There were a lot of powerful statements made by Brad Stevens and Bill Chisholm at their press conference on Monday, and also a lot of fluff. The president and owner tried to explain the Jaylen Brown trade as best they could, constantly insisting that this was about optionality, two players taking up 70% of the cap, the CBA, and plenty more.
One interesting comment that got lost in the shuffle was Brad talking about the benefit of Paul George’s contract expiring a year earlier than Jaylen’s, explaining:
“We have both really good young depth, some guys that I think will not only be good in the in the near term, but just continue to get better. And you talk about Paul's contract a little bit, and how it times up, that will give us optionality not only in adding to our team, but also retaining some of our team, which I think is important.”
Everyone is thinking about the Celtics’ next move and wondering if they’ll go out and try to add another star talent to the mix. But the reality of the situation is that Boston has great depth and lots of young players on cheap deals.
Celtics keen on re-signing and extending their young players
They’ve developed a lot of these guys in-house and helped turn them into productive NBA players who are all going to have bigger roles this coming season, and hopefully beyond. But that also means those players will need to get paid.
We’ve already seen contract extensions for Neemias Queta and Ron Harper Jr., and that’s just the beginning. Jordan Walsh had his team option picked up and will expire without a new deal that the Celtics will probably look to complete soon.
Baylor Scheierman will be in the same position next year, and Hugo Gonzalez a year later. Luka Garza is on an expiring deal this season, and Payton Pritchard’s deal ends a year after that. To put it simply, everyone on the team other than Jayson Tatum, Derrick White, and Sam Hauser is going to need an extension sooner rather than later.
Stevens and the front office may not believe in every single one of the players I named, but I certainly think they like a lot of them. Part of this JB trade was a big bet on the depth and these young players, who all made a big impact last season. This trade will help Boston secure long-term deals with these players and invest in their own talent.
Jaylen Brown trade all about optionality and flexibility
As these players age, the Celtics now have a great chance to keep this crew together while adding outside talent as well. Keeping Brown, and likely extending him, would have made it very difficult for Boston to offer fair market contracts to a lot of these players whom they clearly value.
It’s not to say the Celtics chose these guys over Brown, but it’s one more factor. Saving the money from a second supermax deal allows them to spread it around and put strong, meaningful depth around Tatum.
You still don’t have to like it, but these are the realities of this new CBA, and the price you pay for drafting and developing, as well as the Celtics have. Brown had to be the sacrificial lamb, but now Stevens should be able to keep the rest of the team together for years while keeping the flexibility to add on the margins, go star-hunting, or anything in between.
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