Editor’s Note: As the Celtics enter a critically important offseason, Chris Forsberg is exploring three different paths Boston can take this summer, each with their own pros and cons for the short- and long-term future of the franchise. The first path involved “threading the needle.”Today’s path: a full reboot.
Let’s preface this with a warning label: We don’t want to write about a reboot. You don’t want to read about a reboot. The mere idea of the Boston Celtics having to overhaul their championship core just one year removed from raising Banner 18 is unsavory on every level.
But if we’re going to examine all of Boston’s potential pathways this offseason, then we have to include this route. It feels impossible that, just a couple weeks ago, we were pondering Boston’s very real potential to repeat as champs. Now we’re wondering if the best path forward is to strip this thing down for parts.
Things change quickly in the NBA. That’s not breaking news. But a punitive new collective bargaining agreement is forcing teams to make tougher choices.
In the second installment of our three-part series examining Boston’s murky offseason, we ponder the case to push the reboot button.
Objectives of this path:
Get out of the luxury tax by trimming $40+ million in salary this summer.
Complete the first of two years outside the luxury tax, with a goal of resetting restrictive repeater penalties.
Dismantle the current core in favor of younger players and draft assets.
Endure short-term pains for long-term rewards.
The road map:
Trade Jaylen Brown and/or Derrick White, along with other core pieces.
Fill out the roster with low-cost, high-upside talent.
If the Celtics believe there is no immediate pathway to title contention while Tatum rehabs from Achilles surgery, and with the team already needing to trim at least $20 million in salary to get below the second apron, there is a case for bottoming out rather than residing in the unsavory middle of NBA contention.
Boston would rebuild the core around Tatum with younger talent, which also would allow the team to organically reset its repeater tax penalties. All of that would position the Celtics to have maximum flexibility once Tatum is further removed from Achilles rehab.
Boston also might be in line to add a prized young player in a 2026 draft that is expected to be particularly flush with talent.
Why this path might not make sense:
Let’s not sugarcoat it: The mere idea of trading a homegrown Finals MVP just plain sucks. So does the idea of potentially cashing out on a beloved adopted son like White.
There are also no guarantees that bottoming out is the best pathway back to title contention. Trading a pair of certified top-40 players might yield what seems like a bountiful return, but that doesn’t ensure those players/picks reach the same peaks as what’s currently in-house. You’d need a whole lot of help from the ping-pong balls, too.
And losing a lot of games along the way wouldn’t be much fun, either.
Let’s (reluctantly) travel down this path:
If new Celtics owner Bill Chisholm steps to the podium after his $6.1 billion purchase is approved this summer and firmly states that he’s OK with the team lingering in the luxury tax for the foreseeable future, then the nuclear option might not even need to be a consideration.
But if new ownership, in conjunction with Brad Stevens and his front office staff, determines that the most prudent path forward is to get out of the tax entirely, then difficult choices are inevitable. The reality is that the new CBA simply won’t allow teams to field two supermax players and stay below the tax without stripping to bare bones around them.
The Celtics are committed to $228 million in salary for the 2025-26 season, and that’s before pondering the futures of free-agent big men Al Horford and Luke Kornet. The luxury tax line next season is $187.9 million.
That means Boston is roughly $40 million over the tax line and staring at a potential tax bill of $238 million if this core is maintained.
In Part 1, we noted how moving Jrue Holiday and Sam Hauser with limited financial return could shuffle the Celtics below the $207.8 million second-apron line next season. But Boston would have to trim another $20 million in additional salary to get below the $187.9 million tax line. Trying to get to that number without moving Brown and/or White is not impossible, but it is a challenge.
The question ultimately comes down to this: Are the Celtics OK with lingering in the tax for the next handful of seasons to maintain a Tatum/Brown/White core?
That might have been an easy decision a couple weeks ago — even after a second-round exit this year — but Tatum’s injury and indefinite rehab adds a layer of complication to the decision.
The reality is that Brown might be at the doorstep of his 30th birthday before Tatum plays his next NBA game. White would be 32 at that point. While the Celtics might not necessarily be able to sell high on the tandem of Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis this summer, the team most certainly could command a more robust haul if Brown and/or White were made available.
Let’s (reluctantly) make some deals:
What would stripping this thing down look like? Well, even that’s not easy.
