There is a difference between having a franchise low on your list of favorite NBA franchises, and actively wishing for their downfall. There are a couple teams for which I come close to the second option, but no. I will never tip over that edge. It’s not that important.
I was worried for a moment, though. The amount of joy I’d been taking from the New York Knicks making these comebacks over the Boston Celtics was worryingly high. “Oh my gosh,” I thought, “Am I becoming a hater?”
But then reports like this happen, I suddenly feel bad for Celtics fans, and slowly I’m filled with the realization that maybe there’s hope for me after all.
Brian Windhorst slams Celtics $500 million roster
"There's a possibility this team's not gonna come back. ... That's what's on the line." 😳
— First Take (@FirstTake) May 8, 2025
@WindhorstESPN says the Celtics may look different next year if they don’t win their series against the Knicks. pic.twitter.com/DQKRaWlYfF
“If you don’t get out of this series, I don’t know how you can justify spending $500 million on this roster again, I’ll tell ya that,” says Brian Windhorst about this current iteration of the Boston Celtics.
That basically says it. The Celtics have new owners coming in. The owners are paying the highest price ever for an NBA team and are inheriting the league’s highest ever payroll. They have to rely on partnerships to get half the money together. There had been rumblings early on about whether amassing the capital necessary would even be possible for this group.
Winning justifies a lot more things than it should in sports, both on and off the court, and winning the championship last year was at least enough justification to give this core another run. However, blowing things up after a second round exit, even when Oklahoma City looks better than Boston with a significantly lower payroll and better future assets, still feels extreme.
These are the worst conversations in sports
If you enjoy your sports team, if you are a fan, your rooting interest in times like these is not playing fantasy GM and seeing if you can save a couple million or five here and there while keeping your team’s estimated win projections the same. It should be getting fired up about the potential of the people lucky enough to own your franchise not doing everything they can to put the best product on the floor possible.
Generally. That gets murkier for rebuilding teams, but the Celtics won the title last year. Windhorst doesn’t see how you can justify holding this team apart after a second round exit. I don’t see how you can justify splitting them apart one year removed from a championship.