NBA Rumors: The Boston Celtics can’t pay everyone, and their first casualty might be Marcus Smart, who is a free agent this summer
The Boston Celtics made it to the Eastern Conference Finals without arguably their two best players on the roster – Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward. And they deserve a ton of credit for pushing LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers to seven games.
There’s no question that the Celtics will be back, especially with the number of young future stars on their roster. From Jayson Tatum, who looked every bit the part as he went to war against arguably the best player of all-time, to the likes of Terry Rozier and Marcus Smart.
But with all that talent comes the byproduct of having to make difficult decisions when it comes to contract extensions and such. And the first real test for this new collection of Celtics will come this summer, when Marcus Smart become a free agent.
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According to Smart himself, he’s worth close to $15 million, if not more. And he’s not sure the Celtics will pay market value in order to keep him.
"[H/T Sporting News]“To be honest, I’m worth more than $12-14 million,” Smart said to ESPN.…"
"“I don’t know (if they’ll pay me),” Smart said. “We’ll find out sooner than later.”"
It’s really a tough situation for Boston to be in. Smart is not the most talented youngster on this roster, but he’s the type of player that makes winning plays – and those are the types of players that can make all the difference in the playoffs.
Smart is heading into free agency off arguably the best season of his young career. This past season for the Celtics, Smart averaged 10 points, four rebounds and five assists as a backup playing roughly 30 minutes per game.
That’s not to mention that he’s arguably the best defender on the team, and can check any position 1-4.
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Smart is the type of player that you hate to play against, but love when he’s on your team. And he’s going to make some team happy this summer, if the Celtics elect that they simply can’t afford to pay Smart with the number of extensions that they must offer to keep this core together over the next few seasons.