Jaylen Brown‘s inclusion on this year’s All-NBA Teams should settle any questions about his future with the Celtics, writes Sean Deveney of Heavy.com. As we detailed on Wednesday, the honor means Brown is now eligible for a five-year Designated Veteran extension that starts at 35% of the salary cap. He can sign a new deal this summer that could be worth up to $295MM and would take effect in the 2024/25 season.
There has been speculation that Brown may not be satisfied with being the No. 2 option behind Jayson Tatum in Boston and that he would have considered looking elsewhere if he hadn’t qualified for the extension. An Eastern Conference general manager who talked to Deveney believes that’s no longer a worry.
“Well, he would be crazy to pass on what Boston can give him,” the GM said. “They will have to go all in and he is going to have to take it. You can’t turn down what is going to wind up being $60 million a year. Maybe he’s happy in Boston, maybe not, but if you’re Jaylen Brown and you have the opportunity to be the highest-paid player in the league, you’re damn right you take it.”
Brown, who was a second-team selection, received a $1,035,714 bonus for the achievement. He has now reached all of his contract incentives, including games played and advancing to the second round, giving him a total of $3.1MM in bonuses this season, tweets Bobby Marks of ESPN.
There’s more on the Celtics:
- Tatum also qualified for a Designated Veteran extension by earning All-NBA honors, and Jared Weiss of The Athletic looks at how two mega-deals would impact the team’s future. The new Collective Bargaining Agreement places harsh restrictions on teams that exceed the second apron, which could be a concern in Boston if Tatum and Brown both receive super-max extensions. Weiss notes that Grant Williams is likely to leave in free agency this summer if he gets a competitive offer, and Payton Pritchard has already expressed a desire to be traded. The Celtics don’t appear to have capable replacements on the roster, Weiss states, and their ability to add free agents will be limited.
- Pritchard should get a larger role in Game 6 as the Celtics try to salvage their season, contends Brian Robb of MassLive. The third-year guard scored six points in eight minutes on Tuesday, and Robb argues that it would benefit the offense to have another creator on the court.
- Head coach Joe Mazzulla may not survive a second-round exit, opines Matt Vautour of MassLive. Vautour states that although Mazzulla has done an admirable job after taking over as head coach under difficult circumstances, he has been outcoached so far by Doc Rivers and might not be the right leader for an organization that’s focused on winning a title.
Anyone outcoached by Doc Rivers is suspect at best.
Coaches and managers don’t win games, they can lose them. Doc never had a chance in LA. Kawhi was a walking injury and Chris Paul is overrated.
I’m not big on the NBA revolving door – but as an impartial observer (not a Celtic fan or hater) Mazzulla does seem to be in over his head. It really shows in the last 5 minutes of games.
Btw Doc failed in LA long before Kawhi got there
$60 million a year is insane, especially if they lose tonight. How will they even have a competitive roster if those those two are taking up 70% of the cap for the next 5 years??
Well the Cs can find a GM who knows how to draft, can negotiate deals for better players without giving up first round picks, and doesn’t give big extensions to mediocre players. As for the Js, it would be insane not to keep both. The alternative is to return to a long period of irrelevance with a roster filled with forgettable players on a team that will be painful to watch. Like it or not, the Cs only is to ride their careers and do a better job of surrounding them with better supporting talent.
Stevens has done a great job since taking over
No he hasn’t. He’s been trash. He got lucky with Brogdon. That’s it
Ainge has a great track record. He traded for Garnett and Allen which brought them a ring, he traded Garnett, Allen and Pierce at the right time to build his next core. He traded back picking up assets knowing he could still draft Tatum, also gave Brown a huge extension when everyone thought he should low-ball or trade him the year before he broke out and he traded, signed or drafted 4 out the five starters.
The outcome of G6 should have no barring on such a big decision.
Brown’s deal would not take effect until 2024-25, and Tatum’s not until 2025-26. The 3 guards and the 2 centers are signed for the next two years. It will lean and not so mean beyond that, but that’s almost true currently. The payroll will need to be rethought starting in 2025-26, assuming they keep them both.
Trade one of them to the warriors. We like paying big contracts.
The Warriors like to win championships too.
Brown is gone. He can make up the money through endorsements being the star of his own team
Brown is going no where. He’s too smart. You can’t make up money, you can only add to it.
Boston offering him $60m will get him the $$$ he wants, but may not make him happy if he isn’t the lead dog. You’re gonna see more and more players signing these mega extensions and after a year asking to be traded (just like Ben Simmons).
I. Would sign Brown and if he then wanted traded, do so! While I love both of them, there seems to be some friction! We need a top of the line coach! Steven’s a has done an excellent job!
Every sentence doesn’t need to end in an exclamation point.
Celtics could use a REAL PG …..
Smart and Brogdon are more combo guards.
Celtics lose to Sixers. I could see a trade coming.
I get wanting to take market value, but $60 mil?! It would be nice to see more players take the Tom Brady approach and leave some of that money on the table to build a better team with. I’m sure it’s hard to say no to that money, but when you’re making $30+ mil a season how much more do you need?
Difficult to build a contender when two guys are taking up 70% of the cap. 30% for 12-13 players? Good luck. That’s why role players bounce around so much now. Teams can’t afford to keep decent players who up their value. That’s why Reaves is probably going to leave LA.
Maybe in 10 years when JB has rings he can act like Tom Brady. For now he deserves to he paid. Not really an accurate comparison.