Celtics aren't even remotely close to the spurs or thunder
Just watched a few minutes but looked at the play-by-play post-game and had the exact same thought.
The Celtic championship teams up until 2024 always had either the best player in the league or close to it, Russell, Cowens, Bird and Garnett.
We just haven't had that player since Garnett and have had very bad luck in the draft lotteries we were involved in.
Seems only a couple of years ago that we were the young, upcoming dominant team built around two all-star wings with very good veteran teammates, but not an MVP level player.
When do the salary cap nightmares that destroyed our roster start to kick in for OKC and San Antonio ?
For OKC, next season. They will be $91m over the salary cap, $41m over the first apron, $29m over the 2nd apron and $41m over the tax line (which means a probable tax bill of over $200m). If they don't reduce their payroll they will incur all the first and second apron penalties. And that's with Shai on $40m.
The year after, Shai's supermax kicks in and they will have $172m in committed salary to 5 players - JWill, Chet, Shai, Caruso and Aaron Wiggins. Then they have club options for $41m more for 6 players (the ones in red in 2027-28 below). That brings them to $220m for 11 players, which is $47m over the cap, $1m over the first apron and only $12m below the 2nd, with 3 more players to sign to get to 14.
So the bill is going to come due for OKC next season, unless they take significant steps to reduce their payroll (they won't/can't), they will be operating as a second apron team, so they will have a lot of restrictions on who they can trade for/to, sign, and their draft pick will be frozen. But the point of exceeding the second apron is to do so when you have a contender, then you stick with that team as long as possible because (like us and Phoenix a couple of seasons ago) you can't really change the team at all other than adding vet min guys. What they have to do is make sure, like us, they sell high when the team is no longer contending. Because then you end up being like Philly, where you can't get rid of overpriced players, or like Phoenix, where you have to buy out contracts and leave them on your books for years because you made a bad financial decision (Beal) or you sell low (KD).
(click to enlarge)
As for the Spurs, they're in a much better position because most of their players are on rookie deals. Next season, if you take out the cap holds (cap holds are players whose contracts have ended but haven't signed wtih another team, they are counted against the cap for purposes of calculating how much money a team has to sign outside free agents) their committed salary is $152m vs the $165m cap. So even though they are below the cap, because of the cap holds they can't sign an outside free agent unless they renounce some cap holds or those players sign elsewhere.
But they figure to be $52m below the 1st apron, $65m below the 2nd and $48m below the tax line - but that's with 10 players on their roster. So what this means is they have flexibility to re-sign their existing players, they could technically spend $50k on any of their own free agents if they wanted to (they probably won't, because none of them would be worth that, but they will probably try and create some tradeable contracts since they have financial flexibility).
The reason they're in a decent position is Fox is their only max contract so far, at $50m. Then they have Vassell at $27m, Johnson at $17m and Wemby at $16m. They don't really have to pay anyone till next season which is Johnson, and they will probably give Wemby a rookie max. Castle, Harper and Bryant are cost-controlled till 2028-29 and 2029-30. Champagnie their starter is costing them $3m. Luke is costing them $10m. So their balance sheet has a lot more flexibility.
(click to enlarge)
Topic: NBA Season/Playoffs 2025-26 (Read 961880 times)