With a $135 million Jrue Holiday Extension, the Celtics defeat the NBA's second team because of what is been....

The Boston Celtics already projected to boast one of the NBA’s most expensive rosters for the next few seasons. They doubled down on that Wednesday by signing Jrue Holiday to a four-year, $135 million extension, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

The exact year-by-year numbers of Holiday’s new deal aren’t out yet, but Spotrac currently projects the Celtics to have more than $192 million in salary on their books next season. Based on the $141 million projection for the 2024-25 salary cap, the second apron will be roughly $189.5 million next season. The Celtics already project to be well over that, which will limit the ways that they can round out their roster.

The Celtics don’t seem to care. And considering where they are right now, that’s a defensible stance.

Heading into the final few days of the regular season, the Celtics are the only 60-win team in the NBA and have long clinched home-court advantage throughout the Finals if they advance that far. The boast the league’s best offense and second-best defense, and their plus-11.7 net rating is nearly that of double the next-closest team (the Minnesota Timberwolves at 6.8).

The Celtics don’t seem to care. And considering where they are right now, that’s a defensible stance.

The Celtics seemingly approached the trade deadline with the second apron in mind. They traded two second-round picks to the Memphis Grizzlies for center Xavier Tillman and another second-round pick to the Philadelphia 76ers for guard Jaden Springer. They wouldn’t have been able to swing either move had they waited until the offseason.

Tillman is set to become an unrestricted free agent this offseason, although the Celtics acquired his Bird rights in the trade. That allows them to offer him more than a minimum-salary contract even though they’re well over the salary cap. They couldn’t have offered him anything more than a minimum deal as a free agent, so their trade for him might have been a form of “pre-agency.” Not only can he provide insurance in the playoffs if Al Horford or Kristaps Porzingis suffer an injury, but the Celtics also have more flexibility to re-sign him this summer if so desired.

Meanwhile, the Celtics acquired Springer without sending salary back by absorbing him into a trade exception. Because they’re over the apron this year, they’re going to lose access to the remainder of that trade exception after the regular season ends Sunday. In other words, they had to use it or lose it at the trade deadline, and they used it to absorb another inexpensive end-of-the-bench player for next season.

The Celtics now have all of Tatum, Brown, Holiday, Horford, Porzingis, Derrick White, Springer and Payton Pritchard signed through at least the 2024-25 season. White and Horford are set to become unrestricted free agents in 2025, but the Celtics will have the core of Tatum, Brown, Holiday and Porzingis locked up through 2025-26 once Tatum signs his inevitable supermax extension.

If the Celtics lose White or Horford as free agents in 2025, they’ll likely have a tough time replacing either one. The same might even go for Porzingis in 2026 if he doesn’t sign another extension before then. The second apron basically makes teams choose between retaining their own players or withering away slowly.

The Celtics front office can deal with those decisions later. For now, they’ve clearly asserted themselves as the best team in the NBA this season. After signing Holiday to an extension Wednesday, they’re now poised to keep this group together until another team can catch up—in part because they don’t have much of a choice.