Aron Baynes’ successful gamble will be the Boston Celtics’ loss
By Kane Pitman
What is Baynes’ dollar value?
As mentioned earlier, Baynes turned down a $6.5 million player option to sign a one-year deal with the Celtics. His price will be unequivocally higher than that figure, and in that regard, Baynes’ gamble has wholeheartedly paid off.
As it currently stands, according to Spotrac, the Celtics are over the cap. Al Horford is owed $28 million(!!!) next season, which equates to 26.9 percent of the overall salary cap. Unfortunately for Boston, Baynes carries a cap hold of only $5.1 million for 2018-19.
At 31 years of age, this would appear likely to be Baynes’ last chance at a longer-term NBA contract, and let’s face it, he has earned the right to get paid.
Aron Baynes' job in the Eastern Conference for the next 5-6 years can be to guard Joel Embiid. He can sign Joel Embiid's name on his contract.
— Tas Melas (@TasMelas) May 1, 2018
We’ve discussed in-depth the value Baynes brought the Celtics in 2017-18, but it’s time to brace yourself for the reality that he is almost certain to be suiting up for a rival franchise next season.
Baynes will be in line to earn a contract in the ballpark of three years and $30 million. Yes, the market for big men has dried up after several years of exorbitant spending (think Timofey Mozgov and Joakim Noah), but Baynes will not be money wasted.
When it’s all said and done, the Celtics aren’t going into the luxury tax for Aron Baynes. Equally, it would be incredibly hard to see Baynes accepting a deal for less than the player option he declined 12 months ago.
The Celtics can retain Baynes if the cap situation was thrown on its head by one of Kyrie Irving, Gordon Hayward or Horford moving on. Maybe they move on from the Hayward era before it begun. Maybe they get jittery about the Kyrie to New York rumors and jump first. Or maybe the absolutely ludicrous idea of LeBron on the Celtics comes to fruition and the cap situation is thrown on its head.
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The reality is, however, Baynes is going to get a pay rise, and even in a dry market, the Celtics will likely begrudgingly be parting ways with the man they call “Bangers.”