue Holiday, Derrick White and Kristaps Porziņģis.
Stevens and Co. will likely take a quiet approach to free agency, in part, because there may not be much of a choice. Boston is set to be $17.7 million over the second luxury-tax apron, which will limit the team's options under the latest collective bargaining agreement.
As a quick reminder, teams over the second apron cannot aggregate contracts to trade for a single player, use trade exceptions from previous years or absorb more salary than they send out in a trade. If the Celtics can't find a way to get under the second apron, they won't be able to use the mid-level or bi-annual exception either.
Boston was over the second apron in 2024 and this season as well, and maintaining a championship-caliber roster won't be easy moving forward.
"[Stevens is] looking at this and is going to extend our window and make it work. We’ll find out in June or July what we’re going to do," team governor Wyc Grousbeck said, per Brian Robb of MassLive.
While the Celtics aren't going to tear it down this summer, a surprise move for cap purposes cannot be dismissed.
Top Contract Decisions
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In general, the Celtics have few contract decisions to make this offseason. Luke Kornet, Torrey Craig and Al Horford are the only players scheduled to be unrestricted free agents, while two-way players Miles Norris, J.D. Davison and Drew Peterson will be restricted free agents.
It's possible, though, that Boston will actively look to get under the second apron this offseason.
"You can’t stay in the second-apron, nobody will, I predict, for the next 40 years of the CBA, no one is going to stay in the second apron more than two years," Grousbeck said, per Robb.
Stevens may need to make a difficult decision on Porziņģis, who has a notable injury history and is only under contract through next season. Holiday is another potential trade candidate, as The Athletic's Zach Harper noted back in March.
"It would bring them below the second apron and just above the first apron," Harper wrote. "It would greatly reduce that tax penalty, and they’d probably see enough flexibility to bring Horford and/or Kornet back on reasonable deals."
Stevens could also opt to keep his biggest stars and try making another run with minimum contracts filling out the depth chart—if new owner William Chisholm is comfortable staying over the second threshold for another year.
Free Agents to Pursue
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Realistically, the Celtics won't have the cap flexibility needed to be major players in 2025 free agency. Even if Boston decides to move off of Porzingis, fans should expect Stevens to go after any big names on the open market.
If Porzingis is out, and the Celtics don't retain Horford, however, they could be in the market for some frontcourt help. That probably won't mean targeting stars like Myles Turner or Bobby Portis (player option), but depth/role players like Trendon Watford and Jaxson Hayes could garner some consideration.
It wouldn't be a total shock, though, if the Celtics don't add anyone in free agency and simply hope to find a contributor in the draft.
Look, Boston has one of the best and deepest rosters in the NBA, and it's hard to envision another team's castoff making it better. Stevens is likely to either focus on keeping the roster together or moving to get under the second tax threshold while hoping that the remaining stars are enough to contend again next season.
*Cap and contract information via Spotrac.
