Celtics' real reason for dumping Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday revealed

In just under 24 hours, the Boston Celtics traded away two key pieces to their 2024 NBA Championship team, Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis. Late Monday night, ESPN's Shams Charania reported that Boston had dealt Holiday to the Portland Trail Blazers in exchange for Anfernee Simons and two second-round picks.

Brad Stevens followed that move up by trading Porzingis to the Atlanta Hawks in a three-team deal including the Brooklyn Nets, where Boston received Massachusetts native Georges Niang and $22 million in salary cap relief.

Trading away players who were so prominent in a short, yet successful era of Celtics basketball may seem ridiculous, but there's a method to the madness.

The real reason why the Celtics traded away Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday

By making this pair of moves, the Celtics accomplished the all-important goal of diving below the NBA's second-apron line. Their net savings of roughly $27 million will not only save them a whopping $180 million in luxury tax dollars, but also helps them avoid some of the basketball penalties that come along with being big spenders in the NBA.

The league's consequences for spending above the second apron are as follows:

• Complete loss of any mid-level exception in free agency.
• Not allowed to aggregate contracts in trades.
• Not allowed to send cash in trades.
• Not allowed to acquire players when they sign-and-trade their own free agents elsewhere.
• Not allowed to trade a first-round pick seven years in the future, and that pick falls to the bottom of the first round if a team is over the second apron at least three times in a five-season span.

After the Porzingis trade, the Celtics are still $7.5 million above the $195.9 million first apron threshold and $15.4 million over the $189.7 million luxury tax line.

As a first apron team, Boston still faces the following penalties:

• Lose access to the non-taxpayer mid-level exception or bi-annual exception.
• Not allowed to take back more salary in a trade than they send out.
• Not allowed to acquire a player via sign-and-trade.
• Not allowed to sign a player from the buyout market who was earning more than the non-taxpayer mid-level exception ($12.9 million) before getting waived.
• Not allowed to use preexisting trade exceptions.

While there could certainly be more moves ahead, it's unclear whether Stevens and the Celtics front office will continue slashing salary. Even if they do, there will be more spending as the summer goes on with incoming draftees and free agents.