2024 Playoffs- 4th Round: Boston Celtics - Dallas Mavericks

[Branduil]

Dallas players are young and not going anywhere, but neither are Boston's guys, and they already have the best roster in the league. Unless you lost in devastating fashion to where it became psychological, you'd feel very comfortable running it back and getting back to the Finals pretty comfortably again.

Dallas still has a clear overall talent deficit just within the west alone, and will have a way way tougher time getting back to the Finals moving forward than the Celtics will. I know there's huge expectation for the Celtics to win a title, but it's a way easier road for them to get more chances if they don't win it than it is for the Mavs. If the Mavs do lose, I'm not looking at the West and the improvements other teams will definitely make and feeling particularly comfortable about our ability to get back here, especially if we aren't making improvements also and end up sitting on our hands a bit.

I think the only thing limiting the Celtics future is the financial costs of keeping the team together. Tatum is gonna get his supermax soon, and in 2025 Derrick White will also deserve a big pay increase. At that point you're talking about $200 million per year for their starting 5 alone.