Celtics Trade Porzingis To Atlanta, Continuing Their Roster Remake

A Boston Celtics’ remake that seemed inevitable after the devastating playoff injury to Jayson Tatum took full flight on Tuesday, on the eve of he 2025 NBA Draft.

The Celtics made their second major trade in less than 24 hours when they pulled off a three-team deal with Atlanta and Brooklyn that will send forward Kristaps Porzingis and a 2025 second round draft pick to the Hawks, ESPN reported, citing sources.

That move came a day after Boston agreed to trade point guard Jrue Holiday to the Portland Trail Blazers for off guard Anfernee Simons and two second-round draft picks.

In the shakeup the Celtics lost two starters and acquired one, also adding veteran reserve forward Georges Niang and a second-round pick from the Hawks, but the motivation was the bottom line.

The reorganization was a recognition by president of basketball operations Brad Stevens that without Tatum, the Celtics are best served to retrench and regroup while whittling their payroll to a more manageable level.

Tatum, the Celtics’ leading scorer and two-time first-team All-NBA forward, is expected to miss most if not all if the of the 2025-26 season after suffering a ruptured Achilles tendon in his right leg in Game 4 of the 2025 second-round playoff series against the New York Knicks on May 12.

Without Tatum, the NBA Eastern Conference could be as wide open as it has been in recent seasons.

Tatum is due $54 million in the 2025-26 season, the first year of a five-year, $313.9 million designated veteran contract extension signed before the 2024-25 season.

Holiday has three years and $103 million remaining on the four-year extension he signed before last season, and Porzingis is due $30.7 million in 2025-26. He will be an unrestricted free agent next summer.

By trading the two veterans, Boston dropped below the punitive “second apron” of the NBA tax structure and could save as much as $180 million in projected tax penalties.

Teams that are above the second apron are severely restricted in the trades then can make.

Tatum and Jaylen Brown, who signed a five-year, $285.4 million extension, before the 2024-205 season, are the two highest paid players on the Celtics’ roster, and guard Derrick White ($28.1) million this season is the only other player earning more than $10.1 million in 2025-26.

Niang is due $8.2 million this season in the last year of an expiring contract.

Fallout From the Boston/Portland Trade

Both teams made out.

Not only are the Celtics acquiring a shooting guard who can add to coach Joe Mazzulla’s long-range approach in Simons, they also are adding an expiring contract that can help them rework the roster when Tatum come back in 2026-27.

Simons has averaged 19.9 points and 3.2 3-pointers per game shooting 38.1 percent from distance while since becoming a regular in the Blazers’ rotation in 2021-22. He is to make $27.6. million this season and will become an unrestricted free agent next summer.

No one shoots the three more than Boston, and Simons will complement Brown, White and reserve guard Payton Pritchard, the NBA Sixth Man of the Year last season.

Holiday, who won an NBA championship with Milwaukee in 2021, gives the Blazers a veteran and a true point guard to go with Shaedon Sharpe and combo guard Scoot Henderson.

Is Brooklyn Making a Play for an Ace?

The Nets now have five picks — No. 8, No. 19, No. 22, No. 26 and No. 27 — in the Wednesday’s first round, and they may be working on a package to land Ace Bailey, whose stock has fallen recently but show talent remains.

Utah, which has the No. 5 pick and still in a rebuilding phase, could. be a player in that scenario.

Atlanta adds Kristaps to a young group that includes point Trae Young, 2024 No. 1 overall Zaccahrie Risacher, forward Jalen Johnson and guard Dyson Daniels, a 2025 NBA Defensive Player of the Year finalist.