Celtics continue to make trades to get out of the luxury tax
Less than 24 hours after trading Jrue Holiday, Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens is back at it.
Boston has reportedly traded Kristaps Porzingis and a second-round pick to the Atlanta Hawks in exchange for Georges Niang and the Cavs 2031 second-round pick. To facilitate the deal, the Brooklyn Nets were brought in as a third team and will receive Terance Mann and Atlanta’s No. 22 pick, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania.
Porzingis was widely viewed as a trade candidate as the Celtics worked to shed salary and get under the second tax apron. The first major move came with Holiday being dealt to Portland.
According to cap analyst Keith Smith, Boston is now $4.5 million under the second apron and $7.4 million over the first apron.
WAY more to come, but the Boston Celtics are now out of the second apron by $4.5M.
The Celtics are $7.4M over the first apron and about $15.4M over the luxury tax.
— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) June 24, 2025
The Celtics acquired Porzingis just over two years ago in a three-team trade that sent Marcus Smart to Memphis. While Porzingis helped Boston win its 18th championship last season, his time in green was marred by injuries. The 7-foot-3 Latvian appeared in just 42 games last season and 57 the year prior.
Niang, a Lawrence, Massachusetts, native, returns to his home state in the deal. He starred at the Tilton School in New Hampshire before playing collegiately at Iowa State. The veteran forward, who was traded earlier this year from Cleveland to Atlanta, averaged 12.1 points while shooting 44% from the field and 41.3% from three with the Hawks. He is on an expiring contract and will earn $8.2 million this season, per Spotrac , before becoming an unrestricted free agent next summer.