Brad Stevens Says Celtics ‘Have the Green Light’ to Add Payroll

Eric Jay Santos | Jun 28, 2024

David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports

With free agency approaching, the Boston Celtics will be engaged in contract negotiations. Per Inside The Celtics, executive Brad Stevens is interested in retaining Boston’s championship-winning core for the long term. 

“As far as like, trying to extend our guys and we talked about Sam (Hauser) earlier, and we'd love to have these guys that are extension eligible around here as long as we can; they're great. They're awesome, obviously.”

Stevens explained that the Celtics won’t be able to add a significant amount to their current payroll. 

"And as far as signing or adding to this year's payroll, there's really not much we could do, right? It's going to be basically minimum level contracts or those levels, and even if we were to make a trade, we can't take (on) more (salary), right? That's just the way that new rules work.”

Despite limitations, Stevens has the approval to add to Boston’s payroll. 

"So, you kind of know where we are going to be for this year as currently constructed. And yeah, we have the green light to do that. And we're just going to try to be as good as we can be again.”