The Boston Celtics swept their way through a First Round series against a Brooklyn squad featuring two future Hall-of-Famers, Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, dispatching the seventh-seeded Nets with a nonchalant ease nobody saw coming. Next up in the Second Round, the Celtics squared off against a proud Bucks squad looking to transform from a onetime champion into a mini-dynasty. The Celtics took a few gut punches from Giannis and Jrue Holiday but ultimately eked out a seven-game victory, climbing back into the Eastern Conference Finals for the fourth time in the last decade where the number one seed Miami Heat were waiting. Boston and Miami fought through a mainly boring, blow-out-ridden, defensive slugfest of a Third Round that saw the more skilled Celtics pull out their second seven-game series in a row.
- Jayson Tatum – $30.4 Million
- Jaylen Brown – $28.7 Million
- Marcus Smart – $17.2 Million
- Al Horford – $26.5 Million
- Robert Williams – $10.7 Million
- Grant Williams – $4.3 Million
- Derrick White – $16.9 Million
- Payton Pritchard – $2.2 Million
- Daniel Theis – $8.7 Million
- Aaron Nesmith – $3.8 Million
- Luke Kornet – Unrestricted Free Agent
- Sam Hauser – $1.6 Million (Team Option)
- Nik Stauskas – $2.2 Million (Team Option)
- Juwan Morgan – $1.8 Million (Team Option)
- Malik Fitts – $1.8 Million (Team Option)
- The Celtics Are Set Up Nicely For Next Season And Beyond
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The Boston Celtics find themselves in the NBA Finals for the first time since 2010 with a healthy and rested Warriors team waiting for them in San Francisco. Golden State is the heavy favorite to hang their fourth banner. The Combination of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green has about as much Finals experience as the entire Eastern Conference All-Star team put together, while this is Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown’s first time on the NBA’s big stage.
Still, the Celtics have defied expectations all season long. On January 28th, after an ugly and lifeless 16-point loss to the Atlanta Hawks that put them at 25-25 with less than 35 games left to play, nobody saw Boston sprinting to the number two seed in the Eastern Conference. Once the playoffs began, very few experts saw them getting past the Bucks and Heat to make the Finals. Boston matches up well with the Warriors, and they have a real shot at hanging a banner this year.
And here’s the thing: The Celtics’ front office has set this team up exceptionally well, not just for this season but far into the future, with some of the most team-friendly contracts in the league.
Here, we’ll examine the Boston Celtics players’ status for next season and decide what the front office should do with each member of the team.
Jayson Tatum – $30.4 Million
Entering 2nd Season Of A 5-Year, $163 Million Rookie Max Extension (2022-23: $30.4 Million, 2023-24: $32.6 Million, 2024-25: $34.8 Million, 2025-26: $37.1 Million Player Option)
Jayson Tatum’s pre and post All-Star numbers are startling:
2021-22 Pre All-Star Numbers: 25.7 PPG, 8.4 RPG, 4.2 APG, 43.4 FG%, and 32.9 3P%
2021-22 Post All-Star Numbers: 30.4 PPG, 7.0 RPG, 5.1 APG, 50.6 FG%, 41.5 3P%
Jayson Tatum essentially transformed from a reckless chucker during his first 56 games of the season to a top-3 player in the NBA who obliterated opposing defenses from all three levels of the court over his final 20 contests of the season. Tatum has carried over his post-All-Star dominance into the playoffs, averaging 27.0 PPG, 6.7 RPG, 5.9 APG, 44.6 FG%, 37.5 3P% while battling against the Bucks, the number one rated defensive team in the postseason, and the Heat, the number three rated defensive team (inches behind the Celtics) in the postseason. All things considered, Jayson Tatum has been the most effective offensive player in the playoffs, and it isn’t close.
And we haven’t mentioned Jayson Tatum’s defense. Tatum led the league with 4.6 Defensive Win Shares during the regular season as the Celtics’ primary wing stopper. And like his offense, he’s carried his defense into the postseason, shutting down some of the most skilled perimeter scorers in the league.
Here’s a breakdown of Jayson Tatum playoff matchups on defense:
Jayson Tatum guarded Kevin Durant for 139 playoff possessions, holding him to 3-18 from the field (16.7%)
Tatum guarded Kyle Lowry for 113 playoff possessions, holding him to 4-12 from the field (33.3%)
Tatum guarded Jimmy Butler for 110.4 playoff possessions, holding him to 7-17 from the field (41.2%)
Tatum guarded Jrue Holiday for 87.1 playoff possessions, holding him to 8-24 from the field (33.3%)
The only player who found genuine success against Tatum was Giannis, but the Celtics wing locked down all his other assignments like a jail warden.
