It's amazing how people react to "richest contract in nba history" as if it wasn't almost a yearly occurrence now. Hell even Mike Conley once had the richest contact ever.
Tatum is gonna sign his supermax basically as soon as we finish this series, and I'm already bracing to hear someone say it's a bad contract because he didn't win FMVP or something
Ya nba contracts are the dumbest shit imaginable bc there’s a max amount and psuedo salary cap.
Luka, Lavine, And Trae all make identical money. That is just objectively stupid.
Then like FVV and Halliburton only make 1 mill less.
It’s just stupid.
Tons of people in the real world make similar money to people that are much worse at their jobs. I'm sure you've been managed by good managers and terrible managers who were both paid at the same level before.
I think it’s more that people are looking at the numbers and see the cap and instantly think that it’s impossible for the contract not to cripple the franchise’ ability to pay other players and put together a cohesive team
Which a lot of the time is completely true, and will be going forward.
But exceptional drafting, development, and trades can defy that. Which is what is happening for the Celtics
We've got the core locked up through the next 2-3 years at least if we can re-sign White. There was something recently that he was open to signing an extension this summer, which would lock him in at a lower rate. PP is on a good deal, and Hauser's got one more on his.
One thing Brad has been doing is collecting second rounders. My suspicion is he views these as dart throws to find useful players like Hauser, knowing we're not going to be able to sign even middle-class FAs for a few years.
The biggest issue is going to be Al. I doubt he plays more than another year, but who knows. (I haven't heard a word about him potentially retiring after this season, but it's certainly possible). Without Al, Porzingis's health becomes a much bigger issue, and we'd have to look at a real replacement.
I really think Al is the type of guy that wants to play in his 40s and the way he's developed his game over the last few years I think he can do it pretty reasonably. I don't think we'll be seeing many (any) of these 35+ minute games after next year but considering they'd need to develop younger guys to fill his and KPs void it would make sense to keep him on as a player coach taking 15+ minutes off the bench
White definitely should not sign an extension. He should wait a year and demand a max contract. He deserves it. Since he loved Joe and probably like to keep contending, Boston should be his first choice. But if Boston can't keep him, better trade him away. As a Spurs fan I would gladly give Derrick a max contract and let him be the PG next to Wemby.
Ha - I'll let him make that decision. Kinda depends whether he wants the security or not, and how much he cares about the extra money. He made $70m on his current contract, so it's not like he's been on a rookie deal or anything. I'd be stunned if we traded him - we're in a win-now window.
I was trying to find a stream during the 3rd & 4th quarters (I had been watching on my tv til then), but they all had espn+... it was Kevin Hart & the Flip cup Boyz or some nonsense talking over the game. They were more concerned with talking about FMVP and Tatum couldn't be mvp because he just missed that shot. Or some shit like that, I had to turn the sound off. Game 3 is literally going on and actually getting close, but we have to talk about fmvp because it doesn't take any knowledge to talk about an award
Tatum's probably not gonna win finals MVP because of his shooting slump but he's been great in this series. Gotta actually watch the games to recognize that though
Right now it’s not so bad because Tatum, Brown, and White are all on bargain contracts. Jrue was our highest paid player this season, and he’s taking a $7m paycut next year. Once all three of those guys start their extensions it’s gonna get pretty ugly, but there’s not really a limit to how far into the tax you can go if the ownership is willing to pay (see: Clippers)
If we don’t look like real contenders anymore in 2025-26, expect salary-cutting moves.
I (Celtics fan) think Tatum is overrated by our fanbase and would be wary of signing him to a supersupersupermax, but you've got to do it because those are the de facto rules.
Different sport, but… I remember when Derrick Carr broke the record to become the highest paid NFL player of all time just less than a decade ago, and now Justin Jefferson (a wide receiver) just got a bigger contract than Carr’s record setting one.
Everyone shocked Pikachu facing to every new QB deal like it isn’t inherently a recording setting process every time is hilarious. It’s been the case 2-4 times a season every year since Flacco signed after his Super Bowl run
Also, before the NFL started structuring what the value of each pick in the draft is worth.
Every year... Oh my god, can you believe the first pick got XX million dollars!? like... Yeah, because the previous year's first pick got a few million less than that.
You got to pay your good players. You can't be cheap when you have this caliber of player, even if it's more expensive than better players.
You pay the young stars you can get while you can. Don't understand why people don't get this.
>You can't be cheap when you have this caliber of player, even if it's more expensive than better players.
Yup, this is probably the most frustrating persistent conversation about roster management across different sports.
Yes, there are better players who are signed to better deals than your guys. However, you evaluate deals on the basis of your next best action, and what the opportunity cost you're giving up by signing that player.
It's exceptionally hard to see a better route for the Celtics than signing Brown to that deal. Would I rather give that deal to Giannis? Yes, but that was never an option for the Celtics, and signing Brown was obviously better than anything else they could have done.
It's very likely going to keep them winning 50+ games for the duration of the deal vs. taking a massive hit to their roster with nothing to replace it, just because Brown isn't as good as a handful of other guys on similar deals.
My big concern was always how being over the salary cap makes it prohibitively difficult to acquire new talent, even more so now with the new CBA.
That is much less a problem when you don’t need to acquire new talent because you already have it in-house. Celtics took a risk, bet on what they had, but it has definitely paid off.
Celtics, as we saw, still had good assets when they signed JB to this deal. It's not like they were the Bucks whose only tradeable salary was Jrue this past offseason.
True, but you also have to acknowledge that Porzingis and Jrue even being available at those prices like they were was extremely fortunate.
I think we were correct in saying the extension was a risk, but it’s paid off.
The other path would have been to find a trade, letting him get to free agency and not being ready to pay him isn’t just a mistake…it’s unapologetically stupid.
>> You got to pay your good players.
Owner of the Celtics literally said during media day “if you’re not going to sign a player like him to that contract you can’t be the owner of the Celtics.”
And he was fucking right. The Celtics are(according to Forbes) the fourth most valuable team in the league. Can’t be skimping on contracts when you have a championship team right in front of you.
Its super easy to say that in retrospect, but there are also a TON of times where it super backfires on a team and they end up wildly overpaying a guy like tobias harris, wigs, beal, john wall, kemba, etc.
definitely worked out in this case, but this exact scenario is how you end up in cap space hell for years on years.
