Shams: Celtics Sign Jordan Walsh to 3 Year/$15 Million Deal

[smicker16]

It is a very tradeable contract even if he stays at his current level and it is not that long so it would allow us another contract to include in a trade if something opens up down the road.  Feels like a solid move. Not a homerun necessarily but it could turn into it.  But I do not think the risk is that high with this either. 

[Jiri Welsch]

He's a likeable guy, but regarding "optionality" I'm not sure that Walsh will ever provide much more than we could get out of a vet minimum player.  I'm not really seeing this as the incredible value / betting against himself that others have said.

I'm curious to see if it's all guaranteed.  In general, I don't like the idea of locking in borderline rotation players.  But, the team must see some more growth coming from him.

My guess is the final year will not be guaranteed (either via team option or a guarantee date).  It says to me that the Celtics do not know which wing is going break through from the Random Wing (TM) collection, but see enough promise in Walsh to commit to him for longer.  He did take a real step forward last year, and as he is only 22, I am okay with the small gamble.  I also would have been okay with just playing out the season with him. He will still be making less than Scheierman.

It does seem like the team is heading towards being between the first and second apron, and at the very least a tax team, next year.

And with White and George's contracts expiring the following year, hopefully that gives them the space to maneuver into the future without going into the second apron.

[Vermont Green]

It does seem like the team is heading towards being between the first and second apron, and at the very least a tax team, next year.

14 contracts locked in for this season, only Garza and Conley projected to be UFAs next season.  Assuming George picks up his player option, that is 12 already locked in for next season (actually team options of Hugo and Baylor).  So yes, it looks like they are headed back into tax territory next season if not apron territory.

That is not a whole lot of optionality this season or next, unless George miraculously opts out.

[Celtics2021]

Also, with this signing our only two expiring contracts are Garza and Conley.  It is interesting how much the new CBA has dried up free agency. The majority of teams have at least 11 players under contract for next year, so they can pretty much fill their rosters through the draft if they want.

[No Nickname]

How might this impact potentially signing Beal?

[Celtics2021]

It does seem like the team is heading towards being between the first and second apron, and at the very least a tax team, next year.

14 contracts locked in for this season, only Garza and Conley projected to be UFAs next season.  Assuming George picks up his player option, that is 12 already locked in for next season (actually team options of Hugo and Baylor).  So yes, it looks like they are headed back into tax territory next season if not apron territory.

That is not a whole lot of optionality this season or next, unless George miraculously opts out.

You are seeing the optionality already.  I am not sure they extend Q and Walsh with Jaylen on the books for $64 million in 2 seasons when George has his salary clear, and they certainly would not extend Pritchard for what he is likely to get in an extension in October.  Optionality does not mean cap space.  That is a form of optionality, but it is not the only way to go about it.

[Celtics2021]

How might this impact potentially signing Beal?

It means the Celtics prefer Walsh over Beal.  Beal could still be signed if they like him enough, and then someone would be moved at the deadline to get back under the tax.

[Roy H.]

How might this impact potentially signing Beal?

Zero impact, unless you thought 1) the Celtics were going to sign Beal to go over the tax line and 2) Walsh was the guy they were going to trade at the deadline to cut salary.

[Goldstar88]

Harper, Queta, and now Walsh.

Seems like the Celtics believe locking up "solid" guys on cost-controlled deals gives them a chance to compete in the modern NBA.

Hopefully Pritchard is next!

Pritchard is going to an interesting test of how badly he wants to be a Celtic.  This will likely be the guy?s best chance to cash in in his career.

Sounds fair. He is a $20-25M/year player, IMO.

Per MSN: Pritchard can sign a three-year, $67 million extension starting October 1, based on CBA provisions tied to average salary.

[DefenseWinsChamps]

Walsh has shown one nba-level ability - on-ball defense. At times, he looks like an all-nba defender, but that's only less than half the time. The other half he looks like a very mediocre or below average defender.

I'm still bought into the upside of this contract. If one of him or RHJ pops, it'd be awesome.

For him, he has to be ecstatic, as he's a fringe NBA player. Guaranteed money shows the Cs believe in him and gives him the confidence to keep growing at what made him special last season.

I love that the Cs now have done multiple really good things at the end of their bench. For fringe NBA players (2nd rounnd picks) and their agents, the Cs have to be at the top of their list for their preferred destinations. In this way, signings like this, Queta, Kornet, and RHJ are not only an investment in those players, but also in future roster building.

[Vermont Green]

It does seem like the team is heading towards being between the first and second apron, and at the very least a tax team, next year.

