Opposing team’s front-office executives around the NBA believe Boston Celtics veteran forward Gordon Hayward will opt into the remaining year of his current deal, reports Heavy’s Sean Deveney.
Of course, the issue of when his current deal will expire — the contract ends with the month of June as of now — will need to be addressed, as the ongoing suspension of league activities in light of the coronavirus pandemic will likely require pushing such dates back if possible.
But at some point in the coming year, the Butler product will need to make a decision on whether to stick with the Celtics one more season for a roughly $34 million payday, or to opt out in search of a longer-term deal in a relatively weak free agency.
What will Gordon Hayward do? It's the $34 million question for the @celtics.
Two NBA execs gave their thoughts on how the season suspension might affect his player option.
For @HeavySan :https://t.co/ARVUYf3Az8— Sean Deveney (@SeanDeveney) March 27, 2020
“It’s too much money to pass up,” one anonymous general manager told Deveney.
“He could get a longer deal if that is what he really wants. But I don’t think the Celtics want to give it to him, they have a lot of young guys to pay and the starting [salary] number on whatever the contract is will not be close to $34 million. He can opt in this year and then take a big contract next year. When you look at what he has done since his injury, he has only gotten better.
He could get better next year and be ready for the summer of 2021,” they added. And while this summer is quite thin with interesting names on the free agency market, it is also thin on cap space.
There is a convincing argument Hayward might prefer to have his name in the ring when it’s more likely there will be a team willing to pony up should they miss on one of the top names likely available the summer after next.
Because of the luxury tax, I think there is some hope Boston may want Hayward to opt out this summer and sign for less money per year, but on a 3-4 year deal. But that seemed to be the hope with Horford last summer and we know how that worked out. https://t.co/7loqpilGgU
— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) February 24, 2020
One Western Conference executive spoke with Deveney about how this could play out. “There wasn’t going to be a whole lot of free-agent money on the market this summer no matter what,” he began.
“That was always going to make it difficult to figure out how to opt-out and get paid. He could do that and re-sign with the Celtics and there may already be a handshake deal for something like that. I don’t know for sure but it would not surprise me. But that would probably cost him money, I am not sure the security of a longer deal would be worth the financial hit. I think that is true of most guys with player options all over the league.”
“I can’t imagine all that many of them will be opting out,” he offered.
[lawrence-related id=31664,31596,31526,31489]