Wyc Grousbeck believes no NBA team will stay in second apron long-term

Wyc Grousbeck believes no NBA team will stay in second apron long-term

Last week, Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck sold the team to Bill Chisholm for a record $6.1 billion, the most money that any American sports franchise has sold for. The longtime owner decided to sell at the franchise’s peak, announcing his team was for sale last summer after the Boston Celtics secured their 18th-ever NBA Title.

In an interview on The Greg Hill Show on WEEI, Grousbeck spoke about the state of the NBA and the team-building aspect of it with the second apron–and he’s well-aware of the drastic penalties that come along with it.

“You can’t stay in the second apron,” Grousbeck said, according to Tom Friend of the Sports Business Journal. “Nobody will. I predict for the next 40 years of the CBA, no one’s going to stay in the second apron more than two years.

“We have Brad Stevens, the reigning Executive of the Year. And thank God we do. He’s the one that really brought us this championship with his brilliant moves. … And he’s looking at this and he’s gonna extend our window and make it work. I believe he will, and we’ll find out in June and July what he decides to do.”

Earlier in the conversation, Grousbeck went in depth about the basketball penalties that go along with being in the second apron, including not being able to aggregate salary in trades, not having any of the exceptions (mid-level, bi-annual, pre-existing TPE) available, among others.

“It’s not the luxury tax bill–it’s the basketball penalties. The new CBA was designed by the league to stop teams from going crazy, and they decided that it’s not just good enough to go after the wallets. … I know seven guys that own [English Premier League] teams in England with no spending caps and most of them are wondering what the hell is going on. It’s basketball penalties now, and there’s like nine of them that kick in if you stay in the second apron.

“You can’t make trades anymore. It’s very hard. You have to do one player for one. You can’t add up guys. If you’re trying to trade a player, you have to get the exact match on salaries, very close. You freeze your draft picks that go to the end of the first round. You basically can’t trade them. So you all of a sudden, even if you finish really poorly, you’ve got the 30th pick because of overspending. You can’t sign free agents. You don’t get mid-level exceptions anymore, etc., etc. So from a basketball standpoint, it’s not luxury tax, it’s basketball penalties, and that’s why the Clippers, I presume, dropped Paul George.”

Wyc Grousbeck was asked by @TheGregHillShow about potential changes coming to the roster due to the looming luxury tax bill:

"It's not the luxury tax bill, it's the basketball penalties … The basketball penalties mean that it's even more of a premium now to have your… pic.twitter.com/2EK9QosjF0

— Justin Turpin (@JustinmTurpin) March 21, 2025

The Celtics are currently third in the NBA in active payroll, but are expected to shoot up atop the leaderboard next season with $225.5 million on their sheet accounting for Jayson Tatum‘s supermax extension and Derrick White‘s four-year, $118 million extension he signed last summer.

However, that does not include potential extensions for Luke Kornet, Al Horford or Torrey Craig, who are all unrestricted free agents after this season. As a repeater tax team, the Celtics are expected to have a luxury tax bill of $219 million–totaling nearly $450 million in total spending (tax + payroll)–with just 11 players on the roster, including two non-guaranteed contracts (Neemias Queta, Jordan Walsh).

Bill Chisholm buys Boston Celtics for a record $6.1 billion

Boston is obviously in much better shape than, say, Phoenix, in terms of contention. But that will be a chunk of salary that Chisholm will now have to eat. Wyc Grousbeck saw the writing on the wall when it came to spending–and he was able to capitalize on winning a title. Credit to him. But I’m fascinated by how this new ownership will try to keep this team in contention because of the arduous second apron penalties.

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