Interpretation of the five major operations of the draft a few days ago: The Celtics save money and the Rockets upgrade, and the Suns are still far from disengagement

Before the 2025 draft, the Rockets, Celtics, and Mavericks completed operations based on their respective goals, and the NBA, which has entered an era of chaos, is even more chaotic. The Rockets introduced Kevin Durant and successfully upgraded their positional combat capabilities. The Celtics not only achieved the goal of saving money, but after they were replaced by pick-and-roll offensive defender Anthony Simmons, the Celtics can try new ways of playing in the dormant year. The Mavericks renewed their contracts with Gafford and Irving, not only will they control the total salary below the second tycoon line, but they can use the luxury tax middle class special case to strengthen the No. 1 position, but they can also continue to trade with players such as Gafford as bargaining chips and choose from diverse choices.

Everyone is busy eating meat, and the Sun is just drinking soup. The sending Durant away did not achieve the goal of helping the Sun unconfiscation. The subsequent operations of the Sun's new management are worth paying attention to.

Celtics save more than just money

The core star is seriously injured and has changed the team's thinking of building a team. There have been too many cases in history. The 2024 championship Celtics have become another victim of injury.

When Chisholm acquired the Celtics for $6.1 billion, he made it clear that he was willing to continue spending money and extend the team's championship window. If the Celtics achieve their title in 2025 and continue to remain competitive afterwards, Chisholm will grit his teeth and take over the expenses of more than $500 million in salary + luxury tax. Who made him call himself a "hard Celtic fan" and "love this team deeply." However, Tatum's serious Achilles tendon injury changed everything.

Stevens sent Holiday and Porzingis away both aimed at saving money. From the perspective of saving money, Stevens's operation is impeccable. According to statistics, the Celtics saved nearly $210 million in the luxury tax in these two transactions. In addition, if Holiday was replaced by Simmons, the Celtic saved $4.72 million in salary expenditure. When Porzingis was replaced by Nian, the Celtics saved $22.53 million in salary expenditure, which combined to $27.25 million. After two transactions from the Celtics, they saved US$238 million in wage expenditure + luxury tax, and finally temporarily dropped below the second tyrant line.

By the way, the Celtics not only failed to get the first round pick, but also changed to the second round pick.

The Celtics received offers about Jaylen Brown and Derek White, but the Celtics tend to keep them and reorganize the rosters around Tatum, Brown and White next year. Next, the Celtics' possible operation is to send away Hauser, whose annual salary has risen to more than $10 million. Hauser and Nion have completely the same styles, both of which are tall unball shooters. Nion is in the contract year and is nearly 2 million US dollars cheaper. Hauser is sent away and left Nion. The Celtics' projection resources remain unchanged but can save a lot of money. This part of the money can be used to renew Horford and Connet.

The Celtics have no record pressure in the new season, and they must adhere to the principle of "save as much as possible, and watch while playing." This cooperation with Simmons can be regarded as a key test field for the Celtics. Mazula coached the pick-and-roll attacking defender for the first time. The last time the Celtics had a guard with such a high pick-and-roll attack frequency, it has to be traced back to the 2020-21 season, when it was Kemba Walker. In the past two years, the Celtics have been more on the wings and front lines, picking opponents and making more singles and three-pointers.

Although Simmons' production in the Trail Blazers is full of moisture, he has made his pick-and-roll ball-holding offense of 0.98 points per leg so far in his career. Tatum (0.95 points) and Brown (0.91 points) are both lower than Simmons. Simmons scored 101 three-pointers last season, with a 34.7% chance of sight. Tatum made 171 shots, with a 32.9% chance of sight. Like White, Prichard, Brown, the output and efficiency are not as good as Simmons.

Simmons is not necessarily in the Celtics' long-term plan, but the Celtics can use the new season to test the defender's pick-and-roll. If you can use this season to "fatten" Simmons, you can also sell it for a good price in the middle of the season or next offseason.

