Brad Stevens said that he remains committed to building a championship contender with the Boston Celtics heading into the offseason.
“I know there will be a lot of questions about what’s next,” said Stevens during Monday’s end-of-season press conference. “At the end of the day I think that will all be driven by the same thing that’s always driven us and that’s, ‘How do we get ourselves in the mix to compete for championships best?’ I think that will get more clarity as we take a deep breath, get a little more sleep than we have the last three nights.”
The Celtics’ payroll is expected to land at around $225 million next year, which would set the tax bill at around $280 million. The potential total of $500 million would be a league record under the current Collective Bargaining Agreement.
To relieve the tax burden, it is rumored that the Celtics are more likely to deal Jrue Holiday than Derrick White. Kristaps Porzingis is also seen as the most gettable veteran on the roster.
It was also revealed over the weekend that Jaylen Brown played through a partially torn right meniscus to end the season.
Jayson Tatum is also expected to miss a large portion of next season due to a torn Achilles.
Despite the challenges, Stevens reiterated his goal to compete for a championship.
“The north star is to have a championship contender, right? So you have to do what’s best to give yourself the best opportunity to do that when you can do that,” Stevens said. “And so, we just have to decide how feasible that is on any given year and make sure we are making the decisions accordingly.”