Boston Celtics: Terry Rozier is playing himself out of a bigger payday

Terry Rozier has not started the year off on the right foot with the Boston Celtics. If he continues to play the way he has, he may find that he will be losing money this upcoming free agency.

Boston Celtics point guard Terry Rozier has not had the start to the season that he would’ve liked. Through the team’s first 21 contests, he’s averaging 8.2 points, 3.9 rebounds, 2.0 steals and 0.7 steals per game.

Last season, he had a nice little breakout to end the year. This was mainly due to the fact that Kyrie Irving was injured and Rozier was inserted into the starting lineup. However, now that the NBA world has seen what he can bring to the table, it was expected that he’d build on his strong finish and commendable playoff performances.

Instead, Rozier is shooting just 37.0 percent from the field and 35.1 percent from 3. Those percentages are lower than last season’s, but it’s worth noting that he’s always had a poor field goal percentage — his career high is 39.5 percent.

The last handful of games have not been kind to Rozier, though he did score 14 points while shooting 6-for-12 from the field and 2-of-6 from 3 in Monday night’s win over the New Orleans Pelicans. As Keith Smith noted, Monday’s game was one of Rozier’s better games in a while.

That was good to finally see, but it’s the other games that stand out. He’s had a handful of games recently where he’s logged four points multiple times, even going 0-for-4 with 0 points in a loss to the Knicks.

In the last eight games, he’s shooting 34.8 percent from the field and 23.3 percent from 3, and his percentages are a little higher than what they normally would’ve been because of his play on Monday night. The hard part is that Rozier is a scoring guard who doesn’t necessarily look to pass as much as he does to shoot. That plagues the offense at times when he can’t score.

He has been battling left knee soreness, which could be a potential reason he’s not playing well. It could even be the fact that he may or may not want out of Boston. Rozier had posted a cryptic tweet that blew up on social media, but Rozier downplayed it, claiming it was non-basketball related.

There have been plenty of rumors swirling around as to whether or not he may be traded. Rozier is set to become a restricted free agent this upcoming offseason. Barring any changes, it’s unlikely that Boston could pay him what he will be demanding.

The constant wonder of what he will do this upcoming offseason or if he will be traded by the deadline continues to loom over Rozier and Boston. A change in scenery might be best since he hasn’t been all that good this season.

If Boston wants to compete for a championship, it may look to unload him should his struggles continue. This will benefit Rozier more than likely, because he will get a run at more time on the court. As of now, he hasn’t been playing the best and that has dropped his value. Until we see better play or a trade that shows what he can do as a starter, Terry Rozier will need to find ways to increase his potential payout.