{"id":587507,"date":"2026-02-07T03:06:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T03:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/587507\/"},"modified":"2026-02-07T03:06:00","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T03:06:00","slug":"brad-stevens-reveals-celtics-openness-to-future-spending","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/587507\/","title":{"rendered":"Brad Stevens reveals Celtics\u2019 openness to future spending"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brad Stevens reveals Celtics\u2019 openness to future spending<\/a> appeared first on ClutchPoints<\/a>. Add ClutchPoints as a Preferred Source by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

BOSTON \u2014 The <\/a>Boston Celtics<\/a> were very busy at the trade deadline, but they weren\u2019t exactly big spenders. Rather, they traded away minor contracts, saved money, and ducked under the luxury tax after being far above it over the summer.<\/p>\n

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To regain financial flexibility and avoid the tax aprons, which became quite devastating due to the latest CBA, the Celtics traded away wing Josh Minott<\/a>, forward Chris Boucher<\/a>, and big man Xavier Tillman Sr.<\/a> ahead of the Feb. 5th deadline.<\/p>\n

They also dealt guard Anfernee Simons to the Chicago Bulls in exchange for center Nikola Vucevic<\/a>, and while that saved the C\u2019s around $6 million, Celtics President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens<\/a> said that move was about fulfilling a positional need.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe directive of this trade deadline was let\u2019s see if we can, again, find some size that we could give ourselves a little bit more depth there, and make sure that we are more prepared for some of the the physicality that\u2019s coming down the road if we\u2019re able to ultimately be in playoffs,\u201d he said during a Friday morning press conference at the Auerbach Center.<\/p>\n

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Still, the Celtics cut some costs from trading Simons, and whenever a front office sells a lot, fans can get concerned \u2014 especially in Boston. Many New Englanders have grown tired of the Boston Red Sox refusing to make a big splash<\/a> in recent years and have frequently criticized how ownership values its own bottom line more than the good of the team.<\/p>\n

Brad Stevens isn\u2019t committed to living under the luxury tax<\/p>\n

When Celtics owner Bill Chisholm officially took over the Green Team in 2025<\/a>, some fans worried that he\u2019d be just as stingy as the Red Sox\u2019s management. However, Stevens asserted that despite the Celtics\u2019 recent money-saving maneuvers, they will spend when the time comes.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut, next year if there\u2019s something that we look at and we say, \u2018We got to take advantage of it right now\u2019, then we\u2019re going to try to take advantage of it,\u201d Stevens described the Celtics\u2019 spending plan. \u201cBill has been really clear with that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Any sizable expenditure would likely put the C\u2019s back into the luxury tax. Plus, they\u2019re already in the repeater tax at the moment, resulting in significantly higher tax rates.<\/p>\n

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Despite this fact, Stevens said there is no directive from ownership to dodge the luxury tax again next season. If true, that\u2019ll allow the Celtics to monitor free agency this summer and possibly find some additional help for stars Jayson Tatum<\/a> and Jaylen Brown<\/a>, who, altogether, make more than $100 million a year.<\/p>\n

Boston could still spend before then, though, as it can now hit the buyout market since freeing itself of the restrictive tax aprons. Stevens even hinted at his future moves, suggesting the Celtics may complete their roster by giving standard contracts to a few of their guys on two-way deals.<\/p>\n

No matter how the front office does it, Stevens emphasized the Celtics\u2019 demand for ball-handling given the loss of Simons.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe\u2019ll ultimately fill the roster spot with at least one more ball handler, and then see how the rest of those needs play themselves out,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

As Stevens searches, the Celtics will attempt to continue their winning ways<\/a>. They\u2019re currently 33-18 overall and in third in the Eastern Conference, just 4.5 games behind the first-place Detroit Pistons.<\/p>\n

But before the C\u2019s can think about the top seed, they\u2019ll need to focus on heading into the All-Star break with some momentum. Boston has won four games in a row and will look to make it five when it hosts the Miami Heat at TD Garden on Friday night.<\/p>\n

Related: Nikola Vucevic gets standing ovation before making Celtics debut<\/a><\/p>\n

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Related: Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce clash over Celtics\u2019 success before Big Three<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brad Stevens reveals Celtics\u2019 openness to future spending appeared first on ClutchPoints. Add ClutchPoints as a Preferred Source…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":587508,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3766],"tags":[4329,7,45,75,7286,3798,3164,46,329,10761,188,78,77,7272,16443,189,6,3853],"class_list":["post-587507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boston-celtics","tag-anfernee-simons","tag-basketball","tag-boston","tag-boston-celtics","tag-boston-red-sox","tag-bostonceltics","tag-brad-stevens","tag-celtics","tag-chicago-bulls","tag-chris-boucher","tag-detroit-pistons","tag-jaylen-brown","tag-jayson-tatum","tag-josh-minott","tag-luxury-tax","tag-miami-heat","tag-nba","tag-nikola-vucevic"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116027142942547303","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=587507"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587507\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/587508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=587507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=587507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=587507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}