Jayson Tatum is listed at 6’8″, 210 pounds, but that can’t be right. At the end of the Eastern Conference Finals, when Tatum leaned in for a hug with Bam Adebayo, he looked legitimately taller and stronger than him. Jayson Tatum is more like 6’9″, 235-pounds, which puts him in line with LeBron James, as the league’s latest massive superstar wing who has the size to bulldoze opposing teams at the basket, the shooting chops to hit from deep, the vision to set up his teammates, and the ability to guard positions one through five on the court.
Jaylen Brown – $28.7 Million
Entering 3rd Season Of A 4-Year, $106.3 Million Contract (2022-23: $28.7 Million, 2023-24: $30.7 Million)
Jaylen Brown averaged 23.6 PPG, 6.1 RPG, 3.5 APG, 47.3 FG%, and 35.8 3P% while holding his assignments on defense to a 45.6% clip from the field during the regular season. In the playoffs, Jaylen Brown has held steady, averaging 22.9 PPG, 6.8 RPG, 3.5 APG, 48.5 FG%, and 38.6 3P% (like his teammate Tatum, against two of the finest defenses in the postseason). Jaylen Brown clearly posted All-Star numbers during the regular season. But he didn’t make the All-Star team. Jaylen Brown is clearly one of the leading players in the 2021-22 postseason. But he never gets mentioned alongside Jimmy Butler or even Bam Adebayo. But why? It makes no sense. The world raved about Jimmy Butler during the Eastern Conference Finals while barely mentioning Jaylen Brown, yet they put up nearly identical numbers:
Jaylen Brown during the 2022 Eastern Conference Finals: 24.1 PPG, 7.1 RPG, 3.0 APG, and 40.4% from deep.
Jimmy Butler during the 2022 Eastern Conference Finals: 25.6 PPG, 7.0 RPG, 3.4 APG, and 29.2% from deep.
Sure, Jimmy Butler played the hero during game six, but Jaylen Brown was a consistent force during the series, coming up with timely momentum-stalling buckets while playing excellent defense as he helped the Celtics advance to the Finals. It seems like Jaylen Brown is meant to become one of the most dominant players nobody cares about, another Bernard King, which is good news for the Celtics. They have him locked up to an incredibly discounted contract that runs through the 2024 season.
Marcus Smart – $17.2 Million
Entering 1st Season Of A 4-Year, $76.5 Million Contract (2022-23: $17.2 Million, 2023-24: $18.6 Million, 2024-25: $20.0 Million, 2025-26: $21.3 Million)
You know about Marcus Smart’s defense. He won the 2021-22 Defensive Player of the Year Award as a guard! He blows up pick and rolls with a passion rarely seen, jumps passing lanes like a tornado, and plays top-10 one-on-one defense. Smart ruined Kyrie Irving’s life in the postseason, stifling him into a 29.4% shooting clip from the field, and then he broke Jrue Holiday in half, suffocating him into a 37.5% mark from the field.
However, most people don’t talk about Marcus Smart’s offensive skill-set. He’s averaging 15.5 PPG, 4.5 RPG, 6.2 APG, and 33.0% from deep in the playoffs as the Celtics’ number three scoring option. Marcus Smart has continually upped his playmaking ability, going from an inexperienced player with ho-hum court vision to a now solid passing point guard who is more than capable of setting up his teammates with open looks off swing passes and drive kick dishes. While nobody would ever call Smart a pure shooter, his outside shot is good enough to keep opposing defenders honest, which helps create space for his teammates.
The Celtics showed faith in Marcus Smart, signing him to a $76.5 million extension during the summer of 2021 in a move that most people scoffed at. In return, Smart proved the doubters wrong, flipping his contract into one of the most team-friendly deals in the league.
Al Horford – $26.5 Million
Entering Final Season Of A 4-Year, $109 Million Contract
Al Horford began the preseason on nearly every NBA website’s list of worst 2021-22 contracts. Then the Celtics staggered out of the gate as Horford looked a step slow on defense and an inch off to the left on his three-point shots. However, Horford and the Celtics flipped the switch as the season flowed into February, and suddenly Boston’s maligned big man was no longer seen as an anchor dragging his team down. His contract was no longer discussed in hushed whispers of despair at the water cooler.