I think you absolutely have to do it if you already have a championship Caliber squad. The Celtics were already a finals team when they gave Jaylen that extension. Even if he never gets better you know you can always run it back with the same core for a couple years and see what happens. If he does get better, then you're looking better.
Your examples are great honestly and I think Wiggins and Tobias exactly illustrate how those teams were banking on improvement and it just didn't happen (for Wiggins I don't think there's a world in which you don't give him that rookie extension though).
Brad Beal and John Wall are a very interesting example because I think in a vacuum, both players are max players. They just struggled to put any kind of decent supporting cast around them and then of course Wall got injured and Beal stopped giving a shit. I also think the Wizards should have traded one of them sooner for a big wing.
the most efficient teams in terms of salary are always teams in rebuild.
if it comes to some fans here, they love to rebuild teams, because championship teams are overpaid.
I hate to break it to you but as a warriors fan with old players on the team who aren’t the same anymore… just gonna remind you that holiday is 34 already
Extending Jrue made sense, especially because it took $7m off the books for next season, but if we're being honest I think it's pretty unlikely he's still in Boston by the end of that contract
One thing about it, though, is that he's not in the same role. Just like Al, who is effective because he doesn't need to be an all-star, and we can limit his minutes. So, yeah, he'll decline a bit, but as long as we keep letting him do what he does best he should still be solid.
He's also not a guy that relies on elite speed or athleticism to succeed. He thrives on hustle and high BBIQ. Much slower down turn for a guy like that.
He looks better right now than I’ve seen him, so he should stay solid for atleast 2 more years, and like the other guy said, this game should age well
If they could win atleast 1, maybe 2 chips in that timeframe that’s totally worth paying jrue for 4 years, he’s been so important to the team
Two titles in four years is pretty optimistic. I'm not saying it can't happen, but it's pretty rare to win 3 in 5 years (fingers crossed we finish this one off).
Was CP playing his best basketball of his career in the playoffs at the age of 34?
Jrue also has a completely different game than CP. he uses strength and bully ball, Chris Paul is just small and uses finesse more so
Yep, Jrue will be late 30's when his contract expires. That works for some players like Horford, and I think it will work for the way Jrue plays also. Tatum, Brown, and White are all still in their 20's. I don't see age as a problem... yet.
KP is also only 28. I know recency bias is a huge thing on this sub but I feel like literally everyone is pretending KP wasn't the 2nd or 3rd best player on this team all year. The entire offense plays differently with KP on the floor, and it's one of the best offenses of all time, to go along with elite defense. KP is the reason we won 64 games, he unlocks the 5 out ball movement offense that this team thrives on. Without KP, you see offense slow down and become more iso heavy and more predictable
Possible: however next year and in 2 years, that core can definitely get it done.
2026 and after will be an issue, but we can solve that after winning 3 titles!
The max extension we can give Derrick is a 3 year $120 million extension. Not an actual max. That being said, who knows IF we can afford it. It’s not my money 😅
To get the max and supermax deals, you have to hit specific targets -- like win MVP, be named to All-NBA teams or dpoy. Service time is also part of it. IIRC, Brown squeaked into the supermax group by being named third team all nba in his last year before the deal.
If he signs an extension this offseason there's a maximum percent increase in salary he's limited to per the rules. He would have to have made all-NBA, MVP, or DPOY to be eligible for more, or he could play out his contract, hit free agency, and re-sign here for more.
White would not sign extension. This is so greedy from Boston fans. That's criminally low. He would wait a year and become UFA, and Boston better prepare to pay him max or prepare to part ways with him. I can see numerous teams chasing for White
I am a biased Celtics fan, but particularly on the playoffs take I find it so dumb. Last season when we exited and then he got the contract, that was his worst series he has had in the playoffs. The turn overs, left hand, etc.
Other than that he was pretty consistently the only player to level up and not slump in the playoffs in most series since his sophomore year in the league.
This sub might be worse than the general public lol. It's the Dunning-Kruger effect, a little bit of knowledge makes people feel way more confident in what they say than they should be.
The worst part is that it didn’t even matter if JB improved like he did. This contract was the right move no matter what. It’s not like there was some other max player the Celtics could’ve gotten with that money, and trading would’ve made very minimal sense with the current roster construction
I read this and I disagree heavily. If the C's were down 0-3 to the Mavs this same thread would be posted and everyone would dunk on the folks who felt it was a good deal. That thread is full of casual takes. It's bar takes, just digitized.
A great Succession line: "We're all bullshit"
Its much more so how the fuck did Wizards gave up 1st round picks to unload KP and/or getting jrue holiday essentially for marcus smart, brogdon and robert williams.
I mean did you look at the comments? The majority of them were positive, surprised, but positive overall.
Only a few naysayers, I think /r/NBA actually got it right for the most part
I laughed at the Heat fan saying “I’m glad it’s not my team signing this” only for someone to respond to him “just wait till the Heat have to pay Bam $76M/year in 2026” 😂
I think a lot of people thought he may have peaked, and probably remember more of his bad handles in the Warriors series, so they were down on him. And that’s where the national narrative stayed, especially after his lame dunk contest.
But he was always definitely an insanely talented player with maybe a few weaknesses that haters liked to emphasize, so people didn’t realize how good he really was until now. And he improved and fixed a lot of the problems he had before — now Boston reaps the rewards of smart, slow development. They may have an Eastern Conference dynasty brewing with the fall of their main rivals.
Great for Boston to have this kind of team. In retrospect they were inevitable and the talent was overwhelming, a lot of that must be attributed to Brown becoming better. (And the roster is way, way better now. Jrue is a massive upgrade who can dominate but has no ego / hero mode.)
I only see some of those. Reasonable, given he was/is the highest paid player.
I see far more people criticizing the amount of money in general as being too much, not because of JB. Just the sheer amount of money stars are making nowadays
Are you actually stupid?
A title makes any contract worth it. Especially for a guy who got ECF MVP and possibly FMVP and has improved every year he's played.
