The Boston Celtics are coming off of one of the most dominant seasons in NBA history, and president of basketball operations Brad Stevens is trying to keep that group of players together, but he did acknowledge the concerns regarding that in relation to the new luxury tax and tax aprons in place.

“What we want to do is try to get our guys locked in on fair and good extensions that they feel really good about and hopefully continue this thing as long as we can continue this thing,” Brad Stevens said, according to RealGM. “We’ll cross every bridge when we get there, and the different basketball penalties that will be associated with being above the second apron, those are real, and we’ll just have to weigh those against where we are as a basketball team, and we’ll also have to weigh the financial part of that. And I’m sure part of that will be a discussion amongst whoever the new investors are.”

The tax aprons are a pressing issue for many NBA teams, and many want to avoid being in the second apron, which is very restrictive when it comes to the future of a franchise. When it comes to the Celtics, it seems inevitable that they will become a second apron team at some point in the near future. For now, the Celtics will try to go back-to-back with the core of players headlined by Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.

What will the Celtics do with their last roster spot?

These tax implications could impact the depth of teams, and that could come into play for the Celtics this season, as it seems they are likely to keep their 15th roster spot open.

“We’re just going to monitor the health of our team and see how everybody’s doing, and if there’s any issues that arise between now and September that we need to really address, then we might use it,” Stevens said, according to RealGM. “But right now I’d say it’s unlikely. We’re still looking to sign a couple of Exhibit 10s that their most likely path will be to play in Maine. But we’ll see.”

The Celtics seemingly will only add a 15th player if there are injury issues at some point, and hopefully that does not become necessary. For now, it is on the core of Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and others to continue the success this upcoming season.