The Boston Celtics were well represented this NBA awards season. Malcolm Brogdon wins Sixth Man of the Year. And on Wednesday, Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown were both named to the NBA.
Tatum was named to the All-NBA First Team. Brown was named to the All-NBA Second Team. For the two players, the honor is noteworthy as an acknowledgment of their accomplishments from the past regular season. There are also some significant contractual implications for both Tatum and Brown.
We’ll start with Jaylen Brown, as his situation is more pressing. Brown is under contract until next season, at $31.8 million, after maxing out his bonuses. (The Browns will need to re-earn those bonuses next season, but they are all now seen as likely and part of his success next year.) However, the real blessing for Brown is that he now qualifies for the de facto designated seasoned supplement. Made by All-NBA.
The designated veteran’s supplement, or so-called “super max,” allows the Browns to skip the 30% salary cap bracket and jump to the 35% salary cap bracket.
This makes it eligible for a five-year extension from 2024-25 through 2028-29. That deal looks like this:
2024-2025: $50,050,000
2025-2026: $54,054,000
2026-2027: $58,058,000
2027 – 28: $62,062,000
2028 – 29: $66,066,000
Total: Five years $290,290,000
This is a full five year deal with a maximum interest of 35% of the cap with 8% increments.
A fifth year is very likely an option for a player, as most designated player deals generally come with a player option in the final season.
The Celtics can offer Brown that extension as soon as midnight on July 1. Brown is expected to receive this offer from Boston. If he chooses not to sign him, that should set off alarm bells in the Celtics front office.
No player has really rejected the “designated player” extension to this point, outside of Kawhi Leonard. And Leonard’s position had more to do with trading his ineligibility to sign for the Super Max than actually turning down the deal.
The most likely situation is that the Browns will get and sign the designated veteran extension. Then, because that’s the way things work in the NBA, if he’s unhappy a year or two into a deal, he’ll ask for a trade. Or, if the Celtics feel a change is necessary, they’ll move in a different direction a year or two down the stretch themselves.
One last important thing to note: If the Browns sign a certain veteran extension, they will not be eligible to trade for one year from the date the extension is signed. This means he will still be held with the Celtics throughout the 2023-24 season.
Jason Tatum put it a little farther down the line. Because he is just completing year two of the current five-year extension, Tatum is not eligible to sign a new extension until the summer of 2024. At this point, Tatum will decline his player option for the 2025-26 season. He could then add five new seasons to his deal, from 2025-26 through 2029-30.
This deal currently looks like this:
2025-26: $53,198,250
2026-27: $57,454,110
2027-28: $61,709,970
2028-2029: $65,965,830
2029-30: $70,221,690
Total: five years, $308,549,850
Like Brown, this is a full five-year deal with a maximum interest of 35% of the cap with 8% increments.
As we said with Jaylen Brown, Tatum’s final season will likely be an option for a player. Since Tatum is just entering his 32-year-old season, he might feel comfortable cashing in on a max deal, whatever that looks like in 2029.
With Tatum being a MVP candidate this season and now a well-established player in the NBA, the Celtics likely won’t have any qualms about giving him a veteran extension offer at midnight on July 1, 2024. They’ll have to wait patiently for about 14 months to do so. so.
It’s important to note with Tatum’s extension that the NBA will be negotiating new media rights deals that will begin with the 2025-26 season. That could make the expected first-year salary of $53.2 million conservative. The first-year salary could be close to $55 million.
One final note for Tatum: Since he’s already made All-NBA for two consecutive seasons (2021-22 and 2022-23), he’s already eligible to sign a designated playoff to the Veterans in the summer of 2024. This is true no matter what happens during the 2023-24 season. To be eligible through the All-NBA criteria, a player only needs to have made the All-NBA for two of the previous three seasons, which Tatum has now done.
(Note: All projections are subject to change significantly before the extensions actually begin. With a new CBA and a new batch of media rights deals coming soon, the salary cap is a bit more volatile than usual.)