![\"Boston](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/GettyImages-2284956634-e1783434949168.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Boston Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens <\/p>\n
The Boston Celtics<\/a> were among the biggest beneficiaries when the NBA hit the LA Clippers<\/a> with a harsh penalty for the Kawhi Leonard<\/a> salary cap circumvention scandal.<\/p>\n The C\u2019s are now almost assured a premium lottery pick from the Clippers in 2028, given that the Steve Ballmer-owned franchise is expected to bottom out with no internal draft capital to rebuild after trading Leonard to the Raptors<\/a>. Furthermore, the new draft lottery system also heightens Boston\u2019s chances of landing a good pick.<\/p>\n Sooo that Clippers 2028 first-round pick\/swap the Celtics acquired from the Sixers this summer just got a little more valuable.<\/p>\n The Celtics, however, face a major dilemma: whether to use their top 2028 pick or package it \u2014 potentially alongside Paul George\u2019s expiring contract next year<\/a> \u2014 for a superstar to pair with Jayson Tatum<\/a>.<\/p>\n Celtics Face Major 2028 Question<\/p>\n Hardwood Houdini\u2019s Ben Handler<\/a> is convinced that how the Celtics use their incoming 2028 asset could \u201cdefine\u201d the rest of the Jayson Tatum era.<\/p>\n \u201c\u2026With a chance at a top pick in what\u2019s projected to be a very strong 2028 draft, and given Brad Stevens\u2019 proven track record of success drafting as late as he has, it\u2019s at least worth wondering if Boston should just use the pick and potentially draft a generational talent who could be the next franchise cornerstone and come into his prime just as Tatum is starting to decline,\u201d wrote Handler.<\/p>\n The Celtics writer feels the dilemma is a \u201cgood problem to have\u201d for the 18-time NBA<\/a> champions as they could allow the market dictate how to proceed in 2028.<\/p>\n \u201cIf teams come calling and want to blow them away with an offer that Boston loves, they should go ahead and take it if they think that move can position them to win championships with Tatum,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Handler further weighed the pros and cons of both decisions, explaining why the Celtics front office would be justified to go either route.<\/p>\n \u201cIf the Celtics don\u2019t trade the pick, they might not be able to give Tatum the pieces he needs to raise another banner in his prime,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n \u201cOn the other hand, if they do trade the pick, they risk giving away a possible superstar who could dominate the league for years to come, with no guarantee of immediate payoff. It\u2019s a hugely critical decision with no clear answer at the moment, but the right choice could set the franchise up to compete for the next decade or more.\u201d<\/p>\n Clippers Penalized by NBA<\/p>\n Besides the Celtics, the Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a> are also indirect beneficiaries of the penalties levied against the Clippers by the NBA. The Thunder are still eligible to swap 2027 first-round picks with the Clippers, who will forfeit their first-round draft capital every year from 2029 to 2032.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t Besides being ordered to surrender five future first-round picks, Clippers owner Steve Ballmer was hit with a $30M fine and a one-year suspension for circumventing the salary cap in favor of departing star Kawhi Leonard.<\/p>\n \u201cThe NBA\u2019s collectively bargained system for determining player compensation is a fundamental component of the basketball competition that the league oversees for the benefit of the teams and players and ultimately the fans,\u201d commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement. \u201cI am deeply disappointed by the flagrant violations of our rules and by the Clippers\u2019 institutional and leadership failures that led to this misconduct. The severity of the penalties reflects the seriousness of the violations.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tSai Mohan<\/a> covers the NBA for Heavy.com. Based in Portugal, Sai is a seasoned sportswriter with nearly two decades of publishing experience, including bylines at Yardbarker, FanSided’s Hoops Habit and more. More about Sai Mohan<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Boston Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens The Boston Celtics were among the biggest beneficiaries when…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":826747,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3766],"tags":[7,45,75,3798,46,6],"class_list":["post-826746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boston-celtics","tag-basketball","tag-boston","tag-boston-celtics","tag-bostonceltics","tag-celtics","tag-nba"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/117204643239189321","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/826746","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=826746"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/826746\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/826747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=826746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=826746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=826746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/GettyImages-2255007448-e1782561647600.jpg\")
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