Smart money’s on better deal
CLEVELAND — Echoing the sentiments of agent Happy Walters a night earlier, Marcus Smart said yesterday that if the Celtics want to keep him, the cost will be higher next summer in restricted free agency than if the team had met his rookie extension wishes this week.
“That’s exactly how I’m looking at it. I think that’s how every guy looks at it when they go into free agency,” Smart said at the shootaround before last night’s NBA season opener against the Cleveland Cavaliers. “You make a lot more than what the team could have got me for now and locked me up. But that’s OK. It’s not a bad thing. Everybody’s making it out like, ‘Oh, that’s a bad thing.’ It’s not a bad thing. Just hoping it’s going to be a fun year and just play it out.”
Smart stressed that he wasn’t looking for the kind of rookie max payday that was showered upon Joel Embiid by the Philadelphia 76ers and Andrew Wiggins by the Minnesota Timberwolves, and that his hopes were reasonable. But the C’s fears of a high league luxury tax in 2018-19 got in the way.
“We thought it was close from the fact that we didn’t ask for much,” Smart said. “We were going to take less money than what we probably are valued, and some other things, but they just weren’t budging. (Luxury tax was) the big issue. They weren’t willing to pay the luxury tax. We even gave them options of things where they wouldn’t have to pay or be so deep into the luxury tax, and they still wouldn’t budge.”
Based on president of basketball operations Danny Ainge’s past rookie extension dealings — Avery Bradley was re-signed only after becoming a restricted free agent and Kelly Olynyk wasn’t signed to clear salary cap space for Gordon Hayward, for example — Smart said he wasn’t surprised.
“Not at all. They’re notoriously doing that,” Smart said. “I think the last guy to get signed to a rookie extension was Rajon Rondo. I’m not surprised at all. It is what it is. … I still love Boston, this team, this city. Like I said, it’s a better opportunity for me to make more money.”
Smart also said his outlook wasn’t sobered by the team’s most recent business decisions, like trading away Bradley, Isaiah Thomas and Jae Crowder.
“Not really. I don’t look at it that way,” Smart said. “They made business decisions with great players, so I can’t really get too in touch with that side of it because it’s a business decision. So it is a business, and who knows what they might do with any of the players on this team. So you’ve just got to always be prepared for what might happen.”