The Boston Celtics are coming off a 64-win regular season and a 16-3 postseason led by an elite starting five of Derrick White, Jrue Holiday, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum and Kristaps Porziņģis.
The C’s will enter the 2024-25 season as the favorites, with no team even close to being in their tier. Barring health trouble, a repeat feels likely.
So it’s time for a team-building thought experiment.
Joey Akeley, Bryan Toporek, Dan Favale, Jay Dunbar and Grant Hughes were asked to build a starting lineup that could beat Boston’s for this upcoming season and this upcoming season only.
They had access to every player in the league, except Celtics.
The only catch is they couldn’t exceed the cost of Boston’s starting lineup for the 2024-25 season, which is $163,393,862.
Were the five writers successful in creating superteams capable of beating the Celtics? Which super-squad is the strongest? Drop an app comment below.
With the first overall pick, I had to decide whether I’d rather have Nikola Jokić or Victor Wembanyama and an extra $38.6 million to spend on the rest of my roster.
I chose Wemby, who could be a top-10 player this season while making just $12.8 million.
That strategy allowed me to go after expensive superstars with my next two picks.
Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant were once the two best players on a team that went 16-1 in the playoffs.
That team of course also had Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, but it did not have a 7’4″ center with shot-blocking prowess and three-point range.