The Brooklyn Nets are the only team in the NBA projected to have cap space this offseason. Even trying to salary-dump a big contract in exchange for draft assets is virtually impossible without their help. Every other trade partner requires salary matching, which would force Boston to then re-route any undesirable veteran salary to a potential third (or fourth?) team.
Let’s say Gregg Popovich yearns to assemble a new Big Three in San Antonio and believes Brown helps the Spurs hop on the contention accelerator when paired with a healthy Victor Wembanyama and De’Aaron Fox. San Antonio can build a package that features young talent (Devin Vassell? Keldon Johnson?) and prized draft assets (No. 2 pick in 2025? Return Boston’s 2028 pick swap?).
The Celtics still take back $48.2 million in that package, saving them just $8.6 million on next year’s cap. In that instance, the Spurs might be more likely to include just one young player and the expiring contract of Harrison Barnes, which would be routed to a third team.
Boston would utilize the No. 2 pick to select Dylan Harper, then lean heavily into his development over the next two seasons. With Vassell earning just 13 percent of the cap near the tail end of his current deal, the Celtics would have more flexibility to keep additional depth pieces around a Tatum core.
You can run the same exercise with the Houston Rockets, concocting a potential reunion of Brown with Ime Udoka. Alas, if Houston deems Amen Thompson as untouchable in deals, it’s harder to see a combination of picks and players that would entice Boston to move a player of Brown’s caliber.
With White making manageable money over the next three seasons, would a more established contender be willing to package a hefty collection of picks to pry him from Boston? The Knicks gave up five first-round picks to acquire Mikal Bridges on the eve of the 2024 draft. Could the Celtics generate multiple first-rounders in exchange for White given his ability to thrive in just about any situation?
The bottom line would be Boston moving off its big-money contracts beyond Tatum and embracing a youth movement in the 2025-26 season. Those deals would open a variety of pathways to proceed from there, with a goal of maximizing the rest of Tatum’s prime years once he’s fully recovered from Achilles surgery.
The bottom line:
Let’s be absolutely clear: This does not feel like anyone’s preferred path. We’re strangely curious to see how the Celtics look with Brown at the helm next season and find that to be a far more digestible path than tearing apart the core.
But this new CBA will at least force the Celtics to ponder if a reboot is the best path back to surefire contender.
Stevens is paid to make decisions devoid of emotion. It wasn’t easy when he elected to overhaul the core in the summer of 2023, trading out Marcus Smart and Robert Williams III while bringing back the Porzingis-Holiday tandem. Those moves helped immediately deliver Banner 18.
The perpetual question is, what are the moves that best position Boston to chase Banner 19? And sometimes you have to bottom out to get back to the top.
The UW-Oshkosh women’s volleyball team celebrates its semifinal win Thursday in the NCAA Division III Championship. Photo by Ashtin Elder of Kodiak Creative.
The University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh women’s volleyball team swept University of La Verne (California) Saturday to claim its first national title and the 51st for UW-Oshkosh.
The championship took place at Illinois Wesleyan University’s Shirk Center in Bloomington, Illinois, where a busload of Titan students and staff arrived Saturday to cheer on their team.
UWO did not drop a set across its six wins in the national tournament, which is a first in 21 years.
Izzy Coon, Lauren Grier, Callie Panasuk and Samantha Perlberg (Most Outstanding) were all named to the All-Tournament Team.
The team is coached by Jon Ellmann of Neenah, who was inducted into the Wisconsin Volleyball Coach’s Association Hall of Fame in 2021.
DAVENPORT, Iowa– Members of the Wartburg indoor track and field program competed at the Frigid Bee Opener, hosted by St. Ambrose. Maddie Merna was victorious in the 5000m and Hannah Ramsey was victorious in the 800m.
Scoring Link
Women’s Results: 5000m
1 Maddie Merna 17:29.94
2 Karle Kramer 17:57.89
3 Lily Peterson 18:02.58
4 Claire Hoyer 18:09.55
5 Ava Vance 18:17.07
6 Morgan Engel 18:26.72
We are tracking all remaining undefeated teams in DI women’s volleyball for the 2025 season. Only Nebraska is left standing after Texas fell to Texas A&M in a five-setter on Friday, Oct. 31.
Since 1981, there have been only four programs — five teams — to finish a season undefeated and win a national title: Penn State (2008, 2009), Southern California (2003), Nebraska (2000) and Long Beach State (1998).
