The Celtics tore down their roster this offseason between trading Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis , Luke Kornet signing with the San Antonio Spurs and Al Horford leaving Boston for the Golden State Warriors .

By trading Holiday and Porzingis, the Celtics got under the second apron threshold ($207 million) and will avoid tax penalties. But Charles Barkley doesn’t believe that was the motivation for the sweeping changes.

“I think they realized that without (Jayson Tatum) they wasn’t going to win the championship, so it’s best to break the team up sooner than later,” Barkley told Heavy’s Steve Bulpett .

“I don’t think it had anything to do with the second apron. They had the apron last year, right? So I just think they realized that they’re going to take a step backward

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