Rockets are upgraded, and the Suns are still not untied. For a team with a half-court positional battle offensive efficiency, the introduction of Durant is an obvious upgrade.

With the Rockets' lineup depth and defensive system, Durant's age and attendance rate can be considered later. The Rockets only scored 0.84 points per round of singles in the regular season, and none of the four teams that were worse than the Rockets did not enter the playoffs. The Rockets scored only 0.88 points per single in the playoffs.

and Durant scored 1.16 points per round! Since the 2015-16 season, Durant has only 2 seasons to score less than 1 point per singles. In terms of positional combat skills, few people in the league have better resumes than Durant.

Next, it depends on how the Rockets deal with Van Vritte's contract. Van Vritte's salary cut is the most likely result, but the Rockets may trigger a luxury tax. If the Rockets want to avoid taxes and delay the time to trigger the duplicate luxury tax in the future, they need more transactions and give up the team options of Jeff Green and Tate.

The Suns did not get rid of the trap after this deal. After acting as a sucker last season, the Suns were eager to reduce their spending. But after sending Durant away for Jaylen Green, Dillon Brooks, No. 10 and 5 second round picks, the Suns' total salary still exceeded the second rich line. The Suns have decided to give up Misic, and if they cut Cody Martin (non-guaranteed contract), the total salary will still be slightly higher than the second tycoon line.

Since the Suns and the Rockets' transaction will not be officially announced until July 7 at the earliest, the Suns can expand the transaction scale and transfer Jaylen Green or Dillon to other teams. In addition, the sun needs to lose weight on the flanks. But these operations are easier said than done, and the Sun needs to reduce the total wages first. From this perspective, dealing with Bill became an urgent task.

Bill has the right to veto the transaction, so the transaction is probably not working. If other teams are willing to sign Bill with full middle class after Bill is bought out, the Suns will have the opportunity to convince Bill to give up his remaining contract of 25% of his salary to buy out. When Walker and Griffin bought out the contract, they each gave up their remaining contracts of 27.2% and 23.6% of their salary, but the amount of money they gave up was made up when they joined the new owner to sign the contract. The Suns can only "beg" some teams are willing to use the full middle class to introduce Bill to help Bill make up for this part of his income.

The Mavericks' choices are diverse

Irving decided to give up the $43 million player option and sign a three-year, $119 million new contract with the Mavericks, making it his own pocket. At the same time, the salary cut will help the Mavericks save money and have more room for operation.

Irving's starting salary in the new season may be $36.7 million, lower than the original $43 million player option. In this way, the Mavericks not only save $28 million in wages and luxury tax, but also control the total wage below the second tyrant line, and can use the luxury tax to strengthen the middle class.

Irving may not return until January 2026 at the earliest. The Mavericks need to introduce an outside offensive developer to rescue them. They aimed at Schroeder, Russell, Chris Paul and Brogdon.

The Mavericks renewed Gafford early, and $54.38 million in three years is not expensive. One of the major trends in this year's playoffs is the increase in center and double tower scenes. The Mavericks hoarded Gafford, Lefley, and Anthony Davis, which meets the current version needs. In addition, all three of them have hidden dangers of injury, so the Mavericks need to take extra insurance. However, it is still a bit of a luxury to invest nearly $80 million in the No. 5 position. If the Mavericks use the No. 1 pick to choose Flag and give him the positioning of "power forward", the Mavericks may listen to the quotations of each team for Gafford in the trading market.

The benefits of Irving's salary cut and renewal bring to the Mavericks are very real. The Mavericks can now package multiple contracts for transactions. In the annual salary range of $7 million to $15 million, the Mavericks can use it to trade. Not counting the No. 1 pick this year, the Mavericks still have 2 first round picks, 3 swap rights, and 2 second round picks to be included in the transaction.

The Mavericks will almost certainly take off Flag at the draft on June 26. What other operations will the Mavericks do in the subsequent game? Can other teams complete a deal that shakes the league's territory on draft day? Let's wait and see. The lively offseason has just begun.