READ MORE: Every undefeated national champion in college volleyball history
Penn State holds the longest win streak in DI women’s volleyball history with 109 match victories from 2007-10, with the Nittany Lions winning four consecutive titles (2007 through 2010). The 2009 title team is the most recent undefeated champion.
Will there be another team to etch its name into history this season? Follow along here:
Undefeated DI women’s volleyball teams in 2025
Rankings are from the AVCA:
No. 1 Nebraska (32-0): The Huskers’ extend their win-streak to 32 after most recently sweeping Kansas State on Saturday, Dec. 6 in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Next: vs. Kansas (NCAA Tournament)
Here’s everything you need to know regarding the 2025 NCAA DII women’s volleyball championship, including selection show info and schedule for the entire tournament.
BOSTON, Mass. – The Providence College men’s and women’s track teams competed at the Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener at Boston University on Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025. The women’s team was paced by junior Maeve O’Neill (Cork, Ireland) who won the 600 meters in 1:28.09.
Also for the women’s team, junior Kiera Hall (Christchurch, New Zealand) won her heat and finished 14th in the mile (4:54.98). Friar senior Cara Laverty (Derry, Ireland) finished 20th in the 3,000 meters in 9:25.43 while freshman Gemma Galvin (Clare, Ireland) placed 40th in the 3,000 meters in her first collegiate indoor race in 9:41.57.
For the men’s team, senior Zane Powell (Auckland, New Zealand) and sophomore Daniel Prescott (Christchurch, New Zealand) ran in the 3,000 meters. Powell finished 54th (8:09.62) while Prescott placed 63rd (8:13.87).
In the 5,000 meters, sophomore Elliott Pugh (Tauranga, New Zealand) won his heat in 14:08.90 while sophomore Ryan LoCicero (Bloomfield, N.J.) placed third in the same heat in 14:19.00.
The Friars return to action on Jan. 17 at the Harvard Beantown Challenge in Cambridge, Mass.
For more information on the Providence College men’s and women’s indoor track teams, follow @FriarsXCTrack on X and Instagram.
NCAA Volleyball Tournament: Match times, opponents for Nebraska and Creighton
REPORTING FOR KETV NEWSWATCH SEVEN. I’M JOHN GRINVALDS. CREIGHTON. VOLLEYBALL. BACK IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT FOR THE 14TH STRAIGHT SEASON, BLUE JAYS HAVE THEIR SIGHTS SET ON MAKING IT TO THE FINAL FOUR, AND THAT PURSUIT BEGINS TONIGHT IN OMAHA. KETV NEWSWATCH SEVEN’S MATT SOTTILE LEIGH IS LIVE OUTSIDE DJ SOCAL ARENA WITH THE STORY. HEY MATT. HEY, QUANECIA. HEY, ROB. IT MAY BE FRIGID OUTSIDE OF DJ SOCAL ARENA, BUT INSIDE THIS BUILDING, THE BLUE JAYS ARE RED HOT. THEY HAVE WON 44 OF THEIR LAST 45 MATCHES HERE AT HOME, MAKING THEM NEARLY UNBEATABLE THIS SEASON. A 25 AND FIVE RECORD AND A SIXTH STRAIGHT BIG EAST TOURNAMENT TITLE EARNED THE BLUE JAYS THE RIGHT TO HOST MATCHES AT HOME, AND THE PLAYERS KNOW THAT COULD PROVE TO BE A BIG ADVANTAGE. OH MY GOSH, WE LOVE PLAYING AT CREIGHTON IN FRONT OF OUR HOME FANS. I MEAN, I THINK IT GIVES US WE HAVE SUCH A GREAT HOME COURT ADVANTAGE. I THINK OUR FANS REALLY BRING IT. THE CREIGHTON COMMUNITY JUST SHOWS UP FOR US AS A WHOLE, AND IT JUST FEELS SO GREAT TO BE SUPPORTED IN OUR OWN GYM. SO WE’RE SO EXCITED. I OBVIOUSLY LOVE PLAYING IN SOCAL AND I’M SO EXCITED TO GET ONE LAST WEEKEND HERE. THE JAYS ARE HOSTING MATCHES HERE AT HOME FOR THE FIFTH STRAIGHT SEASON. THAT PUTS THEM IN ELITE COMPANY. THEY ARE ONE OF JUST SEVEN SCHOOLS IN THE COUNTRY THAT CAN SAY THAT RIGHT NOW, UTAH AND NORTHERN IOWA ARE SQUARING OFF INSIDE THE BUILDING. CREIGHTON AND NORTHERN COLORADO WILL TAKE CENTER STAGE AFTER THAT. REPORTING OUTSIDE DJ SOCAL ARENA MATT SOTTILE KETV NEWSWATCH SEVEN SPORTS. THANKS, MATT. YOU’RE RIGHT, IT DOE
