The Celtics are barreling toward the NBA’s first $500M roster

It has been a great summer for the Boston Celtics.Last month, they surpassed the Los Angeles Lakers by claiming their NBA-record 18th title. On July 1, the Celtics agreed with Jayson Tatum on a five-year, $314 million extension, the richest contract in NBA history, and with Derrick White on a four-year, $126 million extension. On Sunday, they agreed to a four-year, $45 million extension with developmental success story Sam Hauser.Boston will return all eight rotation players from last season’s title team, with seven of those players under contract for at least the next two seasons and six under contract for at least the next three seasons.And as currently constructed, the Celtics are headed toward another historic number: the league’s first $500 million roster.After inking Hauser to his extension, the Celtics have 11 players under contract for the 2025-26 season for a combined $225 million. If the roster is filled out with their own first-round pick and two players on minimum salaries — projected to be each worth roughly $2.3 million, according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks — that would push Boston’s payroll to about $233 million, more than $45 million over the projected luxury tax line.Beginning next offseason, when much harsher penalties kick in for teams that are well into the luxury tax, the Celtics would be staring at a projected tax bill of $280 million, per ESPN’s Bobby Marks, giving Boston roughly $513 million in combined salary and tax penalties for the 2025-26 season alone.That number would shatter the current record of $388 million, set this past season by the Golden State Warriors, as well as the new projected record holders: the Phoenix Suns, who are on pace to break it in 2024-25 with a projected combined salary and luxury tax bill of $433 million.No matter who winds up buying the Celtics over the next several months after longtime owner Wyc Grousbeck and his family put their controlling stake in the franchise up for sale, it’s hard to see anyone being able, or willing, to afford those kinds of financial penalties for long.For Celtics fans, basking in the glow of a championship and with a front office committed to retain its key players for years to come, it’s likely frustrating to hear about the possibility of finances getting in the way of a potential dynasty. But this is also exactly what the league was hoping for in its negotiations for the current collective bargaining agreement.”