The Marcus Smart Quagmire is Extended
Brad Stevens continues his busy off season with the 4 year $77 million dollar extension for Marcus Smart. There are two schools of thought here. Either you hate this signing or love it. There are not a lot of fence riders when it comes to Marcus Smart these days, allow me to try.
I have been leading the charge for the Celtics to deal Marcus Smart for over a year. For one main reason. This is Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown’s team. That needs to be solidified. With Marcus Smart, the longest tenured player and the “heart and soul of the Celtics” still on the team I don’t see that happening. It’s his 8th season. We know what Marcus Smart is on the Celtics. He is a good player.
He’s become a decent shooter, but he is flawed offensively due to his decision making. We know what he can do defensively as a 2 X ALL NBA defender although that play fell off a bit last year. His greatest attribute is he brings energy and attitude. In the same breathe the guy seems too emotional to fully grasp his role on this Celtics team. That has been the knock on Smart the past several years. Maybe, Ime as a new voice can help, but I believe it’s in both party’s best interest if Smart found a new home. Enter the extension.
Instead of an expiring contract, Marcus Smart is now tradable asset on a decent deal with term. On the player’s side he also has been handed $19 million a year by the team who drafted him. The important thing to pay attention to in this contract is the trade kicker. The Celtics will pay Smart a designated % of his salary as a bonus if they trade him. I have to imagine Brad and Ime have had a discussion or two with Marcus about his future and their plans for him. I wishfully hope that they have addressed all of the glaring weaknesses that most of the Celtics fans see and presented a contract that reflected that.
My guess is Smart didn’t want to sign at first. Either because he felt slighted at the idea of being traded or a lesser role or the numbers weren’t right. If you remember around the time the Olympics started the Celtics had a few social media posts randomly pumping the tires of Marcus Smart. Contract negotiations were all in play.
So, Brad throws him the trade kicker as a bonus to sign the contract with the caveat that
“Hey Marcus we still need you this year in this specific role which we love you in and you can excel, yadda, yadda, yadda.”
Smart signs the deal and hopefully feels validated enough to have a good season in an adjusted role or maintain his trade value.
From a flexibility stand point you are not worse off than you were before the extension. With the trade exception coming for Evan Fournier at $17 million plus Marcus’ salary at $19 million, your handful of expiring deals at $14 million, and a partially guaranteed Al Horford contract around $14 million Brad has opened up a number of avenues he can walk down to bring in more talent in the next year or so. You can now add sign and trades as a real possibility to bring in a Max kind of player. Another win for Brad.
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