Biggest offseason question for every NBA team in East: Will Knicks star hunt? Who will hit reset button?

The Western Conference was essentially an eight-month cage match between 10 ultra-competitive teams. The East? The Boston Celtics seemingly had it wrapped up somewhere around Thanksgiving. Their main competitors got hurt, fired coaches or just generally disappointed. Boston held a 14-game lead in the standings when the regular season concluded. They lost twice against their conference opponents in the playoffs.

The biggest question for Boston going into the offseason is how they can maintain what went right last year. The biggest question for everyone else is how on Earth they can catch up to the conference’s resident juggernaut. So let’s go team-by-team and address these concerns. What is the biggest question all 15 Eastern Conference teams need to answer over the summer.

Boston Celtics: What’s their long-term tax plan?

The Celtics have built a champion. Now they have to maintain it. That won’t be an issue this offseason. Everyone of note is under contract. But Derrick White and Jayson Tatum are both about to get hefty contract extensions. Jrue Holiday got one during the season. Jaylen Brown and Kristaps Porzingis did last summer. You can’t pay everyone, and even if Boston keeps its starters together, there’s no way that they can keep key reserves like Sam Hauser and Payton Pritchard at that price point. The goal for Boston will be avoiding the second apron this summer, because once they re-sign everyone, that two-year clock before future draft picks get knocked to No. 30 overall starts. That basically creates a three-year window with this group, so keep an eye on Boston’s finances this summer. Perhaps we’ll get a hint at how they plan to deal with the enormous tax bills that are coming.

New York Knicks: Is this the summer they get their superstar?

New York’s run to within one game of the Eastern Conference finals was one of the stories of the postseason, and perhaps with Julius Randle back, they’ll take that next step organically next season. But let’s be realistic, the moment the Knicks can trade Randle and draft picks for a true superstar…

Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/biggest-offseason-question-for-every-nba-team-in-east-will-knicks-star-hunt-who-will-hit-reset-button/

Author : Sam Quinn

Publish date : 2024-06-25 19:46:48

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.