Boston Celtics: Options for Jaylen Brown’s contract

Continuing the relationship

Standing pat has been the Boston Celtics’ go-to move during the last few trade deadlines. They are also not known for handing out contract extensions regularly, while Ainge is never the guy to blink first in negotiations.

Waiting until the end of the season seems the most likely outcome for Jaylen Brown and the Boston Celtics in regards to discussing Brown’s future on this roster, allowing the front office and coaching staff another full season to work with him and monitor his development before making a big financial decision.

This may be a smart move from a team/business prospective, but this could be construed as insulting by Brown, a player who in his three years in the league has been to the conference finals twice — both times as a starter.

Opposing teams will also have money available with very few targets to focus on in this free agency class, making convincing Brown to stay in Boston a difficult task — especially with the Celtics needing to have an eye on the following year and ensuring the funds are there to avoid a similar situation with Jayson Tatum.

What aids the Celtics in both the Brown and Tatum scenarios is the fact they hold the Bird rights to both of these players, allowing them to go over the salary cap to keep them should the team choose to do so.

It is no secret the team owners are willing to pay the luxury tax for a contending team, the big question here is are they willing to pay the tax to keep the building blocks necessary for the team to become contenders.

Hayward opting in eases the worry of covering Tatum’s contract next year assuming the Celtics choose to part ways with Hayward upon the end of his contract (if not before).

But this does not help in the case of Brown, as they will want to keep at least one of them heading into the 2020-21 season.

Dark horses could play a part in any decision the Celtics make in regards to Brown, for instance, what if Romeo Langford plays himself into a big role in the rotation? does this make losing Brown and/or Hayward less of a blow?

Many subplots will play a part in any decision the team chooses to take on Brown’s contract status this year, most notably Brown’s development.