Boston's payroll is $198.7M, over the $165.0M salary cap and just short of the $200.4M luxury tax threshold. The bigger story is next season, when Tatum, George, White and Queta all cost more and very little comes off.
Boston is over the cap but has stayed out of the tax by a thin margin.
The listed payroll is $198.7M against a tax threshold of $200.4M, with the first apron at $209.0M and the second at $221.7M. That leaves very little room to absorb salary in a trade without crossing into the tax. One caution: other reporting on the summer's moves has put the figure at $203.9M, which would mean the Celtics are already paying tax. Until those two numbers match, any claim about how much room Boston has is only as good as the figure behind it.
Four contracts make up most of the payroll, and all of them grow.
Jayson Tatum earns $58.5M this season and $62.8M next. Paul George earns $54.1M, then has a $56.6M player option. Derrick White moves from $30.3M to $32.6M, and Mitchell Robinson from $15.0M to $15.8M. The George option matters most. At 36, he decides whether $56.6M stays on the books, so Boston does not control the largest variable on its own sheet.
Next season's sheet gets heavier before it gets lighter.
Neemias Queta goes from $2.7M to $12.5M, the biggest single raise on the sheet. Baylor Scheierman nearly doubles to $5.0M, and Jordan Walsh goes to $4.6M after a 2026-27 team option. Luka Garza at $2.8M and Mike Conley at $2.4M are the notable deals with no 2027-28 figure listed. Garza and Conley are small savings, and they come nowhere near covering Queta's raise. Payton Pritchard's $8.3M for 2027-28 appears on the sheet, though no terms for his October 13 extension have been reported.
The draft capital is thinner than it looks.
Boston owns its 2027 and 2030 first-round picks outright. The 2028 first is protected, and 2029 is a swap, so neither is a clean asset in trade talks. Three of the next four second-rounders go elsewhere: 2028 to San Antonio, 2029 to Oklahoma City and 2030 to Brooklyn, with 2027 a swap. The 3-1 start and a five-man unit that was +17.9 over 200 minutes last season argue for keeping this group together. With the books this tight, that may be the only option Boston really has.
Are the Celtics paying the luxury tax in 2026-27?
The listed payroll of $198.7M is under the $200.4M tax threshold. A separate figure of $203.9M has also been reported, and that would put them over.
Can Paul George opt out of his Celtics contract?
Yes. George holds a $56.6M player option for 2027-28, after earning $54.1M this season.
