When Brad Stevens wants something, he goes and gets it. The 2023-24 Executive of the Year had long set his sights on players like Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porziņģis, and when the opportunity arose, he pounced. These acquisitions helped Boston secure its first championship in 16 years.
Since taking over as President of Basketball Operations, Stevens has done whatever is necessary to improve the team—whether that means handing out extensions, making franchise-altering trades, or anything in between. The Celtics are better because of it.
Within Stevens’ three seasons as the basketball boss, Boston has reached the Eastern Conference Finals each season, made two NBA Finals appearances, and secured the long-coveted Banner 18 last month.
Stevens has built a juggernaut, a team that outscored its opponents by +930 points (the fifth-best mark in league history) in the regular season last year. Forty-two of their 64 wins (67.7%) came by double digits, as they cruised through the NBA Finals with a 16-3 postseason record, and the team isn’t going anywhere.
Boston, who enters the 2024-25 season as favorites to become just the fifth team since the turn of the century to be repeat champions, and the first since the Golden State Warriors in 2017-18, will return 13 of their 15 players on a standard contract from last season’s championship run. Including two-way players, 15 of 17 will be returning.
On Sunday, Stevens locked up the core even further, inking Sam Hauser to a four-year, $45 million contract extension. The deal marks the third extension given out by Stevens this summer and the 12th in his three years as President of Basketball Operations. In locking up Hauser, Boston’s top-eight of their championship rotation, with the exception of Al Horford, is under contract through the 2025-26 season.
Despite a looming ownership change, the Celtics remain committed to spending. Before finalizing Hauser's extension, Boston had already awarded the richest contract in NBA history: a five-year, $315 million extension to Jayson Tatum, and a four-year, $125 million extension to Derrick White.
Additionally, they re-signed Luke Kornet to a one-year, $2.8 million deal, Xavier Tillman to a two-year, $4.7 million contract, and Neemias Queta to a three-year, $7.1 million deal.
“It doesn’t really [affect us] right now,” Stevens said on the sale last week in Vegas. “From the standpoint of the corporate side or basketball operations, we’re just head down, doing what we think is best for the now of the Celtics and the future of the Celtics. We’re lucky we have a good team.”
Parlay the busy summer with a four-year, $134 million extension given to Jrue Holiday in the spring, a four-year, $30 million extension to Payton Pritchard, a five-year $305 million supermax extension for Jaylen Brown, and a two-year, $60 million extension for Kristaps Porzingis, and you get one of the most expensive teams in NBA history.
In the short term, this means little: next season, the Celtics will essentially run back the same roster that won the title. However, complications arise down the line. Hauser’s extension pushes Boston’s projected payroll for the 2025-2026 season to $225 million, along with a record-setting $210 million luxury tax penalty.
Additionally, being over the league’s second apron for a consecutive year would render their 2032 and 2033 first-round picks untradeable.
This poses a challenge for the new ownership group, which will face some tough decisions as it takes charge. For now, the Celtics have demonstrated their commitment to spending whatever is necessary to maintain their championship and potential dynasty window.
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