Celtics
The Celtics appear to be entering an offseason where they’ll cut costs, with a Porzingis trade being floated as a possible way to accomplish that.
Any Celtics fan likely knows by now that the team appears set to enter an offseason where they’ll shed salary in to get under the second luxury tax apron and avoid the increasing financial and roster-building penalties.
With Boston apparently in cost-saving mode, Kristaps Porzingis’s name has been among the most frequent in trade rumors since before the season ended. The Celtics’ big man is entering the second season of a two-year, $60 million extension he signed when he joined the team in 2023, holding a $30.7 million salary for the 2025-26 season.
Trading Porzingis alone likely would get the Celtics below the second luxury tax apron. They need to shed at least $20 million in salary to do that, but moving on from the star big can help Boston cut into that number.
So, with that in mind, here are five teams that could make sense for a trade involving Porzingis.
Brooklyn Nets
In terms of clearing salary, trading Porzingis to the Nets is arguably the most seamless way for the Celtics to get under the second luxury tax apron this summer. Brooklyn is the only team with a sizeable amount of cap space, potentially holding as much as $91 million in cap space this offseason, per Spotrac. The Nets could absorb Porzingis’s $30.7 million cap hit for the 2025-26 season without having to give anything up.
Of course, there would have to be a reason for the Nets to take on Porzingis and his salary. In most trades involving a salary dump, the team giving out the salary attaches draft pick compensation of some sort. For instance, the Grizzlies also gave up a 2025 first-round pick when they traded Marcus Smart to the Wizards ahead of the trade deadline this past season.
Unlike Porzingis, Smart still had another year remaining on his contract at the time of the deal, so maybe the Celtics won’t have to give up as valuable an asset. Still, they would likely have to give up some draft compensation in such a deal with the Nets.
Utah Jazz
Prior to joining the Celtics in the 2023 offseason, Porzingis received interest from the Jazz. Utah was reportedly expected to pursue the big man had he opted out of his contract.
Two years later, there’s another reason to think that the Jazz could try to pursue Porzingis again. They hired Celtics assistant general manager Austin Ainge to be their president of basketball operations this past week, providing a clear connection between Porzingis and the Jazz.
Unlike Brooklyn, Utah will enter the offseason roughly at the salary cap, so it has to give out salary in a possible deal involving Porzingis. There are a couple of avenues Boston could take to try and get a deal done with Utah while giving up Porzingis. It could take on guard Jordan Clarkson, who has a $14.3 million salary as he enters the last year of his deal in 2025-26, along with a couple of other salaries of lesser players, to potentially clear nearly $10 million in cap room. If forward/center John Collins picks up his $26.5 million player option for next season, the Jazz could swap him for Porzingis, which would allow the Celtics to clear over $4 million in cap room.
If the Celtics wanted to revamp their backcourt in a meaningful way, they could use Porzingis as the means to potentially acquire guard Collin Sexton. The 26-year-old averaged just over 18 points per game for the second year in a row this past season, adding 4.2 assists per game while shooting 48 percent from the field and 40.6 percent from deep. Sexton has a smaller salary than Porzingis ($19.2 million), but the Celtics would almost certainly have to give up draft capital in such a trade if they were to acquire a guard who fits Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown’s timeline.
Los Angeles Lakers
No playoff contender needs a big man more than the Lakers. Their decision to trade for Luka Doncic was widely praised in February, but the move cost them Anthony Davis and left them without any quality big man in their rotation. That was evident in their first-round loss to the Timberwolves, when Minnesota center Rudy Gobert recorded 27 points and 24 rebounds in its series-clinching win.
The Lakers are well over the salary cap, though, making it a bit tougher for the Celtics to pull off a deal with their rival while shedding a meaningful amount of salary. In fact, the most they can shed in salary in any deal with the Lakers in which they give up just Porzingis is $4.3 million. So, only a handful of Los Angeles players would be available in such a trade.
Bleacher Report’s Andy Bailey proposed a deal in which the Celtics would give up Porzingis for forward Rui Hachimura, big Maxi Kleber, and two first-round pick swaps (2030, 2032). The Celtics would only clear $1.4 million in salary in that deal, but they would add a quality rotation player in Hachimura (13.1 points and five rebounds per game; 50.9 field goal percentage, 41.3 3-point percentage in 2024-2025) and gain a pair of potential assets.
Detroit Pistons
While Jalen Duren emerged as a key player for the Pistons in their run to the playoffs this season, Detroit’s big man depth beyond him is a bit underwhelming and it doesn’t have a center who can stretch the floor. Adding Porzingis could make sense as an option to pair with Duren in the frontcourt and give young star point guard Cade Cunningham another scoring option he can help set up.
From a salary standpoint, getting a potential Porzingis deal done with the Pistons would be easier than it would be with the Jazz and Lakers. The Pistons can potentially create just over $19 million in cap space this offseason, giving them the option to absorb a good portion of Porzingis’s contract.
Still, the Pistons have to send out at least roughly $23 million in salaires in any trade involving Porzingis, per league rules. If Detroit has an interest in Porzingis, the easiest way to get a deal done under league rules would be to give up center Isaiah Stewart and wing Simone Fontecchio. That would help Boston create $7.4 million in cap space.
In terms of the quality of players the Celtics would get back in this deal, neither Stewart nor Fontecchio offers the upside Porzingis does. Stewart was a regular rotational player for the Pistons this past season, averaging six points and 5.5 rebounds in 19.9 minutes per game.
Fontecchio was also a part of the Pistons’ rotation in the regular season, playing in 75 games. But after averaging 5.9 points per game in the regular season, Fontecchio didn’t see the court in the playoffs. So, maybe the Celtics could ask for some draft capital in addition to Stewart and Fontecchio in this possible trade with the Pistons.
Golden State Warriors
Similar to the Lakers, the Warriors could use some frontcourt help. Longtime center Kevon Looney is a free agent, while the team often had to use Draymond Green as their center in small-ball lineups during the postseason.
Golden State is above the cap, though, so there is really only one way for it to acquire Porzingis. It would have to give guards Mooses Moody and Buddy Hield, along with one of guard Brandin Podziemski, big Trayce Jackson-Davis, forward Gui Santos, or big Quinten Post.
In that potential trade, the Celtics would open up anywhere between $6.3 million and $8 million in cap room. They would also be getting back two solid rotation options at wing in its rotation in Moody and Hield. Moody scored a career-high 9.8 points per game this past season, shooting 43.3 percent from the field and 37.4 percent from the field in his fourth season in the league. Hield, meanwhile, continued to make a name for himself as a 3-point shooter this past season, scoring 11.1 points per game as he shot 37 percent from deep.
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