On Thursday night, Kyrie Irving announced to fans at a Celtics event that he plans to re-sign with the club next July when he can become a free agent. Irving’s verbal commitment to the Celtics doesn’t necessarily guarantee anything, since a lot can change between now and July 1. But it was a rare declaration for a star free-agent-to-be — even if a player ultimately intends to re-sign with his current team, he’ll usually hedge his bets this far out, talking about how he wants to “focus on the season” or how he knows the NBA is “a business.”
Irving stating in no uncertain terms that he intends to remain a Celtic going forward is great news for the franchise, but it also casts some uncertainty on Terry Rozier‘s future with the team. If Irving receives a maximum-salary contract from Boston next summer, the club would be committing an estimated $45MM to Irving and Marcus Smart in 2019/20, with that number projected to increase to $52MM+ by 2021/22.
That’s already a lot of money to invest in a pair of point guards, and adding a lucrative new deal for Rozier on top of that would probably be financially irresponsible. After all, based on what he showed down the stretch last season, Rozier should have a great chance to match – if not exceed – Smart’s four-year, $52MM contract as a restricted free agent in 2019. By re-signing him, Boston would be looking at using well over half of its cap room on point guards.
We don’t know for sure that Irving will get the full max from the Celtics. And it’s possible that the team could consider moving Smart to create additional cap flexibility. It’s even conceivable that the C’s could bite the bullet and re-sign Rozier without cutting costs elsewhere, since no cap rules prevent them from doing so — it would simply result in a big tax bill.
Still, it seems like something’s got to give.
Trading Rozier in advance of the 2019 deadline might allow the team to maximize his value, but that seems unlikely as long as the Celtics are vying for a title. Waiting until free agency in 2019 and hoping to negotiate a trade at that point is another option, but it’s a risky one, since there would be nothing stopping Rozier from signing an offer sheet outright with a rival suitor. Matching an offer sheet for Rozier with the intent to cut costs later would also be dangerous, since potential trade partners could drive a harder bargain knowing that the C’s are anxious to reduce their tax bill.
What do you think? What path will the Celtics take with Rozier, with Irving now on track to re-sign? What should the team do with him?
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