{"id":1917,"date":"2025-07-11T15:59:03","date_gmt":"2025-07-11T15:59:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/1917\/"},"modified":"2025-07-11T15:59:03","modified_gmt":"2025-07-11T15:59:03","slug":"celtics-mailbag-kristaps-porzingis-trade-exception-options","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/1917\/","title":{"rendered":"Celtics Mailbag: Kristaps Porzingis trade exception options"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Celtics<\/a> will begin to get a glimpse of their future this week as they get a closer look at their rookies and other key young players in Las Vegas for NBA Summer League<\/a>. Brad Stevens will be watching closely as he puts the finishing touches on the roster and debate bigger tweaks via trades. Let\u2019s answer some questions about the future, Kristaps Porzingis<\/a> and those potential deals in this week\u2019s mailbag. Send all future questions to brobb@masslive.com <\/p>\n

Hi Brian,<\/p>\n

I haven\u2019t seen anyone talking about how the new CBA should make us think about trade exceptions differently. Traditional wisdom has been fans get overly excited about them, most of are never used. Under the new CBA do you agree that could change dramatically? <\/p>\n

Think about how rare and valuable cap space is this year with teams trying to avoid the 2nd apron and only one team (Brooklyn) having significant space to absorb player contracts. A trade exception can function the same way.<\/p>\n

Brad\u2019s genius at work again getting back a $22M trade exception that won\u2019t expire until July 2026 in the Porzingis deal. I think we\u2019ll see lots of teams looking to shed even good players to get out of contracts over the next year and Celts should have leverage to exact a premium in return. Under the new CBA a trade exception is as good as cap space.<\/p>\n

I think the Celts need to keep Afernee Simons and his $27M contract too (not trade him to reduce salary further). I don\u2019t see him as a long term fit, but if we trade every player we don\u2019t want to have on the team when Tatum comes back next year, then the only players we\u2019d have left to make the trades we need for Celts to be a contender again in 26-27 are the core pieces we\u2019re not willing to trade.<\/p>\n

In 2 moves Brad has created $49M worth of salary matching for trades between the trade exception and Simons contract (understood Simon\u2019s would need to be a sign and trade given his expiring deal).<\/p>\n

Am I off base with all of this? \u2014 Steve<\/p>\n

Fascinating points with all of this, Steve. One area where I agree with you is when it comes to tradable salary. With so much talent going out the door, there\u2019s not a lot of secondary talent (and movable money) left on the roster. Letting contracts like Simons and Niang expire outright (and not re-signing them) makes it tougher to get more talent back in the door since you don\u2019t get that salary slot back with Boston\u2019s cap situation moving forward. A majority of Boston\u2019s cap room is tied up with three guys, so that means Pritchard and Hauser would be only mid-sized salaries ($5-20 million) on the entire roster, and those are good value deals.<\/p>\n

The trade exception stuff could be a weapon next summer, but it\u2019s a potentially limited one when it comes to Boston\u2019s payroll plans. If the Celtics want to be a team that dips under the luxury tax this and next season, the TPE would essentially become useless since taking back a big contract in a trade would not be feasible next summer while also staying under the tax line. For the current season, it\u2019s essentially unusable since Boston wants to subtract payroll, not add to it after already dealing away Porzingis and Jrue Holiday. <\/p>\n

The calculus changes a little bit if the Celtics opt to remain big spenders next season. At that point, Boston could use the Porzingis TPE as long as they stay under the first apron ($209 million projection). The Celtics currently have about $185 million committed next season to 12 players (including a 2026 first-round pick) so the team would have wiggle room to add a much bigger contract via trade in that slot compared to using a non-taxpayer mid-level exception. <\/p>\n

This team will undoubtedly be in the market for a center for next year (barring a monumental jump by Neemias Queta or Luka Garza) so it\u2019s possible that the Porzingis TPE could help them fill that gap if bigger spending is authorized by ownership. However, using that TPE would create a hard cap for them at the first apron. <\/p>\n

What player has the most on the line at Summer League among those on the roster? — Luke <\/p>\n

Jordan Walsh would be the player to keep a close eye on given the construction of the roster. He\u2019s entering his third season but his contract is only guaranteed for $200,000 until opening night. Baylor Scheierman passed over him in the depth chart at the end of last year and then the team added a host of wings via the draft (Hugo Gonzalez, Max Shulga) and free agency (Josh Minott) that present direct competition to his path towards minutes or even a roster spot hypothetically (if a 2-for-1 trade is made). <\/p>\n

Walsh is only 21 but he hasn\u2019t done much to stand out in limited stints during his first two seasons. His jump shot remains inconsistent at best (26 percent from 3 in career) and while there\u2019s some defensive promise in his game, it hasn\u2019t been enough to outweigh his offensive limitations so far. He will get plenty of chances to show his improvements in Las Vegas but he\u2019s going to have to show some growth in order to feel secure about his future in Boston as the team weighs what are the best options to commit to building with around their stars moving forward. <\/p>\n

If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Celtics will begin to get a glimpse of their future this week as they get a closer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1918,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[355,99],"class_list":["post-1917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1917","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1917"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1917\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}