There are still two or three rounds left in the NBA regular season, and there are already 8 teams that have locked up the playoff spots in advance, the Nuggets, Timberwolves, Thunder, Clippers and Mavericks on the Western side. Among them, the Clippers and Mavericks are also confirmed to meet in the first round. In the East, the Celtics, Bucks and Knicks have all locked up playoff spots, and there are still four tickets left to make the playoffs. This season, the competition among the teams is very fierce, and there are many new generation of dark horse teams, as well as many traditional giants. Like the Clippers, Suns, Lakers and Warriors in the West, they all have a number of superstars sitting on the court, and they have a very strong book strength. Among them, the Warriors have the largest total salary, with a contract of nearly $230 million this season, and they need to pay 170 million luxury tax, and the Clippers are close behind, and they also need to pay 110 million luxury tax.
In the East, there are relatively few giants, and the richest is the Celtics. The Celtics are also a traditional powerhouse, with 17 championship trophies in team history, and they have only made the playoffs for one year in the last 15 seasons. Last offseason, the Celtics continued to build a luxury roster, bringing in two All-Star level players, Holiday and Porzingis, through trades, to strengthen the starting power and raise the team's ceiling. Not only that, but the Green Army also offered Jaylen Brown a five-year, $304 million contract extension, which set a record for the largest contract in NBA history, with the final year of the contract exceeding $70 million. You know, Brown is just their second master.
The regular season is coming to an end, and the Celtics have renewed their contract again, according to ESPN's report, Jrue Holiday and the Celtics reached a four-year, $135 million contract extension, and Holiday will jump out of next season's $37.3 million contract and re-sign a new contract with the Celtics for a longer term. He will have a player option in his final season. Holiday has signed a contract extension that could help the Celtics save about $35 million in luxury tax next season. After joining the Celtics, Holiday also made a lot of sacrifices, averaging 19.3 points, 5.1 rebounds and 7.4 assists per game last season to 12.5 points, 5.4 rebounds and 5.9 assists this season, but his contribution on the court is very obvious, taking on all kinds of dirty work, the defensive end is as fierce as a tiger, and the offensive end is not high in production but the efficiency is excellent.
Not only Holiday but also Porzingis, who joined the Green Army with him, also reached a two-year $60 million contract with the team at the beginning of the season, and the main players were almost locked, and the Celtics also took advantage of this period of championship window to maintain a strong competitiveness. The second leader Brown can get a five-year, $304 million super contract, and Tatum's next contract will only be bigger than Brown's. NBA salary expert Bobby Marks said that since Tatum has been named to the All-Star team in 2022 and 2023, he has now triggered the designated veteran clause, and this year he is eligible to sign a five-year, $315 million early contract extension with the team, which will break Brown's record for the largest contract in NBA history, even if he is not on the All-NBA team.
$304 million in 5 years!$315 million in 5 years!The most expensive team in the NBA, you're going to win the championship. When Tatum renewed his contract, the Celtics undoubtedly became the real league's most expensive team, rich and willful, and this season is a season where they are very likely to achieve a breakthrough. During the regular season, they ranked among the best in many statistics, and their record was even more unbeatable, ranking first in the league, as the first in the East, 14 wins ahead of the Bucks, who are second in the East. In terms of average data per game, the Green Army's average rebounds, blocks, and points per game are second in the league, first in the league in three-point production, third in the league in three-point shooting percentage, first in the league in offensive efficiency, and second in the league in defensive efficiency. In addition, the Celtics have a 35-3 record at home and have not lost at home against Eastern Conference teams, which can also give them a lot of confidence in the playoffs.
It is said that the gap in strength between the main force of the Green Army and the bench is too large, in fact, the depth of their bench lineup is also very sufficient, and the bench players like Pritchard, Horford and Hauser all have a certain degree of scoring explosiveness, and the three-point shooting rate is more than 4 percent, and they have many single-game 20+ scoring experiences this season. When talking about the changes made this season, Tatum also said: "In the playoffs last year, we were a little too impatient, we also had many bad losses in the regular season, and in the first round of the playoffs, we were not very stable and did not calm down. I think we should slow down the tempo, not give up on anything, respect every day, respect every opponent and every game. "Tatum and Brown have made the playoffs every year since they entered the NBA, but they haven't won a championship, do they have any hope this season?