The Boston Celtics will commit long-term to forward Jayson Tatum. Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reports that the parties have agreed on a five-year rookie scale contract extension.
The deal will be worth at least $163 million, based on the the cap projection for next year, but could climb to as high as $195 million if Tatum meets the requirements for the Rose Rule.
Essentially, given his service time, Tatum is only eligible to sign for a 25% max contract, meaning 25% of the salary cap. In the event that he wins All-NBA (or Defensive Player of the Year or MVP), he can qualify for the 30% typically reserved for players with seven or more years experience.
Tatum was named to the All-NBA third team in 2019-20.
Tatum’s extension falls in line with those we’ve seen from De’Aaron Fox and Donovan Mitchell, a sign of just how strong the 2017 NBA Draft class was.
Tatum averaged 23.4 points and 7.0 rebounds per game for the Celtics in his third year. He’ll play out Year 4 on his rookie contract before the extension kicks in for 2021-22.
