Boston Celtics veteran swingman Gordon Hayward has finally returned to form after two grueling seasons of recovery, which is something to be excited about.
However, with that comes another thing, a thing that ought to make Boston fans at least a little nervous.
The Butler product can opt out of the final season of his current deal and test his worth on the open market as an unrestricted free agent this summer, and after the 2020 NBA trade deadline, there’s effectively nothing the Celtics can do to stop it.
Clearly, they did not want to stop that eventuality from arising, as they could have probably found a deal to move on from the All-Star forward had they truly wanted to.
Hayward’s been scoring 17.1 points, 6.5 boards and 4 assists on 56.8 % shooting within the arc, and 38.7 % outside of it on a team with three players averaging north of 20 points a game — just imagine his figures on a team where he’s a primary or even secondary offensive option.
It's wild to think that instead of Hayward's contract being an albatross next season, he could now opt out for a new deal.
— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) November 8, 2019
But of course, at age 29 and that on the doorstep of 30, it’s possible teams may not wish to pay the player the kind of money he could command on an especially weak free agent market this summer where the former Bulldog may well be the best player available should he decide to opt out.
Boston, perhaps, included.
It would only take a single team with open cap space and an attractive situation to lure yet another top-50 player away from the Celtics a summer removed from two doing the same.
This would of course require such a team to exist in the first place, and now that teams have finished shuffling and shuttling players around and between their rosters, we have a better idea of what the cap space situation for the summer of 2020 will look.
Are there any potential threats to steal Hayward away?
Most of the teams with available cap are going to be young and/or bad, and can most likely be written off as non-factors.
This includes the New York Knicks and probably the Atlanta Hawks, though with the $47.9 million in cap space The Athletic’s John Hollinger projects, they could add another impact player in the max- to near-max level.
The Detroit Pistons are another team that is very unlikely to interest free agents, and truth be told, they ought to be focusing on rebuilding thoroughly for a few seasons anyway.
A strong finish for the end of the season in the post Andre-Drummond era might convince them to float an offer sheet Hayward’s way, but it seems unlikely he’d be interested.
Similarly, the perennial basement-dwelling Charlotte Hornets are in a similar place, and shouldn’t threaten to snatch up Hayward’s next deal even if he did want to play there once (to pair up with his current teammate, Kemba Walker).
But there is a former suitor to keep an eye on in the Miami Heat, who could get to $27 million in space with a revamped roster the Indiana native would be a sold fit in after dealing to acquire former Golden State Warrior Andre Iguodala from the Memphis Grizzlies.
The Dallas Mavericks are another team that could get to max range if they believed Hayward was worth the trouble and interested in joining them.
It’s not hard to imagine how they could easily talk themselves into believing the 6-foot-7 forward was the missing piece a nascent superstar in Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis need to contend.
If folks knew, not just hoped, the Celtics were getting this version of Gordon Hayward after the team lost Kyrie & Al Horford in free agency, the expectations for this year would've been much higher. GH starting to look like the player BOS thought it was getting before the injury
— Michael Lee (@MrMichaelLee) November 8, 2019
There’s also always the option of sign-and-trades to consider, though it seems unlikely — at least at present — that there’s any sign that Hayward would consider leaving.
However, there was once a strange certainty that big man Al Horford would re-sign with the Celtics on a team-friendly deal as he eased into the back nine if his own career.
For better or worse, Boston has elected to take the same gamble two years in a row, and while things look almost indescribably better within the organization, losing Hayward for nothing would be a serious blow to the team’s short-term contention hopes.
For now, the best thing that can happen is that the team does well, and Hayward with it, with Boston slowly expanding his role when it makes sense to do so as the postseason arrives and rotations shorten.
The rest is up to him, quite literally.
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