Celtics Owner Addresses Financial Factors Of Jrue Holiday Deal

The Celtics proved they are all in on a championship this season with their offseason moves, but Boston also might be handicapped financially due to the new collective bargaining agreement.

Jaylen Brown re-signed with the Celtics this past offseason to a massive $303.7 million contract and Jayson Tatum is eligible to sign his own supermax contract next offseason. Those contracts combined with the acquisitions of Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday, who expressed a desire to stay in Boston long term, likely means the C’s will be a second apron team next season.

Under the new CBA, that means the Celtics will be limited in adding new players in free agency, which also means those four players will be Boston’s new core moving forward.

It was a calculated gamble for president of basketball operations Brad Stevens, and it’s one Celtics co-owner Wyc Grousbeck supported.

“We haven’t blinked at all,” Grousbeck told reporters Wednesday of the second apron, per MassLive’s Souichi Terada. “I was part of the committee that put the aprons in place with the players committee and we’re aware of all that. We’re going to be over the second I believe, Brad (Stevens), and paying those penalties and that’s the way life is. But it’s designed also we can have more competition in the league, and we’re fine with competition, as long as we win.”

The financial penalties that come with going over the second apron luxury tax had fans questioning if ownership would approve of aggressive offseason moves. But the Porzingis and Holiday deals confirmed ownership’s commitment toward the team’s goal of winning the franchise’s 18th championship.

It’s up to the players and head coach Joe Mazzulla to deliver.