Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum may not get out of the second round of the playoffs for the third time since they have been teammates on the Boston Celtics, but they are both going to get paid handsomely after being named All-NBA players yesterday. The question is, will they be getting monster paydays from the Green?
With 26-year-old Brown earning a spot on the All-NBA second team and 25-year-old Tatum securing first-team honors, both players are now eligible to sign Designated Veteran Extensions (also known as “supermax” contracts). “Typically, players cannot sign deals worth more than 30% of the cap until the start of their 10th season, but all-NBA status allows players to secure a salary worth 35% of the cap before their eighth or ninth season,” Sportico explains.
Eligible to sign his supermax contract this summer, Brown can now secure a deal that would pay him approximately $290 million over five years as opposed to the $190 million over four years the Celtics could have offered their star forward had he not earned All-NBA honors. Eligible to sign his extension next summer, Tatum can ink a deal with Boston that would pay him north of $308 million over five seasons. If they both sign, Brown’s new contract would kick in for the 2024-25 season and Tatum’s would begin in 2025-26.
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Maxing out both Tatum and Brown would not break the bank for the Celtics, but it might limit Boston’s ability to pay for a strong supporting cast if the team’s owners want to avoid going deep into the luxury tax the way Golden State has been doing.
In addition to the financial ramifications of maxing out Brown and Tatum, there’s still the question of whether they make a strong enough tandem to get the Celtics to a championship. They’re both excellent individual players and they have shown increased chemistry over the past two seasons, but the Celtics are maddeningly inconsistent and Boston has a tendency to play down to the level of their competition. Since teams tend to take on the personality of their top stars, it’s fair to question if Brown and Tatum are good leaders or just great players. For a team to win it all in the NBA, it generally has to have both.
So how will Boston respond to the $600 million Brown-Tatum question? The answer, or at least a portion of it, may hinge on Game 6 against the 76ers tonight. If the Celtics don’t win and make it to Game 7, there’s a chance, albeit a small one, it could be the first step toward either Brown or Tatum eventually leaving Boston.
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