Boston Celtics rumors: Gordon Hayward is expected to opt-in for 2020-21
Gordon Hayward is expected to opt into the final year of his contract with the Boston Celtics, delaying his free agency for one more season.
There is still hope that the NBA will be able to resume its 2019-20 season, but as the league currently sits in a hiatus it’s difficult not to think about what potentially awaits us during the offseason.
One topic that is always the center of conversation during the NBA’s offseason is free agency. One player that could potentially hit the open market this summer is Gordon Hayward, who was the Boston Celtics‘ prized free-agent signing just three years ago.
However, instead of hitting the open market again, it appears that Hayward will – and probably smartly – opt in to the final year of his contract with the Celtics that will be worth more than $34 million.
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"[via Heavy.com]“It’s too much money to pass up,” one general manager told Heavy.com. “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.”"
Hayward hasn’t exactly lived up to the contract that he signed with the Celtics in 2017 but most of that could be chalked up to the bad injury that he suffered minutes into his regular-season debut with Boston. It threw his tenure with the Celtics off and he never really recovered entirely.
With that said, it’s not like the past three years have been a huge disappointment either. Boston was in the conference finals two years ago and lost in the second round of the playoffs last season. This year, they were on the verge of making another deep playoff run before the NBA hit a hiatus.
And Hayward was playing a big role in the team’s success this season. Even though the money will look outrageous on paper, and it won’t be ideal that Boston will have to pay him that next season, there’s still a role for Hayward to play on this team.
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In fact, it wouldn’t be entirely surprising if the Celtics try to bring him back after next season when he hits the open market at potentially a much lower price.