Three Boston Celtics players up for contract extensions in 2022-2023
Three Boston Celtics players are up for contract extensions in the coming season. The Celtics have a lot of planning to do over this offseason to prepare for these extensions, should they plan to offer them. Star forward Jaylen Brown, veteran big man Al Horford and rising reserve forward Grant Williams are all big pieces to this team, so it seems like a no-brainer that each one would be worth extending.
Still, the team has to weigh the future cost of each player and if they are worth the considerable money that is being discussed with the future of the team as a title contender having sped up the team’s expectations from their roster than seemed evident at the beginning of the 2021-22 NBA season.
Yossi Gozlan of HoopsHype recently broke down the entire list of all of the extension-eligible players in the league in 2022-23 and touched on all eligible Celtics noted above.
Jaylen Brown
Starting with the most important piece, Jaylen Brown. Gozlan notes the maximum contract available, for the 25-year-old, is 3 years $110.8 million base salaries, and his career earnings are about $72.5 million.
Jason Glushon, Browns’ agent, is most likely to decline this deal according to Gozlan. He couldn’t be more spot-on, as Brown has no reason to sign a short-term deal, especially when he is on the fringe of making an All-NBA team which would give him a chance at extending for the supermax.
Even if he doesn’t make an All-NBA team, he could still sign a five-year extension for max money if he were to re-sign in 2024. Most likely Brown will bet on himself and decline the extension.
Al Horford
This one is the most interesting because of Horford’s age. The 36-year-old played an important part in the team’s Finals run on both ends of the floor, but Father Time is undefeated and eventually, all careers come to an end.
Do the Celtics invest in him short-term? According to Gozlan, Horford would be eligible for up to a 2-year $66.1-million-dollar extension, with the Cs likely to “extend him on a team-friendly deal for a year or two, but likely at a significantly lower salary.” Horford has made over $243 million throughout his career so something like that certainly wouldn’t be groundbreaking money, but still a lot of money for the twilight of his career.
Jason Glushon is also Horford’s agent, but unlike with Brown, and we agree with Gozlan that he likely will push for a substantial deal. Winning is more important than earnings, and Boston gives Horford as good a chance to do that as anyone else in the league. On Boston’s end, one would expect some guarantee language built into the deal the larger the negotiated figure.
Grant Williams
This is probably the biggest no-brainer of the three players. Grant Williams played his way into a bigger contract extension with his great play in this postseason run. He is eligible for the 5-year $185.7 million extension per Gozlan.
Williams’s agents Erik Kabe and Bill Duffy will most likely take an extension, but the question is for how much. Whatever he might be offered, it would be a step-up from his $7.5 million career earnings, with Gozlan expecting something north of the full mid-level exception for Williams.
This deal is a high possibility, but it is too much? He had a great series against Milwaukee, and he showed high value because of his versatility. But he had a mediocre series against the Golden State Warriors. It’s a little risky, but he certainly is a player that the Celtics need to keep.
