SAD and shocking: Boston Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck is totally unbelievable” After given worst reasons” about his plan to sell the club” report.
With the signing of a new five-year, $314 million contract with the Boston Celtics on Monday, Jayson Tatum surpassed his teammate Jaylen Brown, who held a comparable title the previous summer, to become the highest paid player in NBA history.
Of course, the Celtics just won their first title in sixteen years, and even while 26-year-old Tatum didn’t exactly light the world on fire during the team’s postseason run, he’s still one of the best players in the league.
ESPN also revealed on Monday that Wyc Grousbeck, the team’s owner, is planning to sell the team. Since then, some have speculated that the Celtics’ enormous starting lineup salary may have something to do with those plans.
According to Tim Bontemps of ESPN on The Hoop Collective podcast, Wyc Grousbeck intends to sell the bulk of the team now, take over for the next three years while the Celtics are predicted to be a very good team, and then announce, “Hey, now it’s your turn to have the team down the road.”
“This is known as the Cuban maneuver; it refers to the act of selling team control and then attempting to claim control over the team when, in reality, you do not.”
Naturally, “The Cuban” refers to Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, who just sold the team but is still largely regarded as the organization’s non-basketball face.
Bontemps also broke down how the Celtics’ massive luxury tax bill down the line could have affected Grousbeck’s plans.
The Celtics right now are on pace to have a luxury tax and pay roll bill as of right now approaching $500 million dollars, not this coming year but next year when all these extensions kick in,” reported Bontemps.
“That would be the record in NBA history by $100 million dollars, I don’t think the Celtics are going to be paying a luxury tax bill to that degree, there’s a lot of different factors involved here, I think there’s little doubt that the expense of the team is going to be part of it.
The Celtics have indeed invested (very) heavily into the starting five that just won them the NBA championship. Once all of their extensions kick in, Tatum, Brown, Jrue Holiday, Kristaps Porzingis, and Derrick White–who also signed an extension recently–will all be making north of $30 million per year.
Still, the results on the court so far for this group have been hard to argue with, as Boston recently put together the most dominant playoff run since the 2017 Kevin Durant Golden State Warriors, finishing the postseason with a record of 16-3 and never having a series extended past Game 5, a trend that continued with their Finals win over the Dallas Mavericks.
In any event, brilliance is not inexpensive, particularly given the enormous contracts that are offered in the modern NBA.
