Boston Celtics: 3 reasons keeping Aron Baynes is a good move

3. Cheap contract

One of the most important things that goes into evaluating whether or not a player was a good addition is how big or small his contracts is. Obviously there are a lot of players that teams would love to have, but some aren’t worth big money.

In Baynes’ case, he’s only getting paid $11 million over the next two years — $5.5 million a year, with the second season being a player option. That’s crucial for a Celtics team that needs to maintain as much flexibility as possible moving forward.

Barring anything unexpected, Brown and Tatum will be getting max contracts no matter what. Brown will be a restricted free agent in the summer of 2020 and Tatum will be in the summer of 2021. They’ll both be eligible for extensions before that time. Baynes’ full contract goes up until the summer of 2020, so Boston won’t have any issues with that just yet.

Where they do have an issue is with their other paid players such as Gordon Hayward, Al Horford, Irving, Smart and Rozier. Hayward and Horford are making close to $60 million combined and will be for a few years.

Smart is a restricted free agent this summer and will look to cash in, but Boston has to determine if he’s worth the money. Then you’re left with Irving and Rozier demanding money next summer. Irving will more than likely get paid big money and Rozier will too if he continues to play well. Getting Baynes on a cheap contract was important because of the big money that will be demanded in Beantown very soon.