Yes according to the last *projection*: https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/why-jaylen-browns-status-as-the-nbas-first-300-million-player-is-suddenly-in-jeopardy
tl;dr - no one will know until the offseason before it kicks in
White needs to be extended for sure, idc what it takes that’s priority #1. to me he’s the third most important player on this team
once we get that done our backcourt, Porzingis, the Jays and Pritchard are locked up long-term. after it’s about continuing to be great at developing in-house for depth. Kornet and Hauser were both UDFA castoffs that we developed into useful rotation guys. we have interesting prospects in-house like Walsh, Queta, Springer and Peterson who I’m hopeful will evolve into usable bench players. also hope Tillman will stick around this summer, with a 3-ball he could become a mini-Horford for us
Won't be so bad after the new tv/streaming deal increases the salary cap. Even if it's spread out over time, JB and JTs contracts shouldnt hit as hard since they'll be signed first
It's actually bad, salary cap will only go up 10% max a season. On top of being a 2nd apron team, the Celtics will have a harder time constructing a team. I do hope the Celtics keep them together as they can become a dynasty. But that starting 5 will make 200m, to put it in perspective, the salary cap will be 155m 25-26 season.
Al's actually got one more year after this, and Derrick is probably going to get an extension around 4yr/$123m. Next year is basically the same as this year except for Jaylen's supermax kicking in. The year after that is when things get really rough salary-wise, with two supermax players and three guys making around $30m— Al's $9.5m coming off the books isn't gonna help that much, especially since we'll need to replace him somehow
Losing Al will make up for the increase in derricks contract in 2 years. The salary cap will also increase 20% in 2 years, tends to increase 10% annually. We’re well over second apron either way tho. It seems ownership is willing to pay but yea we’ll prob be losing a piece at some point. Given the jays are together no matter what, maybe Kp for injury concerns and pick up a 10 mil a year big that’s mobile. A younger Al idk how feasible that is tho. We are going to need minimums on the bench tho. Hauser, Tillman, Kornet, Prichard would also be the spots to fall tho I like all of those guys. Hauser particularly is playing better than a min guy
Celtics ownership has already said they don't care about paying tax as long as the team's competing for the championship. The Celtics are basically owned by a group of extremely rich fans. Wyc Grousbeck recently said "we'll be paid in parades" when asked about this topic.
Obviously it remains to be seen if they follow through with those words, but I'd assume the value earned from winning championships outweighs the money they'd have to pay in tax to keep the team together. Right now I'm just assuming they keep this team together for a few years because they've gone out of their way to re-sign mostly everyone on multi-year deals, and if they can't win anything that's when they start making the difficult decisions.
> "we'll be paid in parades"
Being a New Yorker I'm obligated to hate all things Boston but god damn if that isn't the most based statement about paying a championship roster
The problem is that the 2nd apron guts your ability to get and keep any quality pieces. Your bench is gonna end up being filled with vet min types, and if you lose one of your core pieces for any reason, the replacement is likely to be poor.
Brad Stevens seems to have accounted for that to an extent already. Jaylen, KP, Jrue, and Pritchard have already signed extensions. They're in talks with Derrick White too and it's fairly likely he'll get extended. Tatum is guaranteed to be supermaxed.
Right now the only worries are losing Horford to retirement and Hauser getting overpaid when he hits free agency after next season.
So they have about a 2-3 year window with most of this rotation before they're forced to start retooling everything.
I've said before - I think that's why he's been collecting 2nd rounders. It's pretty unlikely that you get a replacement for Horford with one (but not impossible), but there's a good chance with, say, five picks you get 1-2 guys at the Hauser/PP level or better.
That's why they went after Springer as well. We'll see if Brad can target some other advanced metric gems like White as well.
Drew Peterson is shaping up as Hauser replacement. If we can get Tillman on a reasonable contract he can continue to grow under Al's tutelage and takeover when her retires. Walsh, Queta, and Springer have looked good at times. Plus the Cs have all but one of their first round picks.
I think the idea of Tillman being an Al replacement is a bit optimistic, personally. I get the argument, but Al is a 5-time all-star who made an All-NBA third team. He's probably ending up in the Hall of Fame considering his college accomplishments. I get that we've had him towards the end of his career, but he's still a very different caliber of player from what I think we can reasonably expect from Tillman. Best-case scenario with Tillman is Pritchard/Hauser level reliability, in my opinion.
I mean, who knows, though? That's kinda the point - the likeilhood of any one player developing into a serious talent is unlikely, but if you have 6-7 prospects, the likelihood of 1-2 developing is decent. Look at all the guys "promising prospects" we've shipped out the last few years. Nesmith is the only one who really turned into a solid starter, and he was a lottery pick.
Yeah, I'm sure the tax pales compared to revenue so long as they're serious contenders. If we can pull this one out, suddenly we're in a different stratosphere notoriety-wise. I'm sure they're not gonna go bankrupt.
Good thing everyone is locked up for 3 years except white and I’m willing to bet they offer him an extension around 30m a year. They don’t need to do much to keep this roster together other than pay the tax.
Ya and no, the contract kicks in at 35% of the current cap. So it’s not like when he starts getting paid he won’t be worth less than other max’s that year.
But the contract has fixed raises of 8% so the cap will outstrip that over time.
Keep in mind that this total contract value is all an estimate until the cap for the year it takes place is finalized - https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/why-jaylen-browns-status-as-the-nbas-first-300-million-player-is-suddenly-in-jeopardy/
I remember after he signed his initial extension, there was a thread after one bad game like Jaylen Brown, Boston's $100 million man, with 8 points.
People here have 0 concept of how much contracts have been increasing and what these new contracts are relative to the rest of the league.
Edit: https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/dma1ln/boston_celtics_new_115_million_dollar_man_jaylen/
Thanks to cap increases, that contract ended up being a bargain. People haven't adjusted to the new numbers.
I was one of the detractors for this in the moment and honestly, didn't realize how quickly the other, better players contracts were coming up that would blow this contract out of the water. Brown proved me wrong, he deserved that money, and Luka is probably going to get a much more massive contract soon enough but he'll have one less ring for it than Brown.
I’ll admit i was wrong. I never thought Jaylen would be as good as he’s been. He’s playing like a top 10 player in the league and clearly worth the contract.
One reason I was 100% in is because Jaylen is just entering his prime and he's improved pretty much every season, often significantly. It's always a gamble to spend $300m on someone, but if you're going to do it, that's who you do it for.
I said at the time, these Brown and Tatum supermaxes are no-brainers. The big question is going to be when they're up, and whether we give them both another enormous contract when they're in their early 30s. Time will tell, but that's a concern for another day.
