Boston Celtics: 3 reasons Marcus Smart’s contract makes sense
2. The future salary cap spike
ESPN‘s often plugged-in Zach Lowe had this to tweet about the NBA’s future salary cap projections:
Very important information buried in the NBA's salary cap memo sent to teams: projection for 2019-20 cap up to $109 million, and then $116 million for 2020-21. Cap is set at $101.9M for upcoming 2018-19 season.
— Zach Lowe (@ZachLowe_NBA) July 1, 2018
What does this mean for the Boston Celtics and Marcus Smart? The salary cap for next season is set at $101.86 million, meaning Smart’s contract will take up 11.4 percent of the cap. The Celtics will surely be paying over that amount, and have dipped into the luxury tax for this season as a result. ESPN‘s Kevin Pelton did a nice job of putting this contract implication into context.
"“The Celtics will likely enter the season at about $3 million more than the luxury-tax line, which would translate into a modest tax bill of $4 million to $5 million but could have larger implications in the future.”"
Other teams with title aspirations, such as Golden State and Oklahoma City, are projected to pay large luxury tax bills this year. The Boston Celtics get to keep their luxury tax relatively low for now, although they will most likely have to address the repeater tax at some point.
As Marcus Smart’s yearly earnings increase, the salary cap keeps pace and rises with them. For example, if these projections stand, Smart will be earning 11.5 percent of the salary cap figure for both the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons. When Celtics studs Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum approach the time for their respective extensions, Smart’s contract is neither helpful nor terribly harmful to the situation.
In fact, it will be one of the more movable contracts in the league. If need be, Danny Ainge could create cap space by shipping away the versatile Smart, and clear the way to re-sign their younger wings. As of now, however, the Boston Celtics’ focus is on winning a title next season. Undoubtedly, Marcus Smart will contribute to this effort, and do so on a reasonable contract.