Boston Celtics shooting guard Jaylen Brown has higher stakes than some in how the NBA chooses to resume the 2019-20 NBA season.
The Cal-Berkeley product signed a contract extension ahead of this season with a combination of compensation tied to likely and unlikely bonuses, both of which might come into play depending on what path the league selects to complete the coronavirus pandemic-interrupted season.
The first year of his extension will begin in the 2020-21 season at a base rate of $22.9 million plus the ‘likely’ bonuses — up to $4 million and not looking so likely now — as well as unlikely bonuses of as much as $8 million.
The list of players include the likes of Kevin Durant, Joel Embiid, Jrue Holiday and more. Also touch on how a decreasing cap could impact the rookie extensions of Jaylen Brown and Buddy Hield https://t.co/hexNKWCnWq
— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) May 28, 2020
Generally speaking, if a player (or team) accomplished something in the previous season, a bonus would be considered ‘likely’. That designation also means it will potentially impact Boston’s cap pending any renegotiations that might take place concerning the league’s collective bargaining agreement (CBA).
Even before the pandemic, Boston was looking at an increasingly expensive cap horizon given third-year shooting guard Jayson Tatum is going to be extension-eligible and virtually assured of being tendered a max or very nearly so offer.
So, with a cap that could decline and create significant tax bills unless the league steps in and changes the CBA is no minor concern for Boston — but a concern shared to a greater or lesser extent by most other teams in the league as well.
Brown’s likely incentives kick in if he hits 65 games (he’s currently at 50), if Boston wins 50 regular-season games (they are at 43 wins as of this moment), and if the Celtics make the second round of the postseason.
Given there’s not a minute chance that there may be no more regular season games at all, and that more than about a half-dozen games or so, it’s not inconceivable Brown could miss all his ‘likely’ bonuses.
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— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) May 28, 2020
The one minor upside is he’d lower the team’s cap hit the season after with the missed bonuses by converting them to unlikely bonuses based on the definition mentioned at the start of this article.
While it’s much too soon to project what Boston’s cap situation will look like concretely, it’s not unrealistic to say that might well serve to help the team considerably moving forward, even if it means simply easing the tax bill of a contending team.
And Brown will almost certainly meet all of these now-unlikely bonuses in a season less impacted by extraordinary events like pandemics.
ESPN’s Bobby Marks points out that a big drop in the cap might encounter another barrier in the short term to the Georgian’s total compensation, as he is not allowed to receive base compensation plus bonuses in excess of 25 % of the overall cap figure.
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