The basketball gods have blessed us abundantly.
The Boston Celtics are NBA champions.
Team USA left France as Olympic champions in men’s and women’s basketball.
The constellation Roundballius last achieved such a perfect 360-degree calibration in 2008.
Boston won 80 of 101 games last season and left all competitors behind in the NBA Finals. Jayson Tatum, Jrue Holiday and Derrick White return from Paris with gold medals.
Tatum and his maligned teammate Jaylen Brown have just gotten enough motivation to destroy the NBA next season. Think Tom Brady after Deflategate.
Steve Kerr, who owes his successful basketball career as a player to Michael Jordan and as a coach to Steph Curry, dropped a double-double of his own, angering Tatum’s mother (via X), Bob Cousy (via the Globe’s Dan Shaughnessy) and Wyc Grousbeck (via “The Greg Hill Show”).
Take Boston -65.5 when the Warriors visit TD Garden this season.
“Chef Curry” will be ordering from Grub Hub tonight.
The USA women’s team included two former UConn players, Diana Taurasi (6 gold medals) and Breanna Stewart (3).
Not since Dr. Naismith hung the peach crates at Springfield College has New England enjoyed such comprehensive basketball dominance.
Sadly, such an alignment may never happen again.
Sure, the Celtics have timed Banner 18 to coincide with the Olympics, just as they did with Banner 17 in 2008.
But the rest of the world has caught up with the USA in basketball.
The men needed Curry to discover his inner Kobe Bryant and beat France in the gold medal game. The women held their host nation opponents at bay with one point, one foot on the 3-point line and one possession.
Everything. Is. Simple. Perfect.
There’s only one person who could screw everything up. You got it.
John Henry.
Last week we learned that Fenway Sports Group (FSG) has partnered with RedBird Capital to seriously consider purchasing the Boston Celtics.
“Sources say LeBron James could become Celtics owner down the road as Fenway Sports considers purchase,” read the New York Post’s headline on Friday.
This is also the title of the next sequel to “Friday the 13th”: “Nightmare on Causeway Street”.
Freddy Krueger chose the blades in his fingers as his preferred tool. Jason Voorhees leaned heavily on the machete. Michael Myers preferred a chef’s knife.
Henry prefers death by 40 million cuts.
As in, “Let’s cut the Red Sox payroll by $40 million over five years.”
The only blood he sheds is on the balance sheet.
The Red Sox payroll was $229,166,880 in 2019 and $189,425,115 in 2024.
Adjusted for inflation, the Red Sox have cut payroll by $67.5 million between 2019 and 2024. Using the math I learned in the Arlington public school system, that means the Red Sox have cut payroll by 30.6% in real terms over the past five years.
On the other hand, Dom Smith is currently the best pitcher on the team. Maybe Henry is on to something.
The estimated price for the Celtics is $5.1 billion. Here are three reasons why.
First of all, there is only one “Boston Celtics”.
Second, the Phoenix Suns, who have never won a championship and do not own their own arena, were sold for $4 billion in 2022.
Third, the NBA’s new 11-year TV/streaming program worth $76 billion means a lot of money for everyone, including the players. The association makes $167 million annually from betting revenue. The salary cap is based on 44.74% of all basketball-related revenue. This year, it’s $140.558 million.
What does fate have in store for the Celtics if Henry, FSG and RedBird win this bidding war?
Not much at the moment. Thank goodness. Before and after Irv Grousbeck sold Code Red, Wyc spent his money like a teenager who just found his dad’s black Amex card.
Including Brown’s supermax contract extension signed before last season, the Celtics have committed to spending $851.741 million on Brown, Tatum, White and Holiday through 2030. More than $770 million of that will be covered by the new owners, assuming they complete the first part of the sale before the start of the 2025-26 season.
Brown turns 28 in October. His contract runs through 2029. Tatum is 26. His new contract extension of $313.9 million, which corresponds to an annual average of $62.786 million, runs through 2030. It includes a player option for the final year.
Both will be over 30 when their contracts expire.
Adios under FSG ownership.
Holiday and White will play in Celtics green through at least 2026-27. Holiday has a player option for 2027-28. White has one after the following season.
The FSG Celtics could be sold elsewhere. Imagine a bench made up of Bronny James and nine guys from the Belgian Olympic team. Sure, LeBron as owner would be great free agent bait. But the players still want to get paid.
And there’s nothing stopping Brown or Tatum from agreeing to a trade if the Celtics become just another “asset” on Henry’s FSG balance sheet. And/or FSG takes a similar financial approach to the Celtics over the next 5 years as it has taken to the Red Sox over the last 5 years.
I find it even harder to imagine Brad Stevens staying in the event of a possible fire sale or “rebuild.”
The Celtics’ estimated luxury taxes are $65 million this season, rising to $219 million for the 2025-26 season, while Boston’s combined payroll and tax revenues are an NBA record $513 million.
There is no reason to believe that FSG will continue to pay eight or nine-figure sums in luxury taxes annually indefinitely.
Enjoy this basketball moment as if it were your last.
Because it will probably never happen again.
Olympic Games or not.
Bill Speros can be reached at [email protected]. He posts on X under @RealOBF and @BillSperos.
