Celtics offseason notes and thoughts entering Summer League

The Celtics’ offseason continues with Summer League in Las Vegas this weekend, where they’ll face standout center Kel’el Ware and the Heat, the Bronny James Lakers and Charles Lee’s Hornets before closing the four-game slate with a Finals rematch against the Mavericks. Boston will play a fifth, yet to be scheduled game after that.

The summer since the championship has been both relaxed and turbulent. The Boston Celtics are for sale after 22 years of steady stewardship and there’s no clear indication who will purchase the team. On the floor — 13 of the 15 roster players from the 2024 championship are signed for next season before luxury tax concerns begin in 2025-26.

• We know three things so far about the sale and a forthcoming massive deal: Irv Grousbeck drove the decision to sell as the money behind the team for family planning purposes, Steve Pagliuca will make a bid to become the majority owner after serving alongside Wyc Grousbeck as the major managing partners since 2002, and while the whole process could take through 2028, the 51% managing share of the team could change hands quickly. Though Grousbeck projects to oversee the team through that period, those years becoming some of the most expensive for a team in NBA history leave questions about the team’s sustainability during Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum’s prime.
• Brad Stevens made the right moves in the meantime. Signing Tatum, Brown, Jrue Holiday, Kristaps Porzingis and Derrick White to extensions leaves the team with the most possible options into the future, whether to absorb luxury tax costs or offload a contract or split one into smaller ones. Going into free agency with any of those players would’ve led to worse results. It’s a small miracle that Boston retained White for four-years, $126 million given the free agent deals similar players are signing, but as HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto first reported, White received a 15% trade kicker and additional likely incentives in the deal.
• It’s been noteworthy how the most expensive and least expensive teams have handled the second apron and new luxury tax threats. The Clippers and Nuggets opted to let Paul George and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope leave outright in free agency rather than recover assets through sign-and-trades. The return, for LA especially, became the ability to add players to the roster that they couldn’t while over the second apron line. George…