Pagliuca: Celtics willing to pay luxury taxes if it means championship contender

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The Celtics dealt Avery Bradley in order to sign Gordon Hayward and stay under the salary cap, but is a return to the luxury tax inevitable? 

C’s managing partner Steve Pagliuca told the Boston Herald that the team is willing to spend what it has to it means putting a championship-caliber product on the court. That means next summer could indeed see them enter luxury tax land. 

“I don’t know if it’s inevitable, but if we feel it’s going to help us win a championship, then we will,” Pagliuca told the Herald. “We have a history of doing what we need to do to win.

“But you have to be careful -- if you sign people to bad contracts, it’s going to preclude you from signing other players. But I’m very happy with how it’s gone.”

The Celtics paid luxury taxes in its recent heyday of having star players Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen. 

Boston already has two players on max deals in Hayward and Al Horford. Isaiah Thomas could become a third when his contract expires after the coming season. 

The tax rates for non-repeaters, as the Celtics are given that they have not been in the luxury tax for three of the past four seasons, are as follows: 

Team salary above tax level         Tax rate

$1-$4.99 million                               $1.50

$5 million-$9.99 million                  $1.75 

$10 million-$14.99 million             $2.50

$15 million-$19.99 million             $3.25 

$20 million+                                      $3.75

(Tax rate increases 50 cents for each additional $5 million.)

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