14 contracts locked in for this season, only Garza and Conley projected to be UFAs next season.  Assuming George picks up his player option, that is 12 already locked in for next season (actually team options of Hugo and Baylor).  So yes, it looks like they are headed back into tax territory next season if not apron territory.

That is not a whole lot of optionality this season or next, unless George miraculously opts out.

You are seeing the optionality already.  I am not sure they extend Q and Walsh with Jaylen on the books for $64 million in 2 seasons when George has his salary clear, and they certainly would not extend Pritchard for what he is likely to get in an extension in October.  Optionality does not mean cap space.  That is a form of optionality, but it is not the only way to go about it.

I get what you are saying but for the next two seasons, George and Brown make about the same.  The difference is that Brown would have required a max extension for 3 or 4 more seasons beyond that.  I don't see how this impacted the Queta or Walsh decisions.  Pritchard perhaps, once George comes off the books, they have a lot more flexibility with Pritchard.  And others down the road.  But if they can afford Queta and Walsh for the next two seasons with George on the books, anything beyond that should not have been an issue, Brown here or not.

Boston preferred (2) seasons of George over Brown on a max for (5) or more seasons.

[Neurotic Guy]

Might be underpaid as the contract moves into year 2 or 3 - i hope so. But as others have said, 15 million dollars sets himself up for life. In the real world outside of the NBA that is an enormous amount of money. Especially at 22 years old.

[Vermont Green]

Harper, Queta, and now Walsh.

Seems like the Celtics believe locking up "solid" guys on cost-controlled deals gives them a chance to compete in the modern NBA.

Hopefully Pritchard is next!

Pritchard is going to an interesting test of how badly he wants to be a Celtic.  This will likely be the guy?s best chance to cash in in his career.

Sounds fair. He is a $20-25M/year player, IMO.

Per MSN: Pritchard can sign a three-year, $67 million extension starting October 1, based on CBA provisions tied to average salary.

That does sound about right.  He is signed for $7.8M for 2026/27 and then $8.3M in 2027/28.  Then Paul George rolls off leaving plenty of room to extend Pritchard for (3) more seasons in this price range.  I think this is a perfect illustration of how keeping Brown and extending him could have impacted things.  BOS may not have been able to extend Pritchard if they had Brown on the books for $70M instead of George off the books.

[Roy H.]

Only two years guaranteed, which makes me like this better:

Michael Scotto: Update: The Boston Celtics and Jordan Walsh have agreed to a 3-year, $16 million extension, which includes two years fully guaranteed and a third-year team option for the 2029-30 season, sources said. Boston had picked up Walsh?s $2.4 million team option for the upcoming season.

[ozgod]

Yes, it might interest people to know (or maybe they don't want to know  ) that with Jordan's signing we are now at $219m in committed salary for 2027-28, with 12 players:

(click to enlarge)


The thresholds for next season are (est):

Salary cap: $174m
Luxury tax: $211.5m
1st apron: $220.5m
2nd apron: $234m

So barring any trades where we ship out more salary than we bring in, we will be a taxpaying team next year and most likely a first apron team.  UNLESS PG13 doesn't pick up his $56.6m player option, which honestly he would be crazy not to,  unless they negotiated an extension that maybe gives him more overall money but a lower average annual value.

Or it's possible they could trade him and take less money in and create a TPE, we are allowed to do that, if we can find a room or taxpaying team with the right mix of player/s and as long as they're not over the aprons i.e. they aren't prevented by salary matching on their end.

Or we might send out Hauser and or/Walsh, Walsh is now a tradeable contract especially if we want to aggregate him.

But the point I wanted to make is that, given the non-discretionary spend he has coming up in the next 2 seasons after this one, the chance of Brad exceeding the tax line by $1-2m to pick up Beal on a vet min is probably zero. Because that would be we would be unable to reset our repeater rate unless he does something really drastic in 2027-28+ that would cripple our team, and Beal's $2.4m vet min would possibly end up costing us $30-50m+ next year in tax due to not resetting. Pretty sure the dude's not worth that 

This is the year to reset the tax, we need to not be a taxpayer for 2 of the last 4 seasons to reset it. It's one of those things where we probably thing who cares, Bill said he greenlighted Brad to spend money, but it would be poor management for them to go over it (by a small amount, showing poor planning) and get penalized in future years for a player that won't move the needle for us anyway,

Unless, as Celtics2021 said, they sign him and then move someone at the deadline to get under the tax. The number they would sign him to would then matter, the lower the better.