BOSTON — The Celtics are in the early stages of their offseason, but that first step is at least complete with the 2024 NBA Draft behind them. Next up is free agency, though the C’s won’t have too many options there on the open market.
Among the bigger question marks of the offseason for the Celtics, then, is how they’ll navigate their extension-eligible players. On the roster, those three are Jayson Tatum, Derrick White and Sam Hauser. All three of those key players are signed through at least next season, but as Boston president Brad Stevens hinted Thursday, the team wants to keep them around long-term.
“We’d love to have these guys that are extension eligible around here as long as we can,” Stevens said. “They’re great, they’re awesome obviously. And as far as signing or adding to this year’s payroll, there’s really not much we can do. It’s going to be basically minimum level contracts or those levels. And even if we were to make a trade, we can’t take more in, right? That’s just the way the new rules work.”
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The Tatum extension will be just like Jaylen Brown last summer where Tatum also gets his maximum contract. After leading the C’s to their 18th championship, no one will have an issue with paying Tatum, who earned that supermax extension after three straight years as first-team All-NBA.
White has become a Celtics fan favorite after getting added from the Spurs at the 2022 trade deadline. It’s no surprise the starting guard is looking for an extension as he had a stellar season for Boston. Hauser is under contract for just $2 million next season, which is also a club option, before hitting free agency next summer. So it’ll be interesting to see how the club navigates Hauser’s situation considering he was a valuable rotation player this season who earned minutes all playoffs.
Regardless, the Celtics will move in a favorable position going forward. Even with the extension-eligible players, the C’s have their core locked down from a team that was so successful last year. While the front office will look to upgrade the roster as a whole, the Celtics should once again be one of the best teams in basketball next season.
“You kind of know where you’re going to be for this year as currently constructed,” Stevens said. “We have the green light to do that and we’re just gonna try to be as good as we can be again.”
