An indisputably bad development for an NBA team is to let an asset go through the door without any compensation. This is what happened on Monday night at the Celts whenever Luke Kornet agreed to a $ 41 million agreement with the Spurs during the start of the free agency.
The 29 -year -old center won the biggest payment of his career with San Antonio and came for a good reason. Kornet had some of the best numbers of his career and his chemistry with Boston stars was stellar. He was the teammate consumed and very worthy of a great climb. Their absence now Creates a large hole in the center of Boston Waiting for the decision of Alford.
The only obstacles that the Celtics had when retaining Kornet were money and the luxury tax. Celtics had their bird rights because they could have -offered the Spurs agreement or approaching a offer where it would have been left. They chose not to do it. This was a choice of money that simply weakens this team on the basketball floor, both now and the future.
The finances of the Celtics who do not give Kornet this contract make sense to a degree in the present when we look at the situation that the team created in itself. Celtics are still $ 17 million on the luxury tax line right now even after Porzingis and Holiday operations, which results in another $ 56 million in repeated tax penalties for the list, as it is currently composed. Kornet’s signature to $ 10 million a year would have increased Boston’s tax bill by $ 60 million more at the top of Kornet’s salary. He would also have sent the Celtics past over the second apron without further reducing their salary to other parts of the list.
The Celtics continue to explore roads to the salary by cutting elsewhere by sources, but their roads have not been promising. Anfernee Simons ($ 27 million) was obviously available for a reason in a JRUE holiday agreement and its market has not been excellent. Georges Niang ($ 8.2 million) is probably a bit paid. Celtics can move it for nothing, but it only makes a small toothed to reduce the payroll.
Ultimately, Stevens’s game repeated last year with the same nucleus bite again with the advantage of some later vision. Kristaps Porzingis was a luxury that did not play a significant career during the end of the 2024 NBA during the post -season due to health. Kornet gave more things to this team that filled Porzingis to a fraction of the cost. Last season, the Celtics were much better on the track with Kornet than Porzingis throughout the year. This is not a punch in Porzingis, but simply an example of Kornet’s growth as a player in this system.
For years, the Celtics have been looking for their initial center of the future ahead of the eventual departure/retirement of Horford and for the last two years it seemed that Kornet could have been that type. A contract of $ 10 million a year is completely reasonable for the seven feet of 29 years for the next four years, as it translates into only six percent of the lid next year. In the fourth year of the agreement, this number will drop to five percent. This should be affordable for a team that wants to compete again for a two -year title and does not have a strong alternative to the center of the house.
Instead, the various extensions of Boston created a financial hole this low season that was too large to leave. No one can blame Brad Stevens for repeating last year’s repetition, but the long-term branches of how the team went on this choice will be painful to recover as Boston’s support distribution is decimated.
Did there be alternatives to this ugly path? Is it fair to ask -if the team could have traded porzingis last year for less expensive players/assets and gave Kornet a bigger role? It may be the best for last year’s group, however, the season continued. Joe Mazzulla’s insistence on playing porzingis in the playoffs when he was not close to himself in the middle of a mystery virus was detrimental during the Knicks series.
Ultimately, Stevens has made many good betting in recent years on the creation of a title team, but the challenge of building a contestant advancing only became harder on Monday. The depth graph of the Celtics at the center consists of three minimum veteran players (Neemias Queta, Luka Garza, Xavier Tillman) and a second round in a two -side contract (Amari Williams). Kornet is far from a garlic, but it is much better than any of the options they advance.
The Celtics will not have a collection room for the predictable future, so they will depend on finding their center of the future now through the trade, the project or a diamond in raw (Garza). Putting in the luxury tax is now an understandable priority for the organization in a year of reinstatement, with Tatum marked to start restoring the luxury tax. The fact that the Celtics did not have a good way to do it as long as Kornet was signed again on a reasonable contract, should be a painful pill to swallow this office.