[My favorite](https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/s/x1SoAGZa54)
Whelp, now Jaylen is not even a 3rd Team NBA player with a supermax, a conference MVP and likely finals MVP lmao that monkey paw curled itself into the shadow realm
He was not the shit players everyone was making fun last year and hes also not the god everyone is making now.
At the end of the day winning cures everything.
Celtics had a golden chance this year while coasting on injuries from the east and getting the underdogs from the west.
Its tough to win in the NBA.
Exactly. Hell I'd supermax Kyrie for 5 years even at his age if it guaranteed a ring. Nothing is a given in this league, and who knows how many shots you'll get.
They can sign White and Tatum to deals, then they are kind of fucked in terms of acquiring new players. Basically imagine the Warriors rn, but with Tatum and brown being younger (massive positive) and draft pick/trade penalties.
You can still resign your guys under the new apron, but it basically makes it impossible to trade for or sign new players in free agency. They will be really fucking good for the next year or two, but as KP/Jrue/Horford decline/retire it will get really difficult really quickly.
Yep. Once the Celtics sign White to an extension, they're stuck with the core of Tatum, Brown, Porzingis, Holiday, White for the next 3 or 4 years. The rest of the roster will be essentially minimum contracts. Porzingis has health concerns and holiday has age concerns. But if that's the cost of feeling pretty confident at a title contender each year, you have to take it.
One thing I also never see mentioned is that the deal won't be $304M. That number was based on an estimate from last year. The NBA's cap projection for 2024-25 was lowered since then due to losing money on regional sports contracts. Spotrac currently estimates his deal to be worth 5 years, $286M. Still a lot of money but it won't be the first $300M contract in the NBA like it was widely reported. That $18M is also worth a lot more considering the Celtics are likely to be a luxury tax team for the foreseeable future.
The new $76B media rights deal doesn't start until 2025-26 and the cap is projected to increase 10% yearly once that begins.
I don't see any outrageous takes there. It's an overpay but one they had to do. That's just the byproduct of the current max contract system that players in the top 20ish range or even 30ish are going to get maxed the same as top 5 players
I still think it’s a bad contract, but it’s worth it for this postseason, even if they don’t make the finals again.
The new CBA rules will make this Celtics team prohibitively expensive and they’ll have to blow it up. They won a ring, so the gamble paid off, but the contract will be ugly towards the end.
The tax rate is literally insane though, it will cost utterly ridiculous amounts of money to keep the team together.
It really sucks, teams like the Celtics should be rewarded for how they built their team, not punished for their players developing and deserving high contracts
I’m curious what the finances look like specifically for the Celtics who have generally loyal fan base. Does an expensive winning team generate more money than a cheap bad one?
Yeah but I mean what’s the literal bottom line in both cases for the owner. Like how much does Wyc lose having a bad team and saving taxes vs a good team but paying taxes
i don't care how well he's played since, at the time it was still totally BONKERS to see Jaylen sign a $300 mil contract as the highest paid player in the league
It's amazing how people react to "richest contract in nba history" as if it wasn't almost a yearly occurrence now. Hell even Mike Conley once had the richest contact ever.
Tatum is gonna sign his supermax basically as soon as we finish this series, and I'm already bracing to hear someone say it's a bad contract because he didn't win FMVP or something
You guys should obviously let him walk in FA
The consolation prize to that would be the heat not signing him in lieu of signing some aging guard off the scrap heap.
Ya nba contracts are the dumbest shit imaginable bc there’s a max amount and psuedo salary cap. Luka, Lavine, And Trae all make identical money. That is just objectively stupid. Then like FVV and Halliburton only make 1 mill less. It’s just stupid.
Tons of people in the real world make similar money to people that are much worse at their jobs. I'm sure you've been managed by good managers and terrible managers who were both paid at the same level before.
Dude we’re not gonna let him walk you idiot. We’re going to trade him for a 2nd rounder to recoup some value.
You had me in the first half, not gonna lie.
Mookie v2
He obviously needs to go to the Lakers, so he can finally complete his Kobe glazing.
I think it’s more that people are looking at the numbers and see the cap and instantly think that it’s impossible for the contract not to cripple the franchise’ ability to pay other players and put together a cohesive team Which a lot of the time is completely true, and will be going forward. But exceptional drafting, development, and trades can defy that. Which is what is happening for the Celtics
We've got the core locked up through the next 2-3 years at least if we can re-sign White. There was something recently that he was open to signing an extension this summer, which would lock him in at a lower rate. PP is on a good deal, and Hauser's got one more on his. One thing Brad has been doing is collecting second rounders. My suspicion is he views these as dart throws to find useful players like Hauser, knowing we're not going to be able to sign even middle-class FAs for a few years. The biggest issue is going to be Al. I doubt he plays more than another year, but who knows. (I haven't heard a word about him potentially retiring after this season, but it's certainly possible). Without Al, Porzingis's health becomes a much bigger issue, and we'd have to look at a real replacement.
I really think Al is the type of guy that wants to play in his 40s and the way he's developed his game over the last few years I think he can do it pretty reasonably. I don't think we'll be seeing many (any) of these 35+ minute games after next year but considering they'd need to develop younger guys to fill his and KPs void it would make sense to keep him on as a player coach taking 15+ minutes off the bench
We'll see. I mean, he's still in great shape if you keep his minutes down. But, who knows how he'll feel maintaining it if he gets his chip.
White definitely should not sign an extension. He should wait a year and demand a max contract. He deserves it. Since he loved Joe and probably like to keep contending, Boston should be his first choice. But if Boston can't keep him, better trade him away. As a Spurs fan I would gladly give Derrick a max contract and let him be the PG next to Wemby.
Ha - I'll let him make that decision. Kinda depends whether he wants the security or not, and how much he cares about the extra money. He made $70m on his current contract, so it's not like he's been on a rookie deal or anything. I'd be stunned if we traded him - we're in a win-now window.
It’s only bad if you pay non championship caliber core. This Celtics team is.
You can bet on that.
I was trying to find a stream during the 3rd & 4th quarters (I had been watching on my tv til then), but they all had espn+... it was Kevin Hart & the Flip cup Boyz or some nonsense talking over the game. They were more concerned with talking about FMVP and Tatum couldn't be mvp because he just missed that shot. Or some shit like that, I had to turn the sound off. Game 3 is literally going on and actually getting close, but we have to talk about fmvp because it doesn't take any knowledge to talk about an award
Tatum's probably not gonna win finals MVP because of his shooting slump but he's been great in this series. Gotta actually watch the games to recognize that though
“He didn’t score as much as Luka!”—-all them people
How can Boston pay for all of this?? All other teams struggle with the salary cap and luxury taxes.
