Why not both?
Celtics trade: Hayward, 14, 26, and 30
for
Turner and Gordon
Pacers trade: Turner, Lamb and McBuckets
for
Hayward, and 14
Magic trade: Gordon
for
Lamb, McBuckets, 26 and 30.
C's go then have Walker, Brown, Tatum, Gordon, Turner as starters with Smart, Langford, and Theis as main bench.
Cause we cannot afford them going forward.
According to the latest projections (released just a few days ago), the tax line in 2021/22 will stand at $136,606,000.
For the sake of discussion, let's assume that:
- Tatum re-signs with the C's in 2021 for the 30% max.
- Next year's pick ends up at #26 (just like this year).
- We let Theis walk in 2021.
- We fill the remaining roster spots with rookie minimum contracts (never gonna happen, but it's the best case scenario regarding the tax situation).
payroll for 2021/22:
1. Kemba $36,016,200
2. Tatum $33,724,200 (=30% of the cap)
3. Brown $25,794,643
4. Turner $18,000,000
5. Gordon $16,409,091
6. Smart $13,839,285
7. Langford $3,804,360
8. R. Williams $3,661,976
9. G. Williams $2,617,800
9. Celtics 2021 pick $2,096,880
10. Edwards $1,782,621
11. rookie minimum $925,258
12. rookie minimum $925,258
13. rookie minimum $925,258
14. rookie minimum $925,258
15. rookie minimum $925,258
dead cap
Yabu $1,039,080
Jackson $92,857
total: $163,505,283
The Celtics would be $26,899,283 over the tax line!
For a non-repeater, the tax breaks down like this:
150% for amounts up to $5 million over the threshold
175% from $5-10 million.
250% from $10-15 million.
325% from $15-20 million.
375% from $20-25 million.
425% from $25-30 million.
and so on
$7,500,000 + $8,750,000 + $12,500,000 + $16,250,000 + $18,750,000 + 8,071,952.75 = $71,821,952.75 in luxury tax!
Fwiw, the biggest amount ever paid in luxury tax is $61.6 million (by the Thunder in 2018/19).
tl;dr
In this scenario, the Celtics would have to pay ~$72 million in luxury tax!