The NBA is a “what have you done for me lately” league, and Al Horford has done a heck of a lot lately for the Celtics. He leads the league in contested shots during the playoffs with a whopping 14.2 hand-in-your-face challenges per game. At the same time, he’s holding his playoff assignments to 9.9% under their normal average, and he’s garnered a league-high 1.3 Defensive Win Shares in the postseason.
Al Horford has been the premier rim-protecting big man in the NBA during the playoffs, and he’s evolved from constant trade bait to a player entering a sizable but reasonable final year of his contract.
Robert Williams – $10.7 Million
Entering First Season Of A 4-Year, $48.0 Million (2022-23: $10.7 Million, 2023-24: $11.6 Million, 2024-25: $12.4 Million, 2025-26: $13.3 Million)
Robert Williams might have the most discounted contract in the NBA. He’s a 24-year-old recent All-Defensive Team addition who finished third in the league in block percentage (6.8%), well above generational defensive talent Rudy Gobert (5.7%). Unlike Gobert, Williams has the speed and lateral mobility to guard positions one through five on the court and can’t be schemed against in the playoffs.
I’d wager that if you were to ask all 30 NBA general managers if they would prefer Rudy Gobert or Robert Williams manning the middle for their squads over the next four seasons, regardless of their salaries, most would choose Robert Williams. And why not? He’s younger, springier, more switchable, and he’s even flashed a few post moves during the playoffs. Here’s the killer, though, if you’re not a Celtics fan: Williams will only make $48 million over the next four seasons, while Gobert is due $205 million through 2026, a figure over four times the Celtics big man’s salary.
Grant Williams – $4.3 Million
Entering 3rd Season Of A 4-Year, $11.8 Million Contract (2022-23: $4.3 Million, 2023-24: $6.2 Million Qualifying Offer)
During the 2020-21 season, Grant Williams mainly played as an undersized power forward who couldn’t consistently get stops, struggled from deep, and had one foot out the NBA door. Fast forward to this season, and Williams has morphed into a rugged interior defender/enforcer who shot 41.1% from deep.
Grant Williams transformed from a fan bête noire (sorry. It’s one of five French words I know, so I had to use it) to a player on an incredibly discounted contract who every other NBA squad would love to have. This summer, Grant Williams is eligible for a five-year, $186 million rookie extension, which he won’t come close to getting. But, the Celtics should extend him something like a four-year, $75 million agreement.
Derrick White – $16.9 Million
Entering 2nd Season Of A 4-Year, $70.0 Million Contract (2022-23: $16.9 Million, 2023-24: $18.1 Million, 2024-25: $19.3 Million)
The Celtics acquired Derrick White at February’s trade deadline for Josh Richardson, Romeo Langford, a 2022 first-round pick, and a 2028 first-round pick swap, in a move that was seen as an overall loss by Boston at the time. The Celtics finished the regular season 20-6 after White came to Beantown and now find themselves in the Finals, turning the Celtics’ perceived loss into a massive victory.
While White’s offense has been spotty at times during the postseason (8.1 PPG, 2.8 APG, 27.6 3P%), his defense has been world class. Derrick White has held his playoff assignments to a 36.7% clip from the field, which includes Jrue Holiday to 33.3%, Kyrie Irving to 25.0%, Patty Mills to 0.0%, and Kyle Lowry to 0.0%.
Derrick White has fit perfectly into the Celtics lineup and culture, making the $50 million-ish Boston owes him through the next three seasons a reasonable figure.
Payton Pritchard – $2.2 Million
Entering 2nd Season Of A 4-Year, $10.4 Million Contract (2022-23: $2.2 Million, 2023-24: $4.0 Million Team Option, 2024-25: $6.0 Million Qualifying Offer)
Payton Pritchard, the Celtics’ 2020 26th overall draft pick out of Oregon, has a sweet shooting stroke (41.2 3P% in 2021-22) and plays solid team defense. Pritchard has shown no fear throughout the postseason, consistently stepping up and hitting timely shots for the Celtics.
Pritchard has one more year left on his rookie contract before the Celtics will have to make a choice on him, which won’t be much of a choice at all. Tough-nosed, sweet-shooting guards are not easy to come by in the NBA. The Celtics will almost certainly sign Pritchard to an extension at some point over the next year.