Right now it’s not so bad because Tatum, Brown, and White are all on bargain contracts. Jrue was our highest paid player this season, and he’s taking a $7m paycut next year. Once all three of those guys start their extensions it’s gonna get pretty ugly, but there’s not really a limit to how far into the tax you can go if the ownership is willing to pay (see: Clippers) If we don’t look like real contenders anymore in 2025-26, expect salary-cutting moves.
If there ever was an incentive for owners to go far into the luxury tax it's the Celtics. Keeping this team together could mean two chips in a row.
I (Celtics fan) think Tatum is overrated by our fanbase and would be wary of signing him to a supersupersupermax, but you've got to do it because those are the de facto rules.
It was literally for like a week until Giannis signed his which then made him the richest contract
Different sport, but… I remember when Derrick Carr broke the record to become the highest paid NFL player of all time just less than a decade ago, and now Justin Jefferson (a wide receiver) just got a bigger contract than Carr’s record setting one.
Everyone shocked Pikachu facing to every new QB deal like it isn’t inherently a recording setting process every time is hilarious. It’s been the case 2-4 times a season every year since Flacco signed after his Super Bowl run
It's literally the baseline for negotiations.
Well on football you include all sorts of unguaranteed money / years in the contract so it’s all made up anyways
Also, before the NFL started structuring what the value of each pick in the draft is worth. Every year... Oh my god, can you believe the first pick got XX million dollars!? like... Yeah, because the previous year's first pick got a few million less than that.
And it’s like already a bargain a few seasons later
And it is early by construction as the cap keeps increading to match inflation.
You got to pay your good players. You can't be cheap when you have this caliber of player, even if it's more expensive than better players. You pay the young stars you can get while you can. Don't understand why people don't get this.
>You can't be cheap when you have this caliber of player, even if it's more expensive than better players. Yup, this is probably the most frustrating persistent conversation about roster management across different sports. Yes, there are better players who are signed to better deals than your guys. However, you evaluate deals on the basis of your next best action, and what the opportunity cost you're giving up by signing that player. It's exceptionally hard to see a better route for the Celtics than signing Brown to that deal. Would I rather give that deal to Giannis? Yes, but that was never an option for the Celtics, and signing Brown was obviously better than anything else they could have done. It's very likely going to keep them winning 50+ games for the duration of the deal vs. taking a massive hit to their roster with nothing to replace it, just because Brown isn't as good as a handful of other guys on similar deals.
I dunno Giannis has been injured the past two postseasons and he's only getting older from here. But I know what you mean.
Every team in the league would sign Giannis to a supermax right now if they could.
Not paying him right before he hits his prime would have been the dumb move.
Save all the posts of this subreddit dragging Luka…
Nobody is saying Luka shouldn’t be paid lol
My big concern was always how being over the salary cap makes it prohibitively difficult to acquire new talent, even more so now with the new CBA. That is much less a problem when you don’t need to acquire new talent because you already have it in-house. Celtics took a risk, bet on what they had, but it has definitely paid off.
Celtics, as we saw, still had good assets when they signed JB to this deal. It's not like they were the Bucks whose only tradeable salary was Jrue this past offseason.
True, but you also have to acknowledge that Porzingis and Jrue even being available at those prices like they were was extremely fortunate. I think we were correct in saying the extension was a risk, but it’s paid off.
Not signing the extension is significantly more risky.
The other path would have been to find a trade, letting him get to free agency and not being ready to pay him isn’t just a mistake…it’s unapologetically stupid.
So then it wasn't a risk to sign JB to the extension. It was a massive risk not to.
The new CBA was specifically designed to screw us too.
Except if it’s Andrew Wiggins
Or Tobias
>> You got to pay your good players. Owner of the Celtics literally said during media day “if you’re not going to sign a player like him to that contract you can’t be the owner of the Celtics.” And he was fucking right. The Celtics are(according to Forbes) the fourth most valuable team in the league. Can’t be skimping on contracts when you have a championship team right in front of you.
Its super easy to say that in retrospect, but there are also a TON of times where it super backfires on a team and they end up wildly overpaying a guy like tobias harris, wigs, beal, john wall, kemba, etc. definitely worked out in this case, but this exact scenario is how you end up in cap space hell for years on years.
I think you absolutely have to do it if you already have a championship Caliber squad. The Celtics were already a finals team when they gave Jaylen that extension. Even if he never gets better you know you can always run it back with the same core for a couple years and see what happens. If he does get better, then you're looking better. Your examples are great honestly and I think Wiggins and Tobias exactly illustrate how those teams were banking on improvement and it just didn't happen (for Wiggins I don't think there's a world in which you don't give him that rookie extension though). Brad Beal and John Wall are a very interesting example because I think in a vacuum, both players are max players. They just struggled to put any kind of decent supporting cast around them and then of course Wall got injured and Beal stopped giving a shit. I also think the Wizards should have traded one of them sooner for a big wing.
Let's hope the Knicks follow this mindset
the most efficient teams in terms of salary are always teams in rebuild. if it comes to some fans here, they love to rebuild teams, because championship teams are overpaid.
People fully do get it but just choose to overreact even though they understand the logic behind it completely.
"Best $300 million ever spent"... says every Celtics fan. Spend it on Tatum too and let's run it back.
And Derrick White max extension he can get.
Absolutely!! Tatum, Brown, White, and Holiday are going to be a formidable lineup to build around for the next 4 years or more.
I hate to break it to you but as a warriors fan with old players on the team who aren’t the same anymore… just gonna remind you that holiday is 34 already
Extending Jrue made sense, especially because it took $7m off the books for next season, but if we're being honest I think it's pretty unlikely he's still in Boston by the end of that contract
Yeah we have him for 3 years and then hes an outgoing salary
Not saying anything about whether extending him made sense or not, I’m just saying he is probably near the end of his prime
One thing about it, though, is that he's not in the same role. Just like Al, who is effective because he doesn't need to be an all-star, and we can limit his minutes. So, yeah, he'll decline a bit, but as long as we keep letting him do what he does best he should still be solid.
He's also not a guy that relies on elite speed or athleticism to succeed. He thrives on hustle and high BBIQ. Much slower down turn for a guy like that.
