How will new Celtics owner Bill Chisholm handle spotlight? And more questions

The Boston Celtics continued a Western Conference road trip Monday night by beating the Sacramento Kings 113-95 for their sixth straight win overall.

As the Celtics gear up for the coming playoffs, they are also in the process of shifting to new ownership following the announcement last week that a group led by Bill Chisholm has agreed to purchase the franchise from Boston Basketball Partners, LLC.

It must be a thrilling time for Chisholm, who describes himself as a lifelong Celtics fan, but some unresolved questions about the coming era remain.

Here are some of those questions.

Advertisement For a person of his financial status, Chisholm kept an extremely low profile until last week.

He has never gone out of his way to seek the spotlight and might even do his best to avoid it.

Now, hes set to become the owner of one of professional sports most historic franchises.

And he will step into power just in time for an offseason during which he will either need to decide to stomach the biggest payroll in NBA history or shake up a team that might have just finished winning its second straight championship.

As good as the Celtics are right now, this is a challenging time to take over the team.

The scrutiny of Chisholms choices will be enormous, especially if he oversees a significant overhaul this summer.

He wont have a quiet period to get acclimated to his new public life.

And if he screws up this team, which has been so great over the last two seasons well, look at what Mavericks fans think of the franchise after new owners Miriam Adelson and Patrick Dumont OKed the Luka Doncic trade.

Based on how that trade went over, Chisholm should probably avoid dealing Jayson Tatum for an older and more injury-prone player.

Just saying.

Jokes aside, Chisholm isnt used to walking around with every eyeball in New England on him.

It will be a big deal when he shows up somewhere.

If the team sheds salary this summer, the decision will come with heavy debate and criticism.

A Celtics owner needs to deal with all of that noise and still keep the mental clarity to operate in the best interests of the franchise.

And those dont necessarily match what the public wants.

Current governor and CEO Wyc Grousbeck would have been wrong to fire Joe Mazzulla after the 2023 playoffs, but some people were calling for it then.

Under Grousbeck, the Celtics didnt always swim where the public tide would have taken them.

The team extended Doc Rivers contract in 2007 after a 24-58 season.

Bill Simmons, one of the most influential sports writers at the time, called the move a poop hot dog in a written mailbag for ESPNs Page 2.

Boston acquired Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett that summer and won the 2008 championship one year later.

Advertisement Sometimes its best to pay the public scrutiny no mind.

Chisholm will need to learn how to deal with the limelight.

The entire experience could be foreign to him.

Even after selling the Mavericks in December 2023, Mark Cuban initially held control of the teams basketball operations.

Less than two years later, the Mavericks traded Doncic without Cubans consent.

He has said the deal never would have happened if he still influenced the front office.

Mark Cuban: "If I had any influence, the trade wouldn't happen.

I was just as dumbfounded as everybody else.

After I sold the Mavericks, the new owner Patrick Dumont decided that 'Ok, in Nico we trust.' So, here we are." Via Reddit pic.twitter.com/0pcMwJw6UD Kirk Henderson (@KirkSeriousFace) March 21, 2025 So, what happened? On the Your Moms House podcast, as shown in the video above, Cuban said new ownership eventually decided to hand over basketball power to general manager Nico Harrison.

Despite the arrangement at the time of the sale, new ownership quickly nudged Cuban out of his expected responsibilities.

Thats not to suggest Chisholm will elbow Grousbeck out of his new role quickly.

He is expected to stay on as CEO and governor of the Celtics through the 2027-28 season, overseeing team operations, and both sides seem to be entering the new partnership with enthusiasm.

Still, talking with people around the league, many of them sound fascinated to see how the arrangement unfolds.

While theres hope in Boston that both sides benefit, with Grousbeck staying on while Chisholm begins to transition at least part of his life from California back to Massachusetts, where he grew up in Georgetown, the reality is that the two sides likely still have a lot of details to iron out in their working dynamic.

Grousbeck has long been the public face of the Celtics ownership group.

He seems to enjoy that responsibility, and maybe his appreciation of that role will take some of the pressure off Chisholm right away.

But Chisholm is putting up a whole lot of money to take over the team.

If he and Grousbeck butt heads, there will only be one winner.

Common sense says it will be the incoming owner.

Advertisement But for now, the two sides are acting like theyre in lockstep with each other.

Theres optimism surrounding the unusual arrangement.

During a recent interview with WEEI, Grousbeck set the stage for an active offseason when he stated that you cant stay in the second apron.

Nobody will, Grousbeck said.

Grousbeck continued to stress that its not the luxury-tax bill, but the basketball penalties from the current collective bargaining agreement that will force teams to avoid staying in the second apron for too long.

The CBA imposes harsh penalties on teams that operate above the second apron, with more significant penalties directed at teams that do so in at least three of five seasons overall.

In his radio interview, Grousbeck strongly suggested he expects the Celtics to at least consider significant changes this offseason.

We have Brad Stevens, the reigning executive of the year, and thank God we do, Grousbeck said.

Hes the one that really brought us this championship with his brilliant moves I mean, theres many other people, but Brad (was at the) forefront.

And hes looking at this and hes gonna extend our window and make it work.

I believe he will, and well find out in June and July what he decides to do.

Despite what Grousbeck said about the luxury taxes, they loom as a major factor this offseason.

Even if the second apron came with no basketball penalties, the Celtics would be staring at a payroll of $445 million, including luxury taxes, just from keeping their current players under contract.

Re-signing impending free agents Al Horford and/or Luke Kornet would only drive the cost higher.

Would new ownership step into power and immediately OK the biggest payroll in NBA history? If the Chisholm group wants to avoid that type of bill, what is the plan? It seems safe to assume the financial reality wont catch new ownership by surprise, and that this group has mapped out an approach for the coming offseason.

That doesnt necessarily mean Chisholm has brainstormed potential roster decisions the front office should look into, but that he presumably has a number or at least a ballpark figure for how much money hes willing to spend next season.

Advertisement To push themselves under the second apron and produce a far more manageable payroll, the Celtics would realistically need to trade at least one starter.

The most obvious trade candidates would be Jrue Holiday, a 34-year-old with about $100 million owed to him over the next three seasons, and Kristaps Porzingis, who has been productive whenever on the court but has dealt with various injury issues throughout his Celtics tenure.

Still, for various reasons, neither players trade value is at its highest right now.

And the possible targets would be limited because of how much money the Celtics would need to shed in a trade.

Would the team consider an even bigger move if it could find better value elsewhere? Maybe not, but it wouldnt be the first time a new owner traded one of his star players shortly after reaching the NBA Finals.

(Sorry, Mavericks fans.) Chisholm hasnt had much face time, if any, with many people in the Boston front office.

Though he is a big Celtics fan with a stated desire to hang banners in the short and long term, not much has been revealed about his vision for doing that or how involved he will be with the day-to-day basketball decisions.

Those who know Chisholm well say hes the real deal as a Celtics fan and has been a huge Boston sports fan his entire life.

Given the Celtics recent success, he should probably do whatever he can to preserve the franchises current leadership and culture.

He has done nothing to suggest he wont.

Its still not clear yet how hands-on he will be.

Or how he will try to put his unique imprint on the organization.

Based on how well the Celtics front office has operated lately, he would be smart to sit back and give Stevens the space and freedom to do what he thinks is best.

But the franchise will be Chisholms soon.

The final calls will be his.

The pressure will be on him.

(Photo of Jayson Tatum: Adam Glanzman / Getty Images).

This article has been shared from the original article on theathleticuk, here is the link to the original article:

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6228040/2025/03/25/celtics-sale-owner-bill-chisholm-questions/