Jayson Tatum signs his rookie max extension
The Boston Celtics have signed All-Star forward Jayson Tatum to a contract extension, the team announced today.
NBA Rumor: Jayson Tatum Extension?
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“Jayson has emerged as one of the best two-way players in the NBA through his first three seasons, and will continue to get better and better as a player and a leader,” said Celtics President of Basketball Operations Danny Ainge. “He possesses unique scoring and playmaking abilities, and has displayed exceptional poise and maturity in how he approaches the game. He’s someone who, at 22 years of age, will be a central figure to this organization’s championship aspirations for many years to come.”
“I am incredibly grateful to the Celtics organization, and the city of Boston for this opportunity,” said Tatum. “I love this city, this organization, and the best fans in the NBA. I plan on being here for a very long time.”
So Tatum’s deal will likely appear as follows, based on the 30 percent of the cap starting salary following this season and the maximum eight percent annual raises: 2021-22: $33.4 million, 2022-23: $36.1 million, 2023-24: $39 million, 2024-25: $42.1 million and 2025-26 in his player option year at $45.5 million. Believe it or not, if the league revenue is healthy and Tatum continues on his current trajectory, he may actually opt out of that final year.
Adrian Wojnarowski: Tatum’s extension includes a player option after the fourth year of the deal in 2025, source tells ESPN.
Celtics, Jayson Tatum agree to extension
Adrian Wojnarowski: Jayson Tatum has agreed to a five-year, $195M extension with the Celtics, source tells ESPN.
Tatum, the No. 3 overall selection in 2017, is the best player from his draft class, rivaled only by Donovan Mitchell (No. 13 to the Utah Jazz) and Bam Adebayo (No. 14 to the Miami Heat). He made the All-NBA Third Team in September and will get a maximum extension from Boston this summer, a designated “supermax” if he qualifies, per a former Western Conference executive.
Extension coming for Jayson Tatum?
Chris Forsberg: Danny Ainge can’t talk with Jayson Tatum about an extension yet but notes, “I’m confident we’ll be able to work something out this summer — this offseason, I should say.”
Brian Robb: Danny Ainge says Celtics are prepared to be a luxury tax team next year.
The biggest move Boston has in front of it is whether to offer Tatum a max contract extension, which the team is expected to do. Tatum, though, said that wasn’t what he was thinking about right after his season came to an end. “That’s a tough question to answer,” he said. “I haven’t even thought about that yet. I was just focused on this season. “The front office and my agent gotta talk about it. But I’m not thinking about that right now. We just lost a series. Just thinking about the guys in the locker room and the games. That’s what I’m thinking about. Stuff like that, going to happen, if it happens, [is] not really my concern. I’m not even thinking about that.
Tom Westerholm: Jayson Tatum said he knew if he didn’t play in Orlando, people would assume he was worried about his next contract. “That would be insensitive, especially during this time when so many people have to file for unemployment, for me to be worried about X amount of dollars.”
Brian Robb: Jayson Tatum on reports regarding him sitting out due to max extension: “I saw there were reports out there saying I wasn’t going to play because of my contract. I never talked to anyone about that…that would be insensitive for me to be worrying about that during this time.”
Chris Forsberg: Jayson Tatum said the league’s insurance policy “didn’t really affect — in a good or bad way — my decision [to go to Orlando].” Said injury risk didn’t really factor into his decision, it was mostly family concerns that left him leery.
Tatum’s got to make some decisions… Do I sign for your four- or five-year extension? Or do I play it out and just become a restricted free agent and hope that the cap goes up afterwards so then I can sign a max still for more money? From what I’m being told, Jayson at this point is leaning towards signing max deal when he’s eligible and going from there.
Jayson Tatum not considering sitting out
Jayson Tatum is not considering sitting out the restart of the season due to contract concerns, according to two league sources familiar with the Celtics All-Star’s plans. A report in the New York Daily News indicated that Tatum, who has been in town working out at the Celtics practice facility, was “reluctant to return” for concerns he would get hurt and that would impact his chances of signing a multi-year, max-salaried extension this offseason.
“Not true,” a source told NBC Sports Boston. “He’s concerned like every other player about returning to play. There’s a lot … going on in the world that players need to be more concerned about. But sitting out because of the contract? Hell no!”
“And when it comes to injuries, restart or not, players always run the risk of having one whenever they step on the court,” a league executive told NBC Sports Boston. “Players have more concerns with the reboot to the season; I get that. But I just don’t see guys sitting out games because they might get hurt. They run that risk every time they play the game.”
Jayson Tatum likely to get max extension
HoopsHype asked some experts to weigh in on Tatum’s future and the likelihood of him getting the max. “I think he is getting a max extension,” an Eastern Conference general manager told HoopsHype. “That may be one where you have some incentives in the deal; I mean, it’s not like he’s LeBron James or Giannis Antetokounmpo. But he’s pretty close to being a Top 20 player, if he isn’t already, and he’s still so young. Usually, you’re trying to keep goodwill with a player like that.