Daniel Theis – $8.7 Million
Entering 2nd Season Of A 4-Year, $35.6 Million Contract (2022-23: $8.7 Million, 2023-24: $9.1 Million, 2024-25: $9.5 Million Team Option)
Daniel Theis began his career with the Celtics, playing his first three-and-a-half seasons in Boston, and was then traded to Chicago. Theis found his way to Houston during the summer of 2021, suiting up for only 26 games before Boston swapped Dennis Schroder for him in a trade deadline deal that brought the German big man back to Beantown. Despite the Celtics’ apparent longing to have Theis back in the fold, he has seen scant playoff action, averaging only 12.8 MPG across 14 games.
Theis doesn’t provide much rim protection or three-point shooting, but he’s a solid center who plays excellent team defense. The Celtics will almost certainly keep him for the next couple of seasons.
Aaron Nesmith – $3.8 Million
Entering 3rd Season Of A 4-Year, $16.5 Million Rookie Contract (2022-23: $3.8 Million, 2023-24: $5.6 Million Team Option)
The Celtics have run the tightest playoff rotation this year, cutting off all but their core eight-man rotation from consistent playing time. The team’s second-year wing, Nesmith, is far from their core. Still, Nesmith flashed impressive defensive chops during his limited action in the regular season and could see his minutes grow next year for the Celtics. If his minutes do grow, and he slowly forms into a lockdown bench wing, the Celtics will almost certainly look to extend him next summer.
Luke Kornet – Unrestricted Free Agent
Luke Kornet is a 7’2″ center out of Vanderbilt who has bounced from New York to Chicago to Boston, then Cleveland, then Milwaukee, and back to Boston throughout his four years in the league. Kornet played in only 12 games for Boston during the regular season and accumulated 13 total minutes of garbage time in the playoffs.
Boston could choose to let Kornet walk during the offseason and continue his jaunt across the NBA. However, by all accounts, he’s about as pleasant as they come and an excellent locker room presence. It might make sense to resign Kornet over the summer to a minimum deal as a big man insurance policy.
Sam Hauser – $1.6 Million (Team Option)
Sam Hauser is a 24-year-old rookie wing who played in only 26 regular season games and two playoff games for the Celtics. Hauser spent much of his freshman campaign dominating the G-League, averaging 16.9 PPG off a clean 43.3% from deep. Hauser’s long distance stroke is pure, and he has the size to become an impact defender. The Celtics should sign Hauser during the summer before another team swoops in.
Nik Stauskas – $2.2 Million (Team Option)
Nik Stauskas was picked 8th overall by the Sacramento Kings in the 2014 Draft and then flopped hard. He’s traveled across the NBA and did a stint in Europe and the G-League. Stauskas couldn’t carve out a role on the Celtics, and he doesn’t play the kind of defense head coach Ime Udoka covets. Therefore, his basketball journey will probably continue next season.
Juwan Morgan – $1.8 Million (Team Option)
Juwan Morgan appeared in exactly one game with the Toronto Raptors during the 2021-22 regular season before coming over to the Celtics and playing in exactly one game. It seems unlikely Boston will exercise their team option on the little-used Morgan.
Malik Fitts – $1.8 Million (Team Option)
Malik Fitts played on consecutive ten-day contracts for the Celtics during the regular season. Despite playing in only two games during that span, he impressed Boston with his attitude and hustle. The Celtics signed Fitts for the rest of the season, and he should find a home in Boston next year as well.
The Celtics Are Set Up Nicely For Next Season And Beyond
Despite the Celtics’ tremendous success this season, they don’t have a player inside the top-40 of the highest NBA salaries. Next season it’s more of the same. Jayson Tatum will be Boston’s top earner in 2022-23 at $30.4 million, which doesn’t project to be a top-40 salary either.
The Celtics front office has done a tremendous job of finding talent and locking in said talent to team-friendly deals. Jaylen Brown is an All-Star caliber, two-way player. Yet, he’ll earn less than D’Angelo Russell, CJ McCollum, Kevin Love, Kristaps Porzingis, Russell Westbrook, and many other lesser players next season. Marcus Smart and Robert Williams are two of the ten best defenders in the league, but they’ll make less than $30 million combined next season. Al Horford and Derrick White are also top-tier defenders on reasonable contracts.
The Boston Celtics don’t have a single bad contract on their books. They’re young, talented, and have one of the best coaches in the league. The Celtics are set up to rule the Eastern Conference for the next half-decade.
