Boston Celtics salary: How impending CBA deadlines could affect potential blockbuster trades

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Boston Celtics salary: How impending CBA deadlines could affect potential blockbuster trades




NBA Commissioner Adam Silver speaks to reporters during a news conference, Friday, Oct. 21, 2016, in New York. Silver says the league and players have made "tremendous progress" toward an extension of the collective bargaining agreement, saying he hoped a deal would be completed soon. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer) (Mary Altaffer)



Tom Westerholm | twesterh@masslive.com By Tom Westerholm | twesterh@masslive.com




on December 13, 2016 at 12:56 PM




The Boston Celtics are going to have some difficult decisions to make in the next few months as the NBA trade deadline on Feb. 23 approaches, but the NBA's ongoing CBA negotiations might have a more immediate effect on what the Celtics do (or don't do) before the deadline.

Brian Windhorst of ESPN has a good breakdown of the important upcoming dates, and what issues the NBA players union and owners still face as they look to avoid an uncomfortable lockout with the NBA lying in a bed of TV revenue like Huell in Breaking Bad.

Presumably, either the players union or the owners (or both) will opt out of the CBA by Thursday, Dec. 15. That's the opt-out deadline established back in 2011, and while the CBA technically runs through 2021, nobody expected the current agreement to last through the opt-out date.

Fortunately, optimism is very high that a new deal will be in place to prevent any work stoppage.

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Windhorst calls the potential new CBA more of an "extension," noting that many of the important tenets of the deal will likely remain unchanged. That the two sides have gotten to the point where licensing (i.e. "the official hot dog of the NBA!") is the sticking point is a good sign -- during the last negotiations, the biggest issue was the split of basketball related income, which was a much more contentious issue. Now, with all of the money pouring in, that seems to be less of a problem.

So how does this affect the Celtics specifically? A little more, and a little more immediately, than you might think. Let's take a closer look.

First and foremost, remember that the Celtics value flexibility above all else in their current state. Until they are legitimate championship contenders, don't expect them to sacrifice future flexibility for a few wins in a 2016-17 season dominated by the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Golden State Warriors.

With that in mind, the Dec. 15 CBA deadline takes on new importance. The Celtics aren't likely to make much of a deal at all if it's uncertain how it will affect their flexibility in the future. If they don't have an accurate salary cap estimate moving forward (and it's a good bet the estimate will be shaky for a little while  -- the 2017 cap estimate already fell from $107 million to a more damaging $102 million before an agreement has even been reached), it's a good bet that Danny Ainge will be very hesitant to make a big move.

As noted by the ever-informative Ryan Bernardoni (@dangercart) on Twitter, the NBA has an early season trade window approaching shortly after Thursday's CBA deadline: Two months before the Feb. 23 trade deadline. Players traded before Dec. 23 can be re-packaged again two months later, which makes any time before Dec. 23 -- exactly two months before the trade deadline -- an artificial deadline of sorts for teams that aren't settled on their current roster.

Again, if the Celtics want to make a move (i.e. to add more defensive rebounding, which, yes, they almost certainly would like to), flexibility will come into play. Ainge won't want to make a mid-sized move in early January if there is a chance it will prevent the Celtics from matching salaries in a trade for a superstar at the deadline. That leaves the Celtics with a week-long window approaching: After Dec. 15, they will know what the CBA's status is, and whether they feel like they can make a move before Dec. 23, the artificial deadline before the trade deadline date.

So what changes are the Celtics concerned about in the new CBA? A couple of things.

Most notably, of course, are changes to the salary cap. But changes to maximum contracts would also play a role. As of now, the Celtics have (just barely) enough room to bring in a max contract this summer without giving anything up, although filling out the rest of their roster would be borderline impossible without making other moves. You can also bet that they would like to take a look at what changes might be pending to contract extension rules down the road, with Marcus Smart, Terry Rozier and Jaylen Brown showing more and more flashes of potential. If building a championship contender with the current core proves impossible, they can still build with a youth movement, assuming -- again, here's that word -- that they maintain their flexibility.

The Celtics won't necessarily be completely dormant. There are a few players that might make sense, including Jeff Withey (cheap deal that could simply be absorbed, contract expires after this year) or Andrew Bogut (Dallas might look to move his $12 million expiring deal for low picks/salary filler that might end up being someone like Amir Johnson).

But none of those options are superstars, and more expensive options are unlikely. There's too much uncertainty right now, and while the bigger names would certainly help, the Celtics will be understandably gun shy about making high-risk, high-reward moves until they actually know what the high risks will be. An agreement on Thursday might help clear up some of that confusion, but it doesn't leave the Celtics with a whole lot of time to make something big happen.



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