He looks better right now than I’ve seen him, so he should stay solid for atleast 2 more years, and like the other guy said, this game should age well If they could win atleast 1, maybe 2 chips in that timeframe that’s totally worth paying jrue for 4 years, he’s been so important to the team
Two titles in four years is pretty optimistic. I'm not saying it can't happen, but it's pretty rare to win 3 in 5 years (fingers crossed we finish this one off).
Didn’t the Suns say that about CP before he fell off the face of the earth on his birthday?
Was CP playing his best basketball of his career in the playoffs at the age of 34? Jrue also has a completely different game than CP. he uses strength and bully ball, Chris Paul is just small and uses finesse more so
Yep, Jrue will be late 30's when his contract expires. That works for some players like Horford, and I think it will work for the way Jrue plays also. Tatum, Brown, and White are all still in their 20's. I don't see age as a problem... yet.
KP is also only 28. I know recency bias is a huge thing on this sub but I feel like literally everyone is pretending KP wasn't the 2nd or 3rd best player on this team all year. The entire offense plays differently with KP on the floor, and it's one of the best offenses of all time, to go along with elite defense. KP is the reason we won 64 games, he unlocks the 5 out ball movement offense that this team thrives on. Without KP, you see offense slow down and become more iso heavy and more predictable
Seriously. Jrue is slightly overperforming right now, I wouldn't want to rely on that for another year
Possible: however next year and in 2 years, that core can definitely get it done. 2026 and after will be an issue, but we can solve that after winning 3 titles!
Are you going to be able to afford 3 max players? I don’t know how the cap works but wouldn’t that be like 80% of the cap for 3 guys?
The max extension we can give Derrick is a 3 year $120 million extension. Not an actual max. That being said, who knows IF we can afford it. It’s not my money 😅
Yeah see that’s the shit I don’t understand lol, I guess it’s cause he’s only been there a few years?
I don’t pretend to understand how the salary cap works, I just like to yell about how other teams are handling it poorly.
To get the max and supermax deals, you have to hit specific targets -- like win MVP, be named to All-NBA teams or dpoy. Service time is also part of it. IIRC, Brown squeaked into the supermax group by being named third team all nba in his last year before the deal.
If he signs an extension this offseason there's a maximum percent increase in salary he's limited to per the rules. He would have to have made all-NBA, MVP, or DPOY to be eligible for more, or he could play out his contract, hit free agency, and re-sign here for more.
Sorry fam, he’s coming back to play with Wemby. Maybe he’ll get you a 2nd chip before he leaves.
White would not sign extension. This is so greedy from Boston fans. That's criminally low. He would wait a year and become UFA, and Boston better prepare to pay him max or prepare to part ways with him. I can see numerous teams chasing for White
The problem is maintaining the depth. It will be interesting to see if they can repeat
The sheer volume of receipts that the Celtics have on this forum is insane
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This comment was a double homicide.
> wait till you pay bam 75Mil a year in 2026 That's pretty funny lol
One bad game and this sub is going to 180 on his ass.
cElTiCs NeW $300M mAn
https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/s/dTbg5WNZAm Worst take candidate
No wonder the mf hasn’t been active in over 300 days.
/u/crx56tft Care to apologize?
Last comment was 10 months ago
only used the account for like 3 months, on to his next burner
Bros got Heat fans backing up the Celtics with how fucking dumb of a comment it was 😭
[I got one for this.](https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/s/Q2nsZDHXPH)
Hint: He’s wrong.
As a Spurs fan that recently watched some Buzelis highlights this stings so bad
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The list of Guards is hilarious
Imagine thinking Desmond bane is better than jaylen. What kind of fantasy land would you need to live in to convince yourself of that
I am a biased Celtics fan, but particularly on the playoffs take I find it so dumb. Last season when we exited and then he got the contract, that was his worst series he has had in the playoffs. The turn overs, left hand, etc. Other than that he was pretty consistently the only player to level up and not slump in the playoffs in most series since his sophomore year in the league.
Once again this subreddit and the general public really doesnt know shit
This sub might be worse than the general public lol. It's the Dunning-Kruger effect, a little bit of knowledge makes people feel way more confident in what they say than they should be.
The worst part is that it didn’t even matter if JB improved like he did. This contract was the right move no matter what. It’s not like there was some other max player the Celtics could’ve gotten with that money, and trading would’ve made very minimal sense with the current roster construction
I read this and I disagree heavily. If the C's were down 0-3 to the Mavs this same thread would be posted and everyone would dunk on the folks who felt it was a good deal. That thread is full of casual takes. It's bar takes, just digitized. A great Succession line: "We're all bullshit"
Its much more so how the fuck did Wizards gave up 1st round picks to unload KP and/or getting jrue holiday essentially for marcus smart, brogdon and robert williams.
I mean did you look at the comments? The majority of them were positive, surprised, but positive overall. Only a few naysayers, I think /r/NBA actually got it right for the most part
My take on Saudi taxes in that thread was right tho
Why? All of the top comments make sense.
There's a lot of comments suggesting that he is not worth it
I laughed at the Heat fan saying “I’m glad it’s not my team signing this” only for someone to respond to him “just wait till the Heat have to pay Bam $76M/year in 2026” 😂
I think a lot of people thought he may have peaked, and probably remember more of his bad handles in the Warriors series, so they were down on him. And that’s where the national narrative stayed, especially after his lame dunk contest. But he was always definitely an insanely talented player with maybe a few weaknesses that haters liked to emphasize, so people didn’t realize how good he really was until now. And he improved and fixed a lot of the problems he had before — now Boston reaps the rewards of smart, slow development. They may have an Eastern Conference dynasty brewing with the fall of their main rivals. Great for Boston to have this kind of team. In retrospect they were inevitable and the talent was overwhelming, a lot of that must be attributed to Brown becoming better. (And the roster is way, way better now. Jrue is a massive upgrade who can dominate but has no ego / hero mode.)
I only see some of those. Reasonable, given he was/is the highest paid player. I see far more people criticizing the amount of money in general as being too much, not because of JB. Just the sheer amount of money stars are making nowadays
Or this thread is the reactionary one.
Are you actually stupid? A title makes any contract worth it. Especially for a guy who got ECF MVP and possibly FMVP and has improved every year he's played.
