Draymond Green will sign a four-year, $100 million max extension with the Golden State Warriors, according to an ESPN report. And the reverberations from that team-friendly pact could be felt 3,000 miles away.
Green’s extension removes another big name from the list of potential 2020 free agents. That’s notable for the Celtics, who could have two of their key players wading into free agency next summer in Jaylen Brown and Gordon Hayward.
Brown, 22, is extension eligible this summer but it seems unlikely that he will ink a deal before the start of the season. Brown will have the motivation to assert himself this season and escalate his price tag, while the Celtics have the security of knowing Brown will be a restricted free agent, giving them the opportunity to match any offer he receives next summer
Still, a market thin on big names might make Brown that much more intriguing, particularly to teams trying to build around young talent. Other players from Brown's 2016 draft class — Jamal Murray and Ben Simmons — have already cashed in with five-year, $170 million extensions. Working in Boston’s favor: There might not be a lot of teams with ample cap space to splurge and the drool-worthy list of names that could potentially be on the free-agent market in 2021 will encourage teams to spend cautiously.
Hayward is another interesting situation. He owns a player option on the fourth and final year of the $128 million pact he signed with Boston in July 2017. It feels unlikely Hayward would walk away from $34.2 million but, with a bounce-back year, there could be motivation. Hayward will have 10 years of NBA service after this season and, at age 30 next summer, he could potentially seek security on the open market. Given his decade of experience, Hayward could command up to 35 percent of a cap that’s been projected at $117 million.
That means Hayward’s starting salary could potentially be nearly $41 million. Of course, that means he’d have to reestablish himself as an All-Star talent now further removed from the ankle injury he suffered five minutes into his first game with the Celtics, but it’s something to ponder, particularly if there’s not a lot of must-have names on the open market.
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