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The Celtics trading away Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porziņģis is just the beginning. What’s Boston’s next move?

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The Celtics trading away Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porziņģis is just the beginning. What’s Boston’s next move?


The NBA’s second apron is, essentially, a hard salary cap of $207,825,000.

The restrictions, which impact a team’s ability to operate in the draft, free-agency and trade markets, are so punitive from a roster-building standpoint that it makes little sense to spend above the limit. It is even worse if a team spends into the second apron in consecutive years, as luxury-tax penalties only increase.

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Which brings us to the Boston Celtics, whose player salaries exceeded the second apron this past season, as they pursued a repeat championship. That quest fell short in the second round of the playoffs, as their superstar, Jayson Tatum, ruptured his right Achilles’ tendon. That combination of events, which also affects their ability to contend next season as Tatum recovers, signaled several cost-cutting measures.

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Between salary and luxury taxes, the Celtics were on pace to spend almost $500 million in payroll for next season. That was untenable, especially for a team that no longer feels like a legit title contender. Boston’s new owner, Bill Chisholm, does not want to lose money on the team he just bought for $6 billion.

So, on Monday night, the Celtics traded two-time All-Star and two-time champion Jrue Holiday — an invaluable member of their 2024 title team — for Anfernee Simons and two second-round draft picks.

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And, on Tuesday night, Boston dealt Kristaps Porziņģis to the Atlanta Hawks in a three-team trade that returned Massachusetts native Georges Niang. Some second-round picks were swapped in the process.

Simons is entering the final season of the four-year, $100 million contract he signed in the summer of 2022, which will pay him $27.7 million next season. While that is only $4.7 million less than the $32.4 million Holiday is owed for the 2025-26 campaign, it will save Boston roughly another $35 million in luxury taxes. The Celtics are also off the hook for the $72 million Holiday is owed in 2026-27 and 2027-28.

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Likewise, Niang is entering the last season of a three-year, $25 million deal. He is slated to make $8.2 million next season, $22.5 million less than the $30.7 million expiring deal Porziņģis is on next season. More importantly, Boston will save almost $150 million in additional luxury taxes.

The Celtics will save $27.2 million in salary and roughly $180 million in luxury taxes — or more than $200 million. Now you begin to see why the Celtics are cutting costs. Every dollar cut is exponential savings.

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It is no coincidence that Boston is now $4.5 million under the second apron. That was the plan all along.

So, is Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens’ work done? Far from it. Big men Al Horford and Luke Kornet are free agents, and re-signing them would take Boston back above the second apron.

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Do not be surprised if Sam Hauser’s four-year, $45 million contract extension is moved; do not be surprised if Simons and/or Niang never play a game in a Celtics uniform; do not be surprised if anyone but Tatum is mentioned in trade rumors. This is not what the Celtics’ roster will look like in October.

Which begs the question: Would the Celtics really trade Jaylen Brown or Derrick White, who, along with Tatum, form the foundation of a serious championship contender for the 2026-27 season? After all, the combination of Tatum and Brown has translated to a handful of Eastern Conference finals appearances.

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It would take a monumental offer — one that also better positions the Celtics to contend in 2027 — to persuade the Celtics to part with either Brown or White, and that return package is not easy to attain.

More likely, as we saw with the acquisition of Simons, Boston will peel off ancillary parts while trying to maintain a competitive roster. Simons has averaged 20 points (on 44/38/90 shooting splits), 4.5 assists and 2.8 rebounds over the past four seasons, though he is not the defensive stalwart Holiday is.

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Niang, well, he is a serviceable stretch forward who has shot 40% from 3-point range for his career.

But it is hard to talk about what exactly the Holiday and Porziņģis trades will mean on the court for the Celtics, as not even Simons is guaranteed to stay. Just know this week’s moves were the first of many this summer for the Celtics, who will spend the entire offseason reconfiguring a more affordable payroll.



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Boston, MA

Stormy Saturday, slightly sunnier Sunday – Boston News, Weather, Sports | WHDH 7News

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Stormy Saturday, slightly sunnier Sunday – Boston News, Weather, Sports | WHDH 7News


It’s been a stormy start to the weekend, and we’re not even close to done just yet!

