"Dad wasn’t into losing money" - Celtics' massive $280 million luxury tax penalty led to family rift, eventual sale, says source
Shortly after clinching their record 18th NBA title last season, the Boston Celtics were put up for sale. According to The Post, the Celtics' ballooning payroll allegedly sparked a rift with the Grousbeck family, which owns the majority stake, leading to the championship team being put up for sale.
The Celtics won their recent title with the priciest roster in the league, which is slated to become pricier in the upcoming seasons.
Wyc Grousbeck, who owns 3% of the franchise but is the front-facing owner, put the team together. Meanwhile, his father, Irving Grousbeck, who owns roughly 20% controlling stake in the team, reportedly balked at funding big losses to secure the massive player contracts to win the championship.
“Wyc says we’ll spend whatever it takes, but dad wasn’t into losing money,” a source told The Post.
Despite winning the title, the franchise reportedly barely broke even and is expected to lose roughly $80 million in the upcoming season because of luxury tax fines for being over the salary cap.
Moreover, according to ESPN, the Celtics would have a projected tax bill of $280 million for the 2025-26 season when much harsher luxury tax penalties will kick in.
Meanwhile, the Grousbecks cited that they're selling the team for "estate planning purposes" when they announced the sale shortly after winning the title.
The current ownership bought the franchise for $360 million 22 years ago. The NBA reportedly wants the team to fetch $6 billion for the sale, which would shatter the current record for sale of an NBA franchise when the Phoenix Suns were bought for $4 billion two years ago.
Boston Celtics barrelling toward NBA's first $500 million roster
After clinching the NBA title in the 2023-24 season, the Boston Celtics agreed a series of rich contract extensions to keep their championship roster intact for upcoming seasons.
The Celtics signed their star player Jayson Tatum on a five-year, $314 million extension, which is the richest contract in NBA history. They signed Derrick White on a four-year, $126 million extension and retained Sam Hauser with a four-year, $45 million extension.
The Celtics have 12 players under contract for the 2025-26 season for a combined value of $225 million.
If their roster is filled with their first-round pick in the 2025 NBA Draft and two other players on minimum NBA salaries, that would push their payroll to around $233 million for the 2025-26 season, which will be around $45 million over the projected luxury tax line.
As per ESPN, given the harsher tax penalties to be levied from the next offseason, the sum would incur a projected tax bill of $280 million.
That would push the Celtics' combined salary and tax penalties for the 2025-26 season up to $513 million, making them the first NBA team to cross the $500 million mark in roster payroll for a season.