The Boston Celtics were favored to come out of the Eastern Conference after the Milwaukee Bucks got gentleman swept by the 8th seeded Miami Heat in the first round. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown have been leading the way for the Celts through yet another postseason. In the midst of their series against the Philadelphia 76ers, the All-NBA teams were announced and both the ‘Jays’ were a part of them, leading to some worry from Shaquille O’Neal.
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It feels as though this may be the ‘last dance’ for this iteration of the Celtics if they were to fall short of winning a championship yet again. Having both Tatum and Brown on the team is incredibly costly and the fact that the latter’s name gets floated around in trade rumors every season doesn’t bode well for being able to keep him there long.
While it is a great honor to have two stars on your team make the All-NBA team, this does complicate what the Celtics have going on from a financial standpoint.
Shaquille O’Neal shares how much money the Celtics need to give up to keep Tatum and Brown
Shaquille O’Neal seems to be a bit worried about just how much the Boston Celtics will need to spend in order to keep both Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. As they go down 3-2 to the Philadelphia 76ers and head to Wells Fargo Center to keep their season alive, the All-NBA teams have been announced.
With both of them making the teams, their contract incentives have officially kicked in. being picked as an All-NBA player means they will both be eligible for a supermax extension that will require the Boston Celtics front office to cough up over $600 million over the course of both of their contracts combined.
Shaq shows concern over how much money the Celtics have to shell out to keep JT and JB pic.twitter.com/MVUAscHBLZ
— tragicpatek (@tragicpatek) May 11, 2023
The franchise has always shown its willingness to keep this tandem together. However, another season where they don’t win a title may be the final straw. With Brown’s trade value being incredibly high, he may be out of the door to perhaps switch things up for the core Celts players.
Shaquille O’Neal once played for the Celtics
After finishing a short stint with LeBron James on the Cleveland Cavaliers, he would sign with the Boston Celtics in the summer of 2010 on a two-year deal. Unfortunately, he wouldn’t get a chance to play out all two years of his deal.
Shaq injured his Achilles and would play less than half the games of that 2010-11 season. After having an incredibly lackluster Playoffs, he would officially retire and join the ‘Inside the NBA’ crew that same offseason.