As a storm moves south through New England, we’ll have more rain, wind and March-like temperatures. Let’s start with the timing and the rain. Showers and some heavy rain will come in waves from north to south, and leave in the same direction. That means, the further north you live, the earlier you saw the rain this morning, but the sooner you’ll see the rain leave this afternoon.

In fact, folks in areas like Worcester County could even see some sunshine before sunset.

On the flip side, if you’re on the South Shore, South Coast, Cape & Islands, the rain takes longer to reach you, but won’t be gone until 3-5 PM or so, and the clouds will take longer to break as well. 

Now for the wind. We’ve already seen gusts in the 20s, 30s & 40s. But with the strength of this storm, we could see more up to 55 mph for most of the coast, and 65 mph for the Cape and Nantucket.

For that reason, we have a Wind Advisory and a High Wind Warning until 8 PM this evening. We could even see a few power outages because with the potential of winds blowing weak tree limbs onto power lines. 

Finally, the chill. Temperatures early this morning were largely in the low to mid 50s. Not the worst start for this time of year.

But as the cold air associated with this storm kicks in, temperatures go down instead of up. We’ll be in the 40s for most of the afternoon. 

If there’s a bright side to this forecast, it’s that the storm is gone and clouds clear in time for us to see the only blue moon of 2026! It will rise tonight, and peak illumination will be at 4:45 AM tomorrow morning! It will be a micromoon, meaning it’ll look smaller than normal, as the moon is at or near apogee, its farthest point in orbit from the earth. 

On the note of tomorrow morning… it’ll be beautiful! It’ll be a cold start with temps in the 40s. However, we’ll have some beautiful sunshine as well, and by the afternoon, temperatures will reach the mid to upper 60s and low 70s– not far from normal! That said, clouds increase in the afternoon and we’re keeping an eye out for a few spotty showers as well. 

We’ll keep a few showers around on Monday, though they’ll stay spotty. Temperatures will be cooler as a front comes through with highs in the low 60s. We’ll keep a shower around on Tuesday, with a mix of clouds and sun and a shower or two remaining. 

The weather finally takes a turn on Wednesday! We’ll be mostly to partly sunny, and the chance of a shower is incredibly slim. Highs will be in the upper 60s. Thursday is mostly sunny and even warmer, with highs in the mid to upper 70s!

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Boston, MA

Red Sox outfielder Roman Anthony suffers another injury setback

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Red Sox outfielder Roman Anthony suffers another injury setback


It’s going to be a little while longer before Roman Anthony returns to action.

The Red Sox outfielder has suffered another setback in his recovery from a sprained right hand and will be shut down from swinging for a couple of days.

Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy told reporters in Cleveland that Anthony tried hitting off a tee Thursday for the first time since suffering his injury on May 4, but that he found doing so to be painful.



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Boston, MA

Saturday storm will bring bursts of rain, strong winds, and… snow?

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Saturday storm will bring bursts of rain, strong winds, and… snow?


Surprise: Another weekend and there’s more rain on the way. It’s bad enough we’ve had to post a First Alert.

For now, we’ll watch as clouds thicken today. We’ll squeeze out some drops later this afternoon and evening.

A weather maker is winding up in Canada, wrapping in cold air. All of that is going to dive down to New England.

We’re in the thick of it tomorrow. Rain will be coming at us in bursts with some dry time in between. Winds will likely push past 50 mph in Boston.

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Those winds will eat away at temperatures; with wind chills barely above freezing. And no – not just in the morning – but the afternoon, too!

It’s so cold there’s the threat of snow as that rain bumps into colder air over the Berkshires, Worcester Hills and southern New Hampshire right up to Mount Washington.

The snow isn’t going to pile up but just know there could be some flakes flying over our highest hills.  

The blue on our Futurecast map marks the spots where snow could mix with rain.

Rain spins out by Saturday evening but not before dumping about half an inch over Boston.

We’ll try to salvage the rest of the weekend with temperatures in the upper 60s by Sunday. Still, there’s the threat of bits and pieces of rain.

By the way, this isn’t any weekend, it’s the last weekend of spring. Meteorological summer starts on June 1.

The first day of summer remains drab and dreary with more rain chances and temperatures in the low 60 on Monday.

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