Jayson Tatum tore his achilles 49 days ago.
The Celtics’ season ended 45 days ago.
The following day, Jrue Holiday expressed hope he would remain part of the Celtics. One week ago, Boston traded him to the Blazers. And one day later, the Celtics salary dumped Kristaps Porziņģis. While most fans could foresee their departures, two players with more tenure in Boston could leave in far difficult fashion on Monday.
Only 56 days ago, Celtics-Knicks began with some hope of a Boston sweep based on how the regular season series went. Even down 2-0, 54 days ago, the Celtics seemed to have every chance to turn their postseason around. They were still a championship contender.
The past two months turning, instead, into an unceremonious end of an era feels wrong, abrupt and surreal. Some of the Celtics’ downfall occurred outside of their control. But the regret that showed on their faces — sharing their knowledge that the team would break up soon — reflected how the team mismanaged massive leads in Games 1-2. On Wednesday, Brad Stevens showed similar dismay in his expression. No matter how well he managed the start of the offseason, he seemed to understand that the most difficult day stood ahead.
“(Luke Kornet and Al Horford) are huge parts of this organization,” Stevens said last week. “They’re going to have, I’m sure, plenty of options all over the place, and that’s well deserved, but I think that would be a priority. At the same time, I don’t want to put pressure on them. It’s their call ultimately, but yeah, we would love to have those guys back.”
The Celtics cleared more than $200 million in luxury tax and salary off their books to begin the offseason without shedding draft picks. They returned expiring salaries and solid players in Anfernee Simons and Georges Niang, but without a clear path to re-routing either emerging ahead of 6 p.m. on Monday, Boston could find itself with limited flexibility to retain Kornet and Horford. Both bigs should receive mid-level exception interest around the league.
Boston, with roughly $7 million in room beneath the second apron, could carve out more space by offloading another player. It’s unclear whether they can do that while following the organizational mantra of returning assets. The Celtics might reach a point where they have to cut their losses, and face some grueling decisions on Horford, Kornet and even Sam Hauser’s future. Like with Jaylen Brown and Derrick White, Boston doesn’t seem interested in parting with Hauser for the salary relief he’d provide. The Celtics want a serious return.
Hauser, Simons and Niang remaining would indicate they haven’t fielded one yet. And that places Boston in serious danger of losing not only Kornet, but Horford as well, despite him seemingly having a narrow number of teams he would consider after turning 39. Adam Himmelsbach reported that Horford might not reach a quick decision when free agency begins as he assesses the situation in Boston. By all accounts, Horford plans on continuing playing. So the prospect, however crushing, remains that he could change uniforms again.
In this conversation about asset management, losing both centers would appear detrimental to not only 2026, which increasingly looks like a reset year for the Celtics, but also 2026-27, when Jayson Tatum could return to see his three rotation centers from the title run gone. Only Neemias Queta and Xavier Tillman Sr. enter next year under contract.
It’s not just the basketball. Boston formed a strong connection with both players.
Horford became synonymous with the city despite the two-year break between his two tenures. Kornet arrived in 2021 and achieved unimaginable staying power since, surviving a G-League stint, emergency COVID-19 contracts elsewhere, three coaches and emerging as an ancillary contributor before starting a playoff game to cap his emergence over three seasons. It’s no surprise that Kornet could receive the full MLE, and if a team like San Antonio offered $14.1 million for three years, the Celtics have little hope of competing.
If Tatum’s achilles tear made Horford more willing to assess options outside of Boston with so little time left in his career, nobody would knock him. Kornet leaving after accumulating only $14 million for his efforts so far in his career also makes sense, despite the Celtics seemingly scrambling to compete with comparable offers to ones they can make with their Bird rights. It’s become the team’s best hope for maintaining a future at center beyond this season.
“I kind of knew the whole time it’d be hard to go anywhere else,” Kornet told CelticsBlog last fall after passing up larger offers from other teams to stay with the Celtics. “I knew that Boston, in terms of what was available for us too, was kind of limited, but to be able to play with this team — and my family’s been here. There were some great options to go other places, but you notice … is there anywhere else I’d want to play with a different group of people?”
If the Celtics can’t retain either player, the prospect of a far more difficult reset looms. Boston might need to embrace a larger step back at that point, or would need to pivot to a stop gap center by trading another player that would leave them thinner at a different spot.
But the Celtics’ strength so far has been operating with patience. Free agency could dry up quickly this summer. Opportunities to offload cap could emerge. And a roster might emerge that looks more competitive, or at least points in that direction. Simons, Niang and Hauser don’t need to move yet, and exiting free agency with one of their main centers would prove a win. Even if greater challenges exist after this week.
Celtics fans could use a pleasant surprise after a draft week that sounded focused on the long term. Retaining either Kornet or Horford would qualify.
“I think we’re always trying to compete with the guys that we have. Brad did mention last night that our first team all-NBA player’s in a boot, and so that’s a real thing, and I think you got the update from him last night on that,” Celtics executive Mike Zarren said last week.
“But having more flexibility is always useful in these things. We have made a key part of our philosophy is to be opportunistic about opportunities that come along, and so depending on where we end up and what moves we make, obviously you guys know I can’t talk about some specifics of things, but depending on what we do, we’ll try to put ourselves in the most opportunistic position to take advantage of other opportunities as they come along. I know that’s kind of a boring answer, but that’s really how it works.”