NCAA Volleyball Tournament: Match times, opponents for Nebraska and Creighton
Updated: 9:59 PM CST Dec 6, 2025
Editorial Standards ⓘ
Nebraska and Creighton are moving on in the 2025 NCAA Volleyball Tournament.The Huskers will play Kansas on Friday at 8:30 p.m. at the Devaney Center in the third round of the tournament.NU swept both LIU and Kansas State in the first two rounds in Lincoln.The Jays will face Arizona State in the regionals on Thursday at noon in Lexington.The match will be broadcast on ESPN2.Creighton took down Northern Colorado in five sets in the first round and UNI in four sets in the second round at the D.J. Sokol Arena. Make sure you can always see the latest news, weather, sports and more from KETV NewsWatch 7 on Google search.NAVIGATE: Home | Weather | Local News | National | Sports | Newscasts on demand |
LINCOLN, Neb. —
Nebraska and Creighton are moving on in the 2025 NCAA Volleyball Tournament.
The Huskers will play Kansas on Friday at 8:30 p.m. at the Devaney Center in the third round of the tournament.
NU swept both LIU and Kansas State in the first two rounds in Lincoln.
The Jays will face Arizona State in the regionals on Thursday at noon in Lexington.
The match will be broadcast on ESPN2.
Creighton took down Northern Colorado in five sets in the first round and UNI in four sets in the second round at the D.J. Sokol Arena.
Make sure you can always see the latest news, weather, sports and more from KETV NewsWatch 7 on Google search.
NAVIGATE: Home | Weather | Local News | National | Sports | Newscasts on demand |
PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania track & field program opened the 2025-26 indoor season with a series of standout performances at the Penn Opener, highlighted by multiple event victories, three school records, one Ivy League record, and the nation’s leading women’s shot put mark.
Freshman Jessica Oji delivered the standout performance of the meet, winning the shot put with a mark of 17.72m (58′ 1.75″). Oji’s mark set a new Ivy League indoor record, Penn school record, and currently ranks first in the NCAA.
Adannia Agbo added another record-breaking performance in the triple jump, winning the event with a school-record jump of 13.05m (42′ 9.75″), ranked second in the NCAA.
On the men’s side, senior Jake Rose led the way winning the heptathlon with a school-record total of 5647 points. Rose won six of the seven events, recording personal-best marks in long jump (7.12m (23′ 4.5″)) and high jump (1.92m (6′ 3.5″)).
First-year standout Joseph “Tiago” Socarras added the first school record on the track this season, winning the 1000m with a time of 2:20.39.
Penn closed the competition with a fifth school record, as the 4x400m relay team of Leo Francis, Nayyir Newash-Campbell, Tiago Socarras, and Ryan Matulonis ran 3:09.78 to claim victory.
First Place Times/Marks
Penn controlled the men’s 3000m race claiming four of the top five places including a winning time of 8:09.33 from Nick Carpenter.
Freshman Rianna Floyd won the 300 meters at 38.75, then returned to anchor the winning 4x400m relay (3:45.22) with teammates Jailyn Milord, Sofia Swindell, and Mary Ramey.
Evangeline Thomson cleared 3.92m (12′ 10.25″) to claim victory in the women’s pole vault.
Ryan Matulonis recorded a personal-best 60m hurdles time of 7.96, finishing first.
Thomas Bucks made his debut in the red and blue stripes claiming first in pole vault at 4.90m (16′ 0.75″). Leo Francis won the long jump at 6.92m (22′ 8.5″).
Up Next
Penn track and field will return from winter break in January hosting the Penn Select on Jan. 10 at the Ott Center.
Top Five Results
Women’s
Shot Put
1. Jessica Oji – 17.72m (58′ 1.75″) *Ivy Record, School Record, Ranked 1st in NCAA
