Achilles tendon rupture! Season reimbursement! NBA champion has no choice but to dismantle the team, and the league s new season has changed drastically

Editor|Old Kankanqiu

The long offseason of the NBA is coming to an end. After a whole summer of reinforcement, all teams are ready to prepare for the new season. The most anticipated one is the Houston Rockets. After obtaining key puzzles such as Durant and Finney Smith, they have become one of the biggest favorites in the championship. In addition, the Nuggets, Clippers and Lakers have also completed lineup upgrades. The competition in the Western Conference in the new season is becoming more and more fierce. The defending champion Thunder obviously also felt the crisis. He spent 822 million US dollars to renew the contract with the Big Three this summer just to maintain the complete lineup and make another effort. Unfortunately, these three signings may also lay the potential for the team to dismantle the team in the future.

As a comparison, the competition level in the Eastern Conference has dropped sharply, only because of the outbreak of injuries in the playoffs last season, several championship giants fell directly from the altar, and the situation in the new season has changed drastically. The Milwaukee Bucks, who won the 2021-22 season championship, ended the first round for three consecutive seasons. Lillard suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon in the playoffs, resulting in a reimbursement of the new season and was eventually bought out by the team. The Bucks were also seriously injured and lost their former glory; the Eastern Dark Horse Pacers were also suffering from a torn ligament, which is highly likely to be reimbursed for the season. This offseason team also lost the starting core Turner and directly broke up the team and rebuilt it.

The most unfair thing is the Celtics. In the 2023-24 season, the Boston Celtics won the 18th championship trophy in team history and reached the top of the NBA league. The starting five giants have a lot of expectations, and there may be hope to become another "three-game championship dynasty" after the Lakers. Who would have thought that just 12 months later, this champion team encountered a situation of falling apart.

And the fuse of this huge change was the injury of the team leader Jason Tatum. In the G4 of the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals on May 12, Tatum suddenly fell to the ground during a defense and accidentally suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon. On June 18, the MMI report submitted by the team doctor showed that Tatum needs to be at least 9-12 months of quit, which also means that he has basically been reimbursed for the season.

However, the number one star's maximum salary of $54.13 million next season is still fully included in the salary space, but he is unable to play. This is obviously unacceptable for the new boss Bill Chisholm, who just spent $6.1 billion to buy the team. If the expenses of $540 million are held, it is equivalent to the Celtics burning $6.1 million per regular season game. This is not a small amount, even for a champion team.

Therefore, during this offseason, Celtics general manager Stevens conducted a series of operations that the media called "magic deals" and sent away several core players:

On June 24, he swung the first blow to champion point guard Ju Holiday, sending him to the Trail Blazers in exchange for 26-year-old Anthony Simmons, which saved the team $72 million;

Just 24 hours later, Stevens showed his sharp blade again, sending All-Star center Porzingis and a second-round pick to the Hawks, in exchange for 31-year-old forward George Nian and a second-round pick. This operation received a salary difference of 22.5 million, saving 210 million yuan in luxury tax; on August 6, Stevens once again packaged Nian and two second round picks to the Jazz in exchange for a two-way contract of the declined draft RJ Louis. Nian's annual salary of 8.2 million was completely emptied, and the luxury tax dropped sharply from 73.1 million to 30.4 million, saving 50 million US dollars in a single transaction; on July 25, the team officially announced that it had sacked defender JD-Davidson.

So far, nine people from the 2024 championship lineup have left the team, including Holiday, Porzingis, Horford, Cornett, Mikhailuk, Brister, Springer and Peterson, reducing the team's total expenditure from an astonishing $540 million to $239 million, saving a huge luxury tax of $301 million.

In the new season, the Celtics lineup has been beyond recognition compared to before. In the new 14-man roster, only Jaylen Brown (53.14 million) and Derek White (28.1 million); the middle-aged Simmons (24.6 million) and Prichard (11.6 million) were forced to carry the flag, and the inside line was supported by Quita, who averaged only 12 minutes per game and Tillman, who had 2.03 meters, and has become a playoff team.

On the latest ESPN strength list, the Celtics ranked only 17th in the league, which basically declared "withdrawal from the championship".

And with the disintegration of the Celtics, the pattern of the Eastern Conference has undergone tremendous changes. According to the latest championship odds, the Cavaliers and Rockets tied for second with +800, while the Knicks followed closely with +900. It has to be said that the current situation of this Celtic team is really sad and regretful. I also hope that they can get out of the haze as soon as possible and usher in transformation again.