5 years of $314 million! No. 1 in the league! Tatum s Achilles tendon ruptured, defending champion brews a big deal

NBA playoff semi-finals are exciting, and some are happy and some are sad! So far, the Thunder are leading the Nuggets 3-2, the Warriors are trailing the Timberwolves 1-3, the Cavaliers are trailing the Pacers 1-4, and the Celtics are trailing the Knicks 1-3. The Cavaliers' elimination is directly related to the team's large-scale injuries. The Nuggets, Warriors and Celtics' lives are on the verge of death, and there are also injuries - Porter of the Nuggets' Jr. has been fighting with shoulder injuries, Curry of the Warriors' G1 injury has not returned since the second round, and the Celtics' Posses are ill and Tatum has suffered a major injury of a ruptured Achilles tendon. The season is reimbursed!

In recent years, the NBA has a curse exclusive to defending champions - according to statistics, the defending champions in the past five years have not been able to break through the first round of the playoffs - the Raptors in 2020, the Lakers in 2021, the Bucks in 2022, the Warriors in 2023, and the Nuggets in 2024 are all like this. The last team that successfully defended the title still has Durant, Splash Brothers and Dream Chasing Cosmic Brave. The Celtics won the NBA championship last season, and the 18 championship trophy in team history beat the Lakers and ranked first in NBA history. As a reward, Tatum signed a five-year, $314 million super maximum salary contract, breaking the NBA historical record ($304 million in five years) maintained by teammate Jaylen Brown. The guarantee contract for the main lineup of the defending champion can last for at least 2 seasons. According to their simple and rough style of play, they have every hope of establishing a new dynasty. But there is one detail that is intriguing: the former boss of the Celtics decided to sell the team after renewing Tatum, and finally cashed out at a high price of 6.1 billion US dollars! From a business perspective, the former boss of the Celtics may have two meanings to choose to sell the team at this moment: First, the Celtics have just won the championship and their market value is at its peak; Second, the curse of defending the title is like a dark cloud, and if the defending title is defeated, it will suffer heavy losses; Third, the salary of the Celtics team is too expensive. According to the existing contract, they will become a team with salary + luxury tax of more than 500 million US dollars next season, and who can make history?

Now, the Celtics are behind 1-3 in the Eastern Conference semi-finals, and the three games they lost are all collapsed by their opponents while leading the score, including two consecutive home games that were thunderously reversed by 20 points. They seem to be going on to continue the curse of the defending champion not being able to overcome the second round. What's even worse is that Tatum also put on his Achilles tendon for this! According to official news from the Celtics, Tatum has successfully completed the right Achilles tendon rupture repair surgery and is expected to be able to recover completely, with no return schedule yet. People often say: Drinking cold water when you are unlucky will stuff your teeth! The Celtics lost their wife and soldiers, which seemed unlucky, but in fact, the Celtics were not going well, and Tatum kept moving forward with the burden!

Tatum has been known for his resistance to killing the king since he entered the league. There are countless scripts that have minor injuries but not fall from the line of fire, and the scenes of the king returning after being injured are also very common. But then again, even though Tatum has helped the Celtics win the NBA championship, the outside world will only complain that Tatum is not as a superstar and only cares about how high Tatum can fly, but few people are worried about whether Tatum is tired or not. According to statistics, since entering the NBA in 2017, Tatum has played 706 games, ranking first in the league during the same period; in another statistics, Tatum's playing time in the first eight seasons of his career reached 4,725 minutes, ranking third in NBA history. Take the Knicks vs. Celtics in this round of series for example. Tatum averaged 41.3 minutes per game. Can an accidental injury be considered an accident? Tired is the original sin!

Rather than saying that Tatum's Achilles tendon is broken, it is better to say that the foundation of the Celtic dynasty has collapsed! Tatum successfully underwent Achilles tendon repair surgery, which was a devastating blow to Tatum, who was at his peak at the peak of his career, and he will face a long period of recovery. NBA famous reporter Shams pointed out incisively: No matter whether the Celtics will lose or win this season, whether Tatum is injured or not, the Celtics originally planned to adjust the roster in the offseason, and Tatum's serious injury this time will give the team more possibilities in the offseason. In other words, the Celtics' salary of over 500 million US dollars is too expensive. Not to mention whether they win the championship or not, it is inevitable that they will not make money. The new Celtics boss will inevitably plan big deals to subtract the lineup. After all, the NBA is a business, making money is the bottom line. It is time to dismantle the 500 million formation! It can be foreseen that when Tatum returns a year later, the Celtics will change things! Fans, what do you think about this? Let me leave me a comment and discuss it.