Boston Celtics: It’s time to show Marcus Smart the money
Marcus Smart said he wants to continue wearing a Boston Celtics jersey beyond the 2017-18 season, but will Danny Ainge give him a new deal?
Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart wants to stay in Boston ladies and gentlemen.
On Monday morning, Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports reported via Twitter the following about the fourth-year point guard:
Marcus Smart has strong desire to remain in Boston, but tells The Vertical he and agent Happy Walters have yet to hear from Celtics front office on possible extension.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) October 9, 2017
With this being the final year of his rookie contract, Smart and the Celtics have until Monday to make a deal on a contract extension.
Otherwise, Smart heads to restricted free agency come the summer of 2018. If it comes to that, other teams will be able to send ridiculous offer sheets that would force the Boston Celtics to either overpay for Smart or let him go off to greener pastures (no pun intended).
In my opinion, Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge should be thinking about keeping Smart. Sure, he (Smart) likes to chuck a lot of three pointers and can be a hot head at times, but we love him because of his emotion as well as his tough, gritty, versatile two-way play on the basketball court.
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But how much do you pay guy who has an average stat line of 9 points/3 assists/3 rebounds and 35% shooting?
Looking at Other Contracts
Since Smart plays sixth man/starter minutes every night, should he get paid like Andre Iguodala’s three-year, $48 million deal? $16 million a year sounds a bit high, folks.
What about a deal similar to Norman Powell’s recent four-year, $42 million deal with Toronto? A $10.5 million a year deal for Marcus sounds good, but seems a little low.
Personally, I would sign Smart to a deal similar to the ones Patty Mills or Eric Gordon have. An annual salary of $10.5 million to around $13 million could work for Smart.
I think a three-year (with a possible team/player option on the third year), $35 million deal is a solid deal for both Danny Ainge and Marcus Smart. That way the Boston Celtics still have some valuable cap space to bring in new guys in the coming seasons.
Next: Boston Celtics: Brad Stevens praises Jayson Tatum’s ‘savvy’ defense
Or they could make room for a possible gigantic Kyrie Irving contract extension. But that’s another topic for another day Green teamers.