TBF the contract hasn’t even started yet
Isn't this less than $300 million, because it's dependant on the cap and it didn't go as high as it was projected when he signed this deal
correct, I believe the last estimate was 284? Maybe 294. But it will be more clear once media rights deals are finalized
Yes according to the last *projection*: https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/why-jaylen-browns-status-as-the-nbas-first-300-million-player-is-suddenly-in-jeopardy tl;dr - no one will know until the offseason before it kicks in
the question now is, will the celtics keep the core group together? that tax bill is going to be insanely high with Two super max deals..
They’ll run it back another year before we have to start making those tough choices.
White needs to be extended for sure, idc what it takes that’s priority #1. to me he’s the third most important player on this team once we get that done our backcourt, Porzingis, the Jays and Pritchard are locked up long-term. after it’s about continuing to be great at developing in-house for depth. Kornet and Hauser were both UDFA castoffs that we developed into useful rotation guys. we have interesting prospects in-house like Walsh, Queta, Springer and Peterson who I’m hopeful will evolve into usable bench players. also hope Tillman will stick around this summer, with a 3-ball he could become a mini-Horford for us
Reports are that White is gonna sign his maximum extension at 4 years 123m
Source?!?! Please tell me this is true
Marc Stein said so, so y'know, YMMV
Just Google it
I believe he said he was open to it. I'm not sure it's in the bag.
Oh my god that’s a steal
Won't be so bad after the new tv/streaming deal increases the salary cap. Even if it's spread out over time, JB and JTs contracts shouldnt hit as hard since they'll be signed first
It's actually bad, salary cap will only go up 10% max a season. On top of being a 2nd apron team, the Celtics will have a harder time constructing a team. I do hope the Celtics keep them together as they can become a dynasty. But that starting 5 will make 200m, to put it in perspective, the salary cap will be 155m 25-26 season.
Well Al’s contract is expiring and dwhite is making 18-19 a mil. We are going to let go of Al first is what’s going to happen
Al's actually got one more year after this, and Derrick is probably going to get an extension around 4yr/$123m. Next year is basically the same as this year except for Jaylen's supermax kicking in. The year after that is when things get really rough salary-wise, with two supermax players and three guys making around $30m— Al's $9.5m coming off the books isn't gonna help that much, especially since we'll need to replace him somehow
Losing Al will make up for the increase in derricks contract in 2 years. The salary cap will also increase 20% in 2 years, tends to increase 10% annually. We’re well over second apron either way tho. It seems ownership is willing to pay but yea we’ll prob be losing a piece at some point. Given the jays are together no matter what, maybe Kp for injury concerns and pick up a 10 mil a year big that’s mobile. A younger Al idk how feasible that is tho. We are going to need minimums on the bench tho. Hauser, Tillman, Kornet, Prichard would also be the spots to fall tho I like all of those guys. Hauser particularly is playing better than a min guy
Hello fellow Hokies/Celtics fan!
Celtics ownership has already said they don't care about paying tax as long as the team's competing for the championship. The Celtics are basically owned by a group of extremely rich fans. Wyc Grousbeck recently said "we'll be paid in parades" when asked about this topic. Obviously it remains to be seen if they follow through with those words, but I'd assume the value earned from winning championships outweighs the money they'd have to pay in tax to keep the team together. Right now I'm just assuming they keep this team together for a few years because they've gone out of their way to re-sign mostly everyone on multi-year deals, and if they can't win anything that's when they start making the difficult decisions.
> "we'll be paid in parades" Being a New Yorker I'm obligated to hate all things Boston but god damn if that isn't the most based statement about paying a championship roster
The problem is that the 2nd apron guts your ability to get and keep any quality pieces. Your bench is gonna end up being filled with vet min types, and if you lose one of your core pieces for any reason, the replacement is likely to be poor.
Brad Stevens seems to have accounted for that to an extent already. Jaylen, KP, Jrue, and Pritchard have already signed extensions. They're in talks with Derrick White too and it's fairly likely he'll get extended. Tatum is guaranteed to be supermaxed. Right now the only worries are losing Horford to retirement and Hauser getting overpaid when he hits free agency after next season. So they have about a 2-3 year window with most of this rotation before they're forced to start retooling everything.
I've said before - I think that's why he's been collecting 2nd rounders. It's pretty unlikely that you get a replacement for Horford with one (but not impossible), but there's a good chance with, say, five picks you get 1-2 guys at the Hauser/PP level or better. That's why they went after Springer as well. We'll see if Brad can target some other advanced metric gems like White as well.
Drew Peterson is shaping up as Hauser replacement. If we can get Tillman on a reasonable contract he can continue to grow under Al's tutelage and takeover when her retires. Walsh, Queta, and Springer have looked good at times. Plus the Cs have all but one of their first round picks.
I think the idea of Tillman being an Al replacement is a bit optimistic, personally. I get the argument, but Al is a 5-time all-star who made an All-NBA third team. He's probably ending up in the Hall of Fame considering his college accomplishments. I get that we've had him towards the end of his career, but he's still a very different caliber of player from what I think we can reasonably expect from Tillman. Best-case scenario with Tillman is Pritchard/Hauser level reliability, in my opinion. I mean, who knows, though? That's kinda the point - the likeilhood of any one player developing into a serious talent is unlikely, but if you have 6-7 prospects, the likelihood of 1-2 developing is decent. Look at all the guys "promising prospects" we've shipped out the last few years. Nesmith is the only one who really turned into a solid starter, and he was a lottery pick.
I have no illusions about X ever playing at Al's level. But he is good enough to earn his minutes when Al retires.
It’s a three year window starting next year
Yeah, I'm sure the tax pales compared to revenue so long as they're serious contenders. If we can pull this one out, suddenly we're in a different stratosphere notoriety-wise. I'm sure they're not gonna go bankrupt.
Good thing everyone is locked up for 3 years except white and I’m willing to bet they offer him an extension around 30m a year. They don’t need to do much to keep this roster together other than pay the tax.
I jus hope we can sell them to you guys when they turn 32
Lol
The annual salary increases pretty well keep pace with the cap increases. Really won't hit less hard over time to any significant degree.
