I've been saying it for a while. Either we get Smart locked into a great value contract (5 year, 40 million dollar) that compares to Tony Allen's first contract with the Grizz, or he accepts the QO, plays another year for us on that, and enters the 2019 FA as an UFA.
There simply isn't any money this off-season for players like Smart. There are better guards (Reddick, Paul, Parker, Thomas, KCP, Bradley, Williams, Barton, Evans, Lavine, Payton, Hood, and McCaw) available.
I am still a firm believer that Smart's struggles have to do with rhythm, not ability, but I don't think any GM has the cajones to invest a lot of money in Smart and hope he can get into rhythm. There are better high risk/high reward guys out there (Lavine, Okafor, Hezonja, Exum, Parker, Gordon, Noguira, Capella, Nurkic) for a GM looking for a homerun swing.
All in all, that gives Smart almost no leverage. His only leverage option is to take the QO (1 year, 6 million) and hope that he can show his game enough to get a big offer in 2019 (even though he is splitting minutes with Tatum, Irving, Rozier, Hayward, and Brown).
On the other hand, the Celtics can offer guaranteed money for the next 5 years in a system he knows with a coach that believes in him. I think Smart wants to be a Celtic, and I think we can get him for a great Tony Allen-esque contract.