Windhorst Feels Porzingis in Trade Talks, Celtics' Jaylen Brown, White Not Untouchable

After making their first big move of the offseason on Monday, the Boston Celtics may not be done dealing as they face a significant financial burden going into the 2025-26 season.

On Tuesday's episode of Get Up (starts at 2:10 mark), ESPN's Brian Windhorst said that Kristaps Porziņģis is "definitely" being shopped in trades, while Jaylen Brown and Derrick White aren't necessarily untouchable if a team makes a "gigantic offer" to the Celtics:

"Porziņģis I definitely think that they are in discussions with. And again, you can't just trade him off, they would be trading him for a player, probably who makes less money. That's what this was, Anfernee Simons kind of fits with Boston as a three-point specialist. They would need someone to sort of be a big man, starting-level big man for Porzingis if they made this deal. But look for a Porzingis thing. As for the other two star players, I don't think Derrick White and Jalen Brown are players that they want to trade. Having said that, if somebody calls with a gigantic offer, I think that they would have to discuss it. I think they'd be looking at their other supporting players, maybe like the Sam Hauser, that they would be looking to do. But as [Bobby Marks] described, they probably are going to have to make multiple more moves to save this money that they need to save."

On Monday night, the Celtics agreed to trade Jrue Holiday to the Portland Trail Blazers for Simons and two second-round draft picks. The deal saves Boston $4.7 million in salary for next season and clears money for the future since Simons is on an expiring contract in 2025-26. Holiday is owed $67.2 million over the next two seasons and has a $37.2 million player option for 2027-28.

Per ESPN's Bobby Marks, the Celtics are still $18 million over the second apron.

Porziņģis has a $30.7 million expiring salary next season that could be very attractive in a trade for teams not looking to carry long-term salary.

The Celtics reportedly aren't under a mandate to cut payroll even with a new ownership group set to take over as soon as NBA governors approve the sale, but the restrictions that come with staying in the second apron made it difficult to envision the roster as it has been constructed over the past two seasons to stay together.

Even with the expectation that Jayson Tatum could miss most, if not all, of the 2025-26 season recovering from surgery to repair a torn Achilles, the Celtics don't need a wholesale teardown because Brown and White are high-level players.

Given the state of the Eastern Conference for next season with Indiana Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton recovering from a torn Achilles suffered in Game 7 of the NBA Finals, the Celtics could still be a top contender to reach the Finals.

Brown (28 years old) and White (30 years old) are both still in their prime years and were terrific during the 2024-25 campaign. If a team wants to make a huge offer to the Celtics for either or both of them, it would be wrong not to at least entertain the idea of making a move.