“Maybe it’ll be a max deal with certain likely bonuses – some fairly attainable incentives in there – but I think it’ll be a max deal. If that ends up being below the max, I’d be very, very surprised.” ESPN analyst Bobby Marks, who worked in NBA front offices for 20 years, agreed with the general manager. “I think they’ll give him a blank check,” Marks said with a laugh. “He’s one of those guys where you go with the blank-check approach. I think Tatum and Donovan Mitchell can basically dictate what salary they want. I think we saw with the extension that Boston gave Jaylen Brown, which wasn’t the full max, they gave themselves a little bit of cap flexibility because they knew that Jayson’s was coming up next. But, yeah, I think it’s a no-brainer. I doubt we’re going to see Boston come in with a low-ball number. (laughs)”
Max extension coming for Jayson Tatum?
Windhorst, in an appearance on SportsCenter on Saturday, talked about Boston’s plans this offseason. “If Jayson Tatum is the superstar that they envisioned when they began this whole rebuilding process when they traded Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce for all of those draft picks hoping to land a player like this, we could see ‘Glory Days’ for the Celtics again,” Windhorst said. “But it’s very much up in the air, and I’m gonna tell ya, they’re gonna have to pay him like it because after this season ends, he is going to get most likely a max contract. They’re going to bet that he becomes that player.”
Let’s start there. Boston and Tatum not reaching a contract extension this coming summer/fall doesn’t mean Tatum is necessarily leaving town. Far from it actually. In that somewhat unlikely scenario, the Celtics would retain the right to match any contract Tatum could sign as a restricted free agent. At this point, the max deal Tatum could sign with another team in the summer of 2021 would be for four years and a projected $134,375,000. That’s a first-year salary of $31.25 million (which is 25% of the projected salary cap of $125 million for the 2021-22 season) with 5% raises. Tatum and/or Boston could also delay signing a contract extension and he could still sign a full four or five-year max deal with the Celtics in 2021. That deal would be for either four years and $140 million or five years and $181.25 million. Same first-year salary applies in this situation of $31.25 million, but the raises jump to 8% off the first-year salary.
Let’s start there. Boston and Tatum not reaching a contract extension this coming summer/fall doesn’t mean Tatum is necessarily leaving town. Far from it actually. In that somewhat unlikely scenario, the Celtics would retain the right to match any contract Tatum could sign as a restricted free agent. At this point, the max deal Tatum could sign with another team in the summer of 2021 would be for four years and a projected $134,375,000. That’s a first-year salary of $31.25 million (which is 25% of the projected salary cap of $125 million for the 2021-22 season) with 5% raises. Tatum and/or Boston could also delay signing a contract extension and he could still sign a full four or five-year max deal with the Celtics in 2021. That deal would be for either four years and $140 million or five years and $181.25 million. Same first-year salary applies in this situation of $31.25 million, but the raises jump to 8% off the first-year salary.
Western Conference coach: “The teammates who are around a player do play a big part when it comes time for teams to make that kind of investment. They may be worried about being able to pay other core players down the road if they do this extension now. That’s what Boston is going through because they have to make a decision about Jaylen Brown now, with Jayson Tatum eligible for the same extension next summer. Or the front office may be thinking, ‘We shouldn’t give this much money to our third-best player.’ But the player’s value is relative. He may be the ‘third-best player’ on your team, but he’d be the top player on another team and they’re willing to pay him.”
January 18, 2021 | 12:45 pm EST Update
PJ Tucker not opposed to being traded
Sources say Tucker is prepared to play for Houston for the season even without his future tied down, but he is not opposed to a trade should one materialize. It’s understood that an extension offer is on the table at this point, but Tucker has not accepted it. Teams have already made a number of phone calls to Houston about potentially acquiring Tucker.
Sources also say the Rockets plan to be very aggressive with the sizable trade exception generated from the Harden trade and want to use it to get an additional quality player. Multiple teams have called about Tucker’s availability in wake of Harden’s departure. As far as an extension in Houston is concerned, sources say Tucker has tabled those discussions for now.
The Nets, sources said, appeared willing to trade anyone but Durant, Irving and Joe Harris (whom they’d signed to a four-year, $75 million deal entering this season). Durant’s history with Harden and interest in making this reunion a reality clearly played a massive part. “Brooklyn went Full Monty,” one rival executive whose team showed interest in Harden said. “Desperation was in the cards, and there’s nothing better in this league than to have desperation. …(The Rockets) are banking on it blowing up.”
What’s more, sources say, the Sixers weren’t the only other legitimate suitor playing that kind of part near the end. While Brooklyn and Philadelphia were widely seen as the two finalists, sources say Boston was still involved in the later stages of the negotiations as well. Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge discussed his team’s involvement publicly after the deal went down, indicating that the two teams had not had recent talks. Still, sources say the Rockets saw the Celtics as part of their process until the end and that there were multiple configurations of a deal still possible on that front. As The Athletic reported on Dec. 24, Boston and Portland had been late additions to Harden’s list.
Sources say Miami showed interest early in the process, but the Heat had not been in touch with Houston about Harden for approximately a month before the deal went down. Sources say the Rockets received multiple “big” offers from teams that weren’t on Harden’s list as well.
By the time Harden made his way to the media room table for that infamous 90-second Zoom press conference, sources say he was well aware a trade to Brooklyn was likely coming soon — even if so many of the Rockets were not. He had been receiving routine updates on the situation from parties who knew the state of affairs and was even told before the Lakers game that a deal was nearing.
Josh Robbins: Evan Fournier is missing his ninth consecutive game today due to back spasms. “He’s feeling better,” coach Steve Clifford said. “He did more yesterday. … He said he felt a lot better. I haven’t talked to him today, but he’s definitely making progress.”
