The record-setting $6.1 billion purchase price for the Celtics is just the beginning of William Chisholm‘s investment in the franchise. As Jay King of The Athletic notes, Chisholm is taking over a team with a massive salary and huge expectations that will become even more expensive if the core of the roster is kept together.
Boston’s payroll is projected to be in the neighborhood of $445MM next season in salaries and luxury tax, per John Hollinger of The Athletic. That’s without free agents Al Horford and Luke Kornet, who would push that total higher if they’re both re-signed.
As players waited out the sale process, Jayson Tatum talked about the importance of finding a new owner who understands “the culture” and Jaylen Brown expressed the need to “keep the emphasis on winning.” Both statements reflect the necessity for continued spending for the Celtics to remain at a championship level, as King adds that the fanbase will quickly turn on the new owner if talent is sacrificed to save money.
“That’s something that they’ll have to figure out,” Horford said. “Ultimately, they’ll be the new owners of the team, they’ll have to make those decisions. But this is my 18th season in the league and there are very few times when you get a special group or a certain window of guys that you can do some special things. So I’m sure that they will be aware of that but that’s something that you have to understand what you’re stepping into.”
There’s more from Boston:
- Bobby Marks of ESPN believes the roster is “sustainable” for the near future, even with the giant tax bills (Twitter video link). Marks points out that the Celtics have 11 players under contract for next season — including Tatum and Brown, who are both signed to long-term deals — and they’ll have two picks in the top 32 of this year’s draft. However, he adds that it could be hard to keep complementary players like Sam Hauser and Payton Pritchard long-term because of the effect they’ll have on the luxury tax.
- Coach Joe Mazzulla came away encouraged from his first meeting with the new owner, according to Adam Himmeslbach of The Boston Globe. Chisholm, a Massachusetts native and life-long Celtics fan, pledged to build on the team’s recent success. “Just continue to win championships, continue to be a high-level organization on and off the court, and he obviously has a lot of experience doing that in other endeavors,” Mazzulla said. “So just continuing to work to make the Celtics better, and then kind of give us a shot every year to go after a championship. So I’m excited about that.”
- Chisholm expressed similar sentiments to Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter links). “The team is in a great place right now, and I’m very sensitive to that,” he said. (Current owner) Wyc (Grousbeck), (president of basketball operations) Brad (Stevens) and Joe have done amazing jobs. … My approach is to win and raise banners. That’s in the near term and the long term. I bleed green. I love the Celtics. When opportunity came up, I couldn’t pass it up. Wyc has done an incredible job. So why would you mess that up? I’ve had a couple of sitdowns with Brad and it’s been about aligning our goals and extending the window of this team.”
- Eric Fisher of Front Office Sports examines the record price tag, attributing it to the scarcity of pro sports franchises for sale and the NBA’s new media rights deal.