The Boston Celtics are preparing to have the highest salary added to their books in 2023-24 than ever before in the history of the Celtics franchise.

Starting with acquiring Kristaps Porzingis via trade, the Celtics have already given Porzingis a two-year extension worth $60 million on top of his already team-high $36 million incoming contract. That’s a total of three-years at $96 million for Porzingis.

Keep in mind that Jayson Tatum is eligible for a supermax in 2024, the Celtics will need to be sure they’re preparing to offer him the house next summer. Tatum also has a player option in 2025.

The thing is, Jaylen Brown also made himself supermax eligible by making All-NBA last season and is looking for Boston to pay him accordingly this summer at around $295 million.

In a dream scenario, Boston would have both Brown and Tatum under supermax contracts, which would be upwards of 70 percent of the salary cap between two players.

That’s the big question for Brad Stevens right now in the Celtics’ front office; is this the best way to allocate money and resources?

ESPN’s Brian Windhorst suggests this is why there’s a hesitation in contract negotiations between Brown and the Celtics.

“The one thing to point out: if Jaylen Brown gets extended on this deal for a year. For any deal at all. He cannot be traded for a year. For any deal at all. He’s prohibited from being traded. So the Celtics probably want to make sure all their business is locked down before going into this.”

In simper terms, what Windhorst is saying is the Celtics should be doing their due diligence around the league to make sure there isn’t a trade they want to make for Brown before locking him in for a supermax and at least for the next year.

It’s hard to believe Brad Stevens can replace Brown with a better player, which is probably why a trade has never happened despite being in trade rumors for seven years now.

The thing to keep in mind moving forward is how the new CBA is going to impact the way teams build rosters and allocate assets, future or current.

In all, the Celtics should offer Brown the supermax. Despite what Windhorst says, it’s shocking the offer hasn’t been made yet, as I believe Brad Stevens knows exactly what he could get for Brown if he wanted to trade him.

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