Celtics legends Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett critique Boston's offseason trades

Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett aren't in charge of constructing the Boston Celtics roster.

That job belongs to president of basketball operations Brad Stevens. But if Pierce and Garnett were in Stevens' shoes, it's clear they wouldn't have pulled the trigger on trading Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis to the Portland Trail Blazers and Atlanta Hawks, respectively.

To be fair, those deals weren't entirely made with Boston's on-court product in mind. The objective for the Celtics this offseason is clearly to get under the second apron and possibly avoid luxury tax penalties altogether.

But it's tough for Pierce to get behind that approach -- after all he doesn't have to foot the bill for Boston's expensive roster -- with the Celtics dismantling a roster that brought them to the top of the NBA world just in 2024.

"You don't like it, because you looked at it when they won last year, you're like, 'Man, this team could be a dynasty,'" Pierce said on a recent episode of "Ticket & The Truth" as transcribed by Boston.com's Khari A. Thompson. "They were all relatively young. They had already been through their growing pains. You start to understand the business of it now, because it's new ownership."

The Celtics didn't get much back in return in the Porzingis trade, acquiring journeyman forward Georges Niang. But it seemed like the Celtics got a good asset in Anfernee Simons when they traded away Holiday

Simons, 26, averaged 19.3 points to go along with 4.8 assists this past season and should lend a big hand offensively, especially with Jayson Tatum likely out for all of next season after tearing his Achilles tendon.

Even with Simons' offensive upside, Garnett clearly wasn't a fan of the trade.

"I don't know if I would have given up Jrue Holiday for scoring," Garnett said, per Thompson. "People on the outside are looking like 'that's a good one, oh he averaged 20, scoring punch,' but they don't understand the little intangibles, the locker room, the whole DNA of the team shifts a little bit when somebody on the outside comes to your club and thinks they can do the same things they did over there over here.

"That ain't how this works. That ain't the impact that we need over here. But, you know, for a small patchwork to get through what everyone says is a gap year … it's cool for one year and then you shed cost and everything."