Celtics free agency is a reminder that these are the good years

If you are a Celtics fan (and — as always — if you are reading this, we assume you are), please remember: These are the good years.

On Sunday, the Celtics’ front office presumably stretched luxuriously in their bed of confetti, yawned, and began calling current members of the roster to see if they would like to re-up with the team that rode a season of good vibes directly to the Larry O’Brien trophy.

Would Luke Kornet like another year with a championship team that universally describes him as comic relief while keeping him in the playing rotation? Why yes, thank you, he would.

Would Neemias Queta like a multi-year deal with the championship team that believed in him enough to sign him to their final roster spot? Please and thank you, and he Definitely Did Not agree to the deal ahead of the start of free agency. 

Would Derrick White like $125 million to continue building on his championship legacy with one of the NBA’s legacy teams? Yes indeed. 

And, of course, would Jayson Tatum like to sign the largest contract in NBA history, complete with all the bells and whistles (like a trade kicker and a player option)? Would he like to remain with the franchise who drafted him and — after a couple of rocky years — put him at the helm and entrusted him with superstardom? Yes, he would. 

The Celtics are intact. One of the most statistically dominant teams in history is basking in the eye of the free agency hurricane as all their rivals try tempestuously to catch up to them. Baylor Scheierman, welcome to the calmest offseason in the NBA. Summer League should be a blast.

Of course, the good years can’t last forever in any sports league, but perhaps especially in the NBA. The Heatles — and a few years later, the dynastic Warriors — scared other owners so much that the NBA put guardrails in place during their latest CBA negotiations in an attempt to prevent superteams from happening. Putting together an elite, multi-year dynasty became much more difficult. In the process of creating parity, the league may have made true greatness significantly less attainable (or at least less maintainable).

Even a relatively organic title team like the Celtics will struggle to keep their stars financially aligned long-term, especially under the punitive new second-apron rules. The Celtics’ luxury tax bill in 2025-26, if the current roster remains together, would be a staggering $250 million, bringing the total costs of the roster well over $400 million.

Wyc Grousbeck and other members of the Celtics’ ownership group have spoken openly of their willingness to spend when they have a real contender, and their actions over the last two days speak to that willingness. But, even the richest owners might blanch at a luxury tax bill that high.

That, of course, brings us to arguably the biggest Celtics news on a day when their franchise superstar committed to five more years with the team: The Boston Basketball Partners, who have owned the Celtics since 2002, are selling all shares of the team for somewhat cryptic “estate and family planning considerations.”

In a short statement, the team announced that Grousbeck plans to remain Governor until 2028, but the managing board of ownership will sell in 2024 or early 2025 at the latest. 

We can’t know what new Celtics ownership will look like, but you’d be hard-pressed to find a group more committed to the project of “Giving the Boston Celtics a chance to win basketball games” than Grousbeck, Steve Pagliuca and their partners. They were far from the most deep-pocketed owners in the league, but there was never any real question about whether they were more focused on winning games or their own bottom-line (which, somewhat fittingly, is partly how they managed to turn a $360 million investment into a franchise valued at nearly $5 billion — it turns out that sports franchises who win a lot, especially in New England, are worth a lot). 

Barring a Manchester-City-but-in-the-NBA scenario, there will come a time when this roster is too expensive, at which point Brad Stevens will need to pare down his championship roster. Presumably, that’s part of the reason the team gave out all these extensions: When that moment arises, the team should be able to recoup value rather than (as an example) losing Klay Thompson for a pair of second-round picks. 

Even now, at the peak of the Celtics’ powers, you can see the end — blurry but inevitable — looming in the distance if you squint. That’s life in the NBA.

None of this is meant to be concern-trolling about the Celtics. In fact, it’s completely the opposite: If you are a Celtics fan, the advice here is not to bother squinting. 

After all, the Celtics won. The front office built a champion. The players won the title. The fans have bragging rights over every TV talking head who doubted the team — whether in reality or in an attempt to drive engagement from raging quote-tweets — over the past 12 months. 

Celtics fans no longer have to worry about the Tatum/Jaylen Brown fit (final assessment: They fit great). They don’t have to fret about whether Tatum will remain with the franchise long-term. They no longer have to weather jokes about Brown’s left hand or the team’s playoff failures. 

The Celtics are once again ahead of the Lakers in titles whether or not you include Minneapolis. Heat fans can no longer hit the Celtics with jabs about their last title being in 2008. Bucks fans are rightfully horrified that they inadvertently handed the Celtics the perfect replacement for Marcus Smart when they dealt Jrue Holiday for an aging Damian Lillard. 

The Celtics are the favorites for at least one more year. They should be great for a while, and they should be good for even longer. They won the title. There are no downsides.

These are the good years. Enjoy them.