2025-26 Celtics Roster

[Who]

Roster

G: D White, Pritchard
G: Jrue Holiday
F: Hauser
F: Jaylen
C: Porzingis, Horford, Kornet

Others: Scheierman will hopefully be ready to step up as a rotation caliber SG. That would give the team good depth at guard.

Needs

Clear need at forward particulary a big forward. Ideally a starting caliber player to allow Jaylen to start at SF and for Hauser to come off the bench.

There is a clear weakness at forward in terms of rebounding and defense. Playing two smaller forwards there without any legit size / quality contribution on the boards is going to put much more pressure on the centers. Porzingis is unlikely to answer that bell. Horford is too old to carry that burden. There needs to be a forward with size, defense, and rebounding added to this team.

Options

Looking at Hoopshype's free agent list at forward, these are some names that stand out:

SF

* Taureen Prince
* Gui Santos
* Kelly Oubre

PF

* Jake LaRavia
* Larry Nance Jr
* Jeff Green
* Ja'Sean Tate
* Yabusele
* Chris Boucher
* Trey Lyles

We might be priced out of LaRavia. It sounds like he might get close to MLE money. He would be an ideal stop-gap option.

Yabusele is a negative defender. He is solid one-on-one but lacks quickness as a help defender. Boucher has quickness but lacks bulk and is easily outmuscled. He cannot start.

[celticinorlando]

I think Hauser, Al and Jrue are all gone.

[Phantom255x]

Something worth noting. Keith Smith and others on Twitter have said that if they deem Tatum's injury is "more than likely" to keep him out all of next season (or most of it), the C's could be granted a 14.4M exception to add a replacement player.

[Who]

Something worth noting. Keith Smith and others on Twitter have said that if they deem Tatum's injury is "more than likely" to keep him out all of next season (or most of it), the C's could be granted a 14.4M exception to add a replacement player.

That is true. I forgot about that injury replacement exception. That would be fantastic. We could get a good player with that exception to replace Tatum.

[Birdman]

Like I said before, this team currently looks like a 6th-7th seed in East?Al & Jrue are getting up there & not the players they once was..Porzingus u can?t depend on cause of injury concerns?if Hauser is our starter, we in big trouble?hopefully get that 14 million to get one or 2 players

[Phantom255x]

Something worth noting. Keith Smith and others on Twitter have said that if they deem Tatum's injury is "more than likely" to keep him out all of next season (or most of it), the C's could be granted a 14.4M exception to add a replacement player.

That is true. I forgot about that injury replacement exception. That would be fantastic. We could get a good player with that exception to replace Tatum.

Actually it turns out if we use it, it counts for our cap/luxury tax. So like even if we shed and get under the 2nd apron, if we're barely below it I doubt we'd use it. So idk.

I would like someone like Aldama if we could at that range. I know the focus is SF but even another PF/C wouldn't be a bad addition especially if Porzingis is traded away.

[Who]

Something worth noting. Keith Smith and others on Twitter have said that if they deem Tatum's injury is "more than likely" to keep him out all of next season (or most of it), the C's could be granted a 14.4M exception to add a replacement player.

That is true. I forgot about that injury replacement exception. That would be fantastic. We could get a good player with that exception to replace Tatum.

Actually it turns out if we use it, it counts for our cap/luxury tax. So like even if we shed and get under the 2nd apron, if we're barely below it I doubt we'd use it. So idk.

I would like someone like Aldama if we could at that range. I know the focus is SF but even another PF/C wouldn't be a bad addition especially if Porzingis is traded away.

Oh, that is a sucker punch. What would that be after luxury tax payments? Something like $50-55 million just to add an MLE caliber guy? Yikes.

Just to play at a 45-48 win pace instead of a borderline .500 team? That is a tough sell for any ownership group.

[DefenseWinsChamps]

Something worth noting. Keith Smith and others on Twitter have said that if they deem Tatum's injury is "more than likely" to keep him out all of next season (or most of it), the C's could be granted a 14.4M exception to add a replacement player.

That is true. I forgot about that injury replacement exception. That would be fantastic. We could get a good player with that exception to replace Tatum.

Actually it turns out if we use it, it counts for our cap/luxury tax. So like even if we shed and get under the 2nd apron, if we're barely below it I doubt we'd use it. So idk.

I would like someone like Aldama if we could at that range. I know the focus is SF but even another PF/C wouldn't be a bad addition especially if Porzingis is traded away.

