The Boston Celtics announced Thursday that they have waived fifth-year guard Dalano Banton. Banton made six appearances for the 2025-26 Celtics after joining the team late in the season for his second stint in green.
Banton’s contract for the upcoming season was non-guaranteed, so they’ll simply shave his $2.8 million salary off of their books without any residual cap holds. With there being no drawback to shedding his salary, cutting the Toronto native felt like an obvious decision. The move brings the Celtics’ roster size down to just 14 players, with Amari Williams on a two-way contract.
More importantly, it officially brings their payroll below the $200.4 million luxury tax threshold for the 2026-27 campaign. You’ve probably read more about the luxury tax than ever over these past few months.
It’s important, though. I swear.
Should Boston remain below the tax for the year, then they’ll have officially reset the repeater tax penalties that have plagued them over the past few seasons. If you’re not familiar with the repeater penalties, the league exponentially punishes teams that regularly overspend by charging them an increased tax rate.
Once a team eclipses that number for the third time in four years, the penalties start to stack up.
The 2026-27 repeater rates are as follows:
- 0-100 percent of tax bracket amount ($0-$6.064M over): $ 3.00 for $1 over.
- 100-200 percent ($6.064M-$12.128M): $3.25 for $1
- 200-300 percent ($12.128M-$18.192M): $5:50 for $1
- 400 percent and higher ($18.192M or more): $6.75 plus $0.50 for each additional 100 percent.
With this hypothetically serving as the Cs’ second-consecutive season as a non-taxpaying team, it’ll enable them to spend more freely next year and beyond.
Paul George is also to thank for the Celtics' salary success
The Celtics took a huge step towards their luxury tax avoidance earlier this week when newly acquired forward Paul George officially waived his $3.9 million trade kicker. The amount seems minute compared to the $54.1 that he’s owed next season, but it’s clearly a difference maker for the Cs.
Their financial gymnastics would’ve been far more difficult had he opted to take the extra dollars. Instead of simply being able to waive Banton, a player who likely wouldn’t have seen much run, they would’ve had to find another way to shed salary.
Whether that would’ve meant offloading Sam Hauser’s $10.8 million contract, or something else, it would’ve forced Boston to pluck a rotation piece from their roster.
Now, they're able to go into the season feeling good about the supporting cast they've put next to Jayson Tatum, and be excited about their ability to splash some cash when opportunities arise down the line.
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