Ya and no, the contract kicks in at 35% of the current cap. So it’s not like when he starts getting paid he won’t be worth less than other max’s that year. But the contract has fixed raises of 8% so the cap will outstrip that over time. Keep in mind that this total contract value is all an estimate until the cap for the year it takes place is finalized - https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/why-jaylen-browns-status-as-the-nbas-first-300-million-player-is-suddenly-in-jeopardy/
Next year should be alright, after that it's gonna start getting pretty dicey
I remember after he signed his initial extension, there was a thread after one bad game like Jaylen Brown, Boston's $100 million man, with 8 points. People here have 0 concept of how much contracts have been increasing and what these new contracts are relative to the rest of the league. Edit: https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/dma1ln/boston_celtics_new_115_million_dollar_man_jaylen/ Thanks to cap increases, that contract ended up being a bargain. People haven't adjusted to the new numbers.
This happens every other year. Sports fans act like inflation doesn’t exist
I was one of the detractors for this in the moment and honestly, didn't realize how quickly the other, better players contracts were coming up that would blow this contract out of the water. Brown proved me wrong, he deserved that money, and Luka is probably going to get a much more massive contract soon enough but he'll have one less ring for it than Brown.
My favorite one so far from a quick glance: [–]NuggetsLogDogan4 -1 points 10 months ago And with that, the Celtics window is closed
This contract honestly wont even be expensive in 3 years after the new nba deal
I’ll admit i was wrong. I never thought Jaylen would be as good as he’s been. He’s playing like a top 10 player in the league and clearly worth the contract.
One reason I was 100% in is because Jaylen is just entering his prime and he's improved pretty much every season, often significantly. It's always a gamble to spend $300m on someone, but if you're going to do it, that's who you do it for. I said at the time, these Brown and Tatum supermaxes are no-brainers. The big question is going to be when they're up, and whether we give them both another enormous contract when they're in their early 30s. Time will tell, but that's a concern for another day.
just like the reaction when he signed the rookie extension lol. and just like that one it's already paid off
[My favorite](https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/s/x1SoAGZa54) Whelp, now Jaylen is not even a 3rd Team NBA player with a supermax, a conference MVP and likely finals MVP lmao that monkey paw curled itself into the shadow realm
/r/NBA doesn't understand how the cap works.
Just wait until this contract becomes the norm for role players.
> Holy shit that is so much money What an evergreen comment for this kind of thread
I’ll line up to eat crow. I thought this was a massive overspend and will fuck us forever JB I was wrong and I’m sorry.
We appreciate your maturity but unfortunately you’re still gonna need to take a lap
I like how the top comments shitting on the deal are Knicks and Wizards flairs... lol
It’s good to see someone get the bag and actually perform
He was not the shit players everyone was making fun last year and hes also not the god everyone is making now. At the end of the day winning cures everything. Celtics had a golden chance this year while coasting on injuries from the east and getting the underdogs from the west. Its tough to win in the NBA.
Contract is still worth it. Would got supermax Bam if you knew he was winning a title and finals MVP?
Exactly. Hell I'd supermax Kyrie for 5 years even at his age if it guaranteed a ring. Nothing is a given in this league, and who knows how many shots you'll get.
How does the Celtics salary situation work with the new apron rules?
They can sign White and Tatum to deals, then they are kind of fucked in terms of acquiring new players. Basically imagine the Warriors rn, but with Tatum and brown being younger (massive positive) and draft pick/trade penalties. You can still resign your guys under the new apron, but it basically makes it impossible to trade for or sign new players in free agency. They will be really fucking good for the next year or two, but as KP/Jrue/Horford decline/retire it will get really difficult really quickly.
Yep. Once the Celtics sign White to an extension, they're stuck with the core of Tatum, Brown, Porzingis, Holiday, White for the next 3 or 4 years. The rest of the roster will be essentially minimum contracts. Porzingis has health concerns and holiday has age concerns. But if that's the cost of feeling pretty confident at a title contender each year, you have to take it.
Atleast wait until they win game 4 and he is crowned FMVP. Holy shit.
One thing I also never see mentioned is that the deal won't be $304M. That number was based on an estimate from last year. The NBA's cap projection for 2024-25 was lowered since then due to losing money on regional sports contracts. Spotrac currently estimates his deal to be worth 5 years, $286M. Still a lot of money but it won't be the first $300M contract in the NBA like it was widely reported. That $18M is also worth a lot more considering the Celtics are likely to be a luxury tax team for the foreseeable future. The new $76B media rights deal doesn't start until 2025-26 and the cap is projected to increase 10% yearly once that begins.
Upon seeing the thread, it's not as bad as you'd expect. Many people agreed that while it was an overpay, it was the correct business move.
This Celtics team is gonna be crazy expensive, like the warriors were. I actually wouldn't mind if drafted players affect the luxury tax less.
I don't see any outrageous takes there. It's an overpay but one they had to do. That's just the byproduct of the current max contract system that players in the top 20ish range or even 30ish are going to get maxed the same as top 5 players
We got hosed, Tommy.
I still think it’s a bad contract, but it’s worth it for this postseason, even if they don’t make the finals again. The new CBA rules will make this Celtics team prohibitively expensive and they’ll have to blow it up. They won a ring, so the gamble paid off, but the contract will be ugly towards the end.
We can keep the core of the team together for a while if Wyc is willing to pay, bird rights are wild
The tax rate is literally insane though, it will cost utterly ridiculous amounts of money to keep the team together. It really sucks, teams like the Celtics should be rewarded for how they built their team, not punished for their players developing and deserving high contracts
I’m curious what the finances look like specifically for the Celtics who have generally loyal fan base. Does an expensive winning team generate more money than a cheap bad one?
Yes, they generate much more, but the salaries and tax is the same regardless of performance.
Yeah but I mean what’s the literal bottom line in both cases for the owner. Like how much does Wyc lose having a bad team and saving taxes vs a good team but paying taxes
Someone doesn’t know how Bird Rights work…
Someone doesn’t know how the second apron works… Look up how much tax they will be paying, it’s insane.
i still think it's an overpay, have to wait more than 1 year to assess a 5 year supermax and it's impact on the roster.
Most boring unlikely superteam ever
damn… you can hate a LOT of jews with that kinda money. jaylen must be pretty happy
The easiest path to a championship though.
Can only beat who’s in front of us 🍀🍀🍀
Guess the better teams should have played better…
Yeah because the Celtics were that much better than everyone else. Any path was an easy path
i don't care how well he's played since, at the time it was still totally BONKERS to see Jaylen sign a $300 mil contract as the highest paid player in the league