Oh, that is a sucker punch. What would that be after luxury tax payments? Something like $50-55 million just to add an MLE caliber guy? Yikes.

Just to play at a 45-48 win pace instead of a borderline .500 team? That is a tough sell for any ownership group.

It's an opportunity to more easily retool if you trade both Jrue and Zinger. We could get under the 2nd apron while getting a pick/prospect for each other those players and a player for the 14m exception.

You rebuild entering 2026-2027 with Brown-Tatum-White-Pritchard and hopefully a few young interesting players.

[radiohead]

Something worth noting. Keith Smith and others on Twitter have said that if they deem Tatum's injury is "more than likely" to keep him out all of next season (or most of it), the C's could be granted a 14.4M exception to add a replacement player.

I saw that too. How would it affect our salary cap? Would it not count as it?s an exception?

[celticinorlando]

East is so bad that the Cs are still a playoff team next year IMO

[radiohead]

Something worth noting. Keith Smith and others on Twitter have said that if they deem Tatum's injury is "more than likely" to keep him out all of next season (or most of it), the C's could be granted a 14.4M exception to add a replacement player.

That is true. I forgot about that injury replacement exception. That would be fantastic. We could get a good player with that exception to replace Tatum.

Actually it turns out if we use it, it counts for our cap/luxury tax. So like even if we shed and get under the 2nd apron, if we're barely below it I doubt we'd use it. So idk.

I would like someone like Aldama if we could at that range. I know the focus is SF but even another PF/C wouldn't be a bad addition especially if Porzingis is traded away.

Ok you just answered my question haha! So that option seems very unlikely unless we shed a lot of salaries? With how KP is playing now, I doubt any team would want him and his 30M contract, although he?s an expiring asset.

[Phantom255x]

Something worth noting. Keith Smith and others on Twitter have said that if they deem Tatum's injury is "more than likely" to keep him out all of next season (or most of it), the C's could be granted a 14.4M exception to add a replacement player.

I saw that too. How would it affect our salary cap? Would it not count as it?s an exception?

It sounds like it would still count against our luxury tax, at least from what I read online

We can use it and add a player but the luxury tax goes up. It's not like we're "restricted" though from adding a 15M player, it just depends obviously on Brad and ownership

[Banner18now!]

Something worth noting. Keith Smith and others on Twitter have said that if they deem Tatum's injury is "more than likely" to keep him out all of next season (or most of it), the C's could be granted a 14.4M exception to add a replacement player.

I saw that too. How would it affect our salary cap? Would it not count as it?s an exception?

It sounds like it would still count against our luxury tax, at least from what I read online

We can use it and add a player but the luxury tax goes up. It's not like we're "restricted" though from adding a 15M player, it just depends obviously on Brad and ownership

New ownership officially takes over next year?

[blink]

So is Al gone for sure after this year?   Feels like it.   But it would be hard to replace all of Jrue, KP, Al and Sam.

[Phantom255x]

Something worth noting. Keith Smith and others on Twitter have said that if they deem Tatum's injury is "more than likely" to keep him out all of next season (or most of it), the C's could be granted a 14.4M exception to add a replacement player.

That is true. I forgot about that injury replacement exception. That would be fantastic. We could get a good player with that exception to replace Tatum.

Actually it turns out if we use it, it counts for our cap/luxury tax. So like even if we shed and get under the 2nd apron, if we're barely below it I doubt we'd use it. So idk.

I would like someone like Aldama if we could at that range. I know the focus is SF but even another PF/C wouldn't be a bad addition especially if Porzingis is traded away.

Ok you just answered my question haha! So that option seems very unlikely unless we shed a lot of salaries? With how KP is playing now, I doubt any team would want him and his 30M contract, although he?s an expiring asset.

Personally, I would trade Porzingis and 2 future first round picks to Utah for Kessler, Sexton and Sensabaugh. It works, and we save 6M overall from that move. Utah has some cap space to make it feasible under their books.

Kessler is our big of the future. Sexton is a nice scoring guard, limited defensively but we can account for that, and Sensabaugh is another decent shooting option off the bench. If we also trade Jrue/Hauser in other moves, this move with Utah can sort of fill out our roster as well.

For Utah, they get the two future 1sts, and an expiring in Porzingis but Porzingis can also function as another veteran for that squad at least for a year, and a brief Kessler replacement. Or Utah can even just play him for half the year (or preserve him) and then trade him for additional assets at the trade deadline.