The Celtics' Luxury-Tax Dumps Came Back To Haunt Them Against The Sixers

The Sixers did get star center Joel Embiid back ahead of Game 4 less than three weeks removed from an appendectomy, but the Celtics blew them out by 32 points regardless. That wound up being their last victory in the series.

Prior to this year, the Celtics were 32-0 all-time when going up 3-1 in a playoff series, while the Sixers were 0-18 all-time. But Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and Paul George helped the Sixers become only the 14th team in NBA history to overcome a 3-1 series deficit, sending the Celtics crashing out into another potentially turbulent offseason.

Although the Tatum-less Celtics wildly overachieved this season en route to 56 wins and the No. 2 seed in the East, the playoffs exposed how their cost-cutting throughout the season left them vulnerable to a collapse.

How The Celtics Saved $300-Plus Million

The Celtics started their teardown this past offseason when they traded Jrue Holiday to the Portland Trail Blazers for Anfernee Simons in a purely financially motivated move. Holiday was set to earn $32.4 million in 2025-26, while Simons was owed $27.7 million, so the deal helped save the Celtics approximately $40 million in luxury-tax payments, according to ESPN's Bobby Marks.

The Celtics weren't done there, though. They also sent Kristaps Porziņģis to the Atlanta Hawks in a three-team deal that brought them back Georges Niang. One month later, they salary-dumped Niang onto the Utah Jazz by shipping out two second-round picks.

After that, the Celtics were only about $12.1 million above the $187.9 million luxury-tax threshold, according to Yossi Gozlan of Third Apron. However, Celtics president Brad Stevens told reporters coming into the season that new team owner Bill Chisholm gave him no mandate to get out of the tax entirely.

"You have to give yourself the flexibility and opportunity to jump at the right deals," Stevens said. "You don't always know when those are going to present themselves. So the second apron was the key. After that, we're looking at it from the standpoint of, let's see what this team looks like, let's put our very best foot forward, let's let [head coach Joe Mazzulla], the staff, the players—let’s all work to maximize ourselves, with an attitude of no ceilings and no limitations, and go after it. And we'll evaluate the roster like we always will as the year goes on, but there's no tax goal."

The Celtics proceeded to wildly overachieve sans Tatum, Holiday and Porziņģis. On the day before the trade deadline, they were tied with the New York Knicks at 33-18 for the second-best record in the East. That didn't stop them from continuing to salary-dump, though.

At the deadline, they sent Simons to the Chicago Bulls for Nikola Vučević both to bolster their frontcourt and to trim their tax bill even further. They proceeded to salary-dump Xavier Tillman, Josh Minott and Chris Boucher to get under the tax line entirely.

That series of moves resulted in Stevens winning the Executive of the Year award. If the Celtics stay out of the luxury tax next year, they'll reset the clock on the dreaded repeater tax, which would give them another three-year window toward the end of the decade to spend freely again.

There's no denying the eventual upside of the Celtics' luxury-tax maneuvers this season. They decided to take their short-term medicine for some potential long-term gain in the wake of Tatum's injury.

But it proved especially costly against the Sixers.

The Trade Deadline Gambit Gone Bust

The Celtics didn't trade for Vučević with the intention of having him take over as their starter. Neemias Queta had that job on lockdown all season. But with Embiid, Detroit Pistons center Jalen Duren, New York Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns and the Cleveland Cavaliers' duo of Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen all lurking as possible playoff opponents, the Celtics knew they needed more frontcourt reinforcements.

In 16 regular-season appearances, Vučević averaged 9.7 points, 6.6 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.1 made threes for the Celtics in only 21.1 minutes per game. He suffered a finger fracture that sidelined him for most of March, but he returned in the final week of the regular season, just in time to face Embiid and the Sixers.

The Celtics might have been better off had he never come back.

Vučević averaged only 6.2 points, 4.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.2 threes in 19.0 minutes per game against the Sixers while shooting a horrific 37.8% overall and 29.2% from deep. He was a sieve on defense whom the Sixers routinely took advantage of, too.

After six games of ineffective play, Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla had enough. He moved third-string center Luka Garza into the starting lineup in Game 7—a risky gambit that immediately blew up in his face—and had Queta come off the bench. Vučević didn't play a single minute in the win-or-go-home game.

Vučević is set to become an unrestricted free agent this offseason. After how he fared in the playoffs, it's unclear whether the Celtics will have much interest in keeping him around. But Embiid and the Sixers did expose their need to continue bolstering their frontcourt.

"Can Queta get you through 82? Yes, but can he patchwork it through the playoffs?" a Western Conference scout told ESPN's Tim Bontemps and Brian Windhorst. "I think he keeps getting better, but there's a ceiling. They have to get a higher-level center if they want to be considered serious contenders."

Had the Celtics kept Holiday and/or Porziņģis instead of salary-dumping them, they likely would have taken care of business against the Sixers and would be facing the Knicks right now. Instead, a handful of financially driven moves over the past year sent them spiraling into the biggest collapse in franchise history.

Unless otherwise noted, all stats via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball Reference. All salary information via Spotrac and salary-cap information via RealGM. All odds via FanDuel Sportsbook.

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This article was originally published on Forbes.com