Boston Celtics cut Dalano Banton and duck under tax

Boston Celtics President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens prefers to head into the regular season with an open roster spot. He maintained that modus operandi on Thursday afternoon when it was officially announced that the Celtics had waived forward Dalano Banton.

While the Celtics dealing star guard Jaylen Brown to the rival Philadelphia 76ers was a shock, this lesser offseason maneuver was not. Boston had a full roster and wanted to get down to 14 players and, by doing so, it ducked under the tax line with $1.7 million to spare. Banton came to the C’s last season to round out their roster and was already familiar with the team from his short stint in Beantown during the first half of the 2023-24 campaign. And while getting cut is often a rough day for an NBA player, the 26-year-old will now have the chance to join another team in time for Las Vegas Summer League play.

As for the Celtics, they will reset the dreaded repeater tax for the 2027-28 season if they stay under the tax this year. Stevens and the rest of Boston’s head decision-makers have discussed this avenue in all likelihood, but Celtics owner Bill Chisholm promised to open up his wallet when the time is right.

“When we have the opportunity, we’re going to do that,” Chisholm said on Monday afternoon during a presser addressing the Brown trade. “And we’ve given ourselves the flexibility to do it now…I know we have to prove it, and we will.”

Whether that future spending spree arrives this offseason or down the line remains to be seen, yet Stevens and company may stay under the tax for now to avoid the repeater while setting their sights on 2027.

“We’re looking,” Stevens replied on Monday when asked about the next moves for the Celtics. “We’re open, right? And we’ll be open. I don’t anticipate anything in the very near term. I think that we do like the team we have. We might be able to add to it, but at the end of the day, we like the group we have.”

If the C’s don’t pony up next year, expect some outcry from Boston fans, who’ve grown tired of profit-driven owners (just ask John Henry).

“The mandate is to win, and I just have to keep saying that,” Chisholm emphasized. “We’ll spend whatever it takes to do that, the mandate is to win.”

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This article originally appeared on Celtics Wire: Boston Celtics cut Dalano Banton and duck under tax