Will the Boston Celtics start to step down their salary in the offseason in a way that reshapes the NBA and changes dynamics?

The cracks in the foundation are hard to see in the light of the NBA Championship.

The Boston Celtics won the championship 11 months ago and were immediately listed as a favorite, returning with Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, JRU Holiday, Jru Holiday, Derrick White, Kristaps Porzingis, Al Horford, Al Horford and Payton Pritchard.

The title was the league's 18th best, ending the game in eight years, which included six games in the Eastern Conference Finals and two NBA Finals. With the players back, Brad Stevens runs the front desk and coaches of Joe Mazzulla, making it easier to think more and more.

However, with the habits of today's NBA, things quickly changed. When the league calendar opened on July 1, 2024, the Celtics Ownership Group announced plans to sell the rumored franchise, and the team’s salary and luxury tax (about $5 billion) for the 2025-26 season began to penetrate conversations about the Celtics’ future.

The ownership was announced in March and a deal was concluded to sell to William Chisholm's group at a record $6 billion valuation. Two months later, Tatum broke his right fatal weakness in Game 4 of this year's Eastern Conference Semi-Finals Series against the New York Knicks, leaving him for about a year.

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After the Knicks eliminated the Celtics 119-81 on Friday night in Game 6, Boston's future is blurry and expected to return to the same roster and pay $500 million in roster salary and luxury taxes for a team without Tatum, it became problematic in about a year.

The Celtics are one of the NBA's major franchises, and in the offseason, can the Celtics start to step down their salary by reshaping the league and changing the momentum?

With Boston's playoff exit, it guarantees a different championship for the NBA's seventh straight season. This made the playoff caliber team optimistic that they could pass one or two of the right moves and they could capitalize on the finals window.

If you are one of these teams, you'll look at Boston's roster and see players like Brown, White, Holiday, and Porzingis who can help the team reach new levels.

Brown is in the second season of a five-year, $255 million contract; the holiday is the first year of a four-year, $134 million contract (he has a 2027-28 player choice); Porzingis has one season left on his contract. White's four-year period, a $118 million extension will begin next season.

To express the immense nature of the financial situation, a $313.9 million extension for Tatum will begin next season and will pay him $71.4 million in 2029-30. Chat on holiday availability in Chicago's draft this week.

Even the high renovation franchise worth $6 billion has financial restrictions. Team building and roster building require new approaches. Adding stars to the stars and the US dollar is not viable.

It illustrates the turbulent nature of the NBA today – a byproduct of the 2023 collective awards agreement, which aims to “make sure every team can compete for the championship and have the resources to do so,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in July.

He later added: "What fans want to see is great competition. For fans of the teams they have roots, they want to believe their teams, regardless of the size of the market or the purpose of ownership, can compete in the way of the other 29 teams.

“So, from my point of view, as long as the team comes out with strong management, great players, great chemistry, great coaches and excellent organization management, let the results happen. I don’t have a scheduled point of view.

"I do think though, the fact that we have six different champions over the past six years does talk to the system. It does show that through a continuous collective-training protocol, through changing the changes in revenue sharing plans and other things we can control in the league, the league is statistically more competitive."

The Celtics are one of the famous franchises in the league and he is discovering what that means.

Follow NBA reporter Jeff Zillgitt on social media @jeffzillgitt