JULY 26: Brown has officially signed his super-max extension, the Celtics announced today (via Twitter).
JULY 25: The Celtics and star wing Jaylen Brown are in agreement on a five-year, super-max contract extension, agent Jason Glushon tells Marc J. Spears of Andscape (Twitter link).
The deal, which is worth a projected $304MM, is fully guaranteed and includes a trade kicker, but doesn’t feature a fifth-year player option, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic.
It’s the most lucrative deal in NBA history, and a massive investment by the Celtics in Brown, who became eligible for a super-max extension – with a starting salary worth 35% of the cap instead of 30% – by making the All-NBA Second Team this spring.
The 26-year-old averaged a career-best 26.6 points per game on .491/.335/.765 shooting while also contributing 6.9 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and 1.1 steals per night across 67 appearances (35.9 MPG). He earned his second All-Star nod and helped the Celtics get to within one game of the NBA Finals.
Brown had been entering a contract year in 2023/24 and there was a belief that it would be difficult for the Celtics to extend him if he hadn’t become super-max eligible, due to the NBA’s limitations on veteran extensions. Once Brown made an All-NBA team, it opened the door for the two sides to reach an agreement on a deal that will tack on five years to his current contract and ensure he’s under team control through 2028/29, keeping him off next summer’s free agent market.
While it took a few weeks for the two sides to come to terms, reports throughout July consistently maintained that there was optimism it would eventually get done — now it has.
The projected $304MM figure is based on an assumption that the NBA’s salary cap will increase by 10% again in 2024/25, as it has in each of the last two seasons. Assuming that’s the case, Brown will earn approximately $52.4MM in the first year of his new contract; that number would jump all the way up to $69.1MM by year five, resulting in a total of about $303.7MM.
Before his new extension takes effect, Brown will earn a base salary of $28.5MM in 2023/24, with an additional $3.3MM available in incentives.
Brown will become the 12th player to sign a designated veteran contract since the NBA introduced it in 2017. Even if the cap doesn’t increase by a full 10% next offseason, the value of Brown’s extension will comfortably surpass Nikola Jokic‘s five-year, $276.1MM contract with Denver — Jokic’s deal was previously the most lucrative in NBA history.
Brown’s teammate Jayson Tatum also achieved the super-max performance criteria this spring, but won’t have the service time necessary to sign a designated veteran extension of his own until the 2024 offseason. Assuming the Celtics also ink Tatum to a super-max deal, which could become the new richest contract in league history, they’ll have to figure out a way to build and maintain a competitive roster around two massive contracts in the coming years.
As Bobby Marks of ESPN notes (via Twitter), once Brown officially signs his extension, he’ll be ineligible to be traded for a full calendar year.
A necessary move and contract for the Celtics. It will be interesting to see how they navigate the cap moving forward.
Agreed. Had to be done. Now they will have to deal with the financial impact. A lot riding on the health of Porzingis, Malcolm Brogdon and Robert Williams. Whew!
Players get 50% of all basketball revenue. That number was about $10 billion in 2022. Roughly 450 players splitting $5 billion. Huge benefactors from media rights that are being overpaid for. Is there a reason for TNT to exist without NBA games?
Not to be a jerk, but what exactly did the Celtics gain by negotiating this late into the off season?
Or was the delay in getting this done just a matter of the Celtics just double-checking Brown’s medicals and other “dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s” type work?
Why does it matter? I’m sure they’ve been negotiating for awhile.
What did they lose?
My guess is with the ridiculous amount of money assumed to be attached to the deal, they were smart in taking their time to decide whether or not to actually offer it.
And I would think they at least attempted to work out a number of alternate deals, with number of years, total dollars and structure being discussed before ultimately proceeding with this.
They were trying to trade him to portland
laughable…more grasping at straws from you Kurtis blows
My sense it was Jaylen who caused the delay but maybe we’ll never know. Now it’s best to soon forget it and move on. Go Celtics.
They may have want the fifth year guaranteed and Brown did not. Plus he may have wanted to be sure he would not be traded next year when they have to pay Tatum.
@spike – getting all their other moves done before going into the stratosphere with his contract. If they signed him earlier, some of the moves would not have been possible. Guess they felt settled now.
Brown probably wanted a no trade clause like Beal, cuz Brown’s name came up in so many trade talks last few years. Thats what Boston negotiated I think. Also, theres no player option here
Once he sign he can’t be traded for a calender year. Seems to be a good enough reason alone to wait till now if your the C’s.
A lot of money for a dude who can’t dribble.
Nice player, but not a game changer. Worth more in a trade than his salary. I agree with Doc Rivers kid.
Now to come near earning his huge contract and living up to the faith the Celtics have placed in him, Jaylen needs to improve a lot, his D, his team play & especially his dribbling. We’ll soon see if he will do so, if he’s serious about paying the Celtics back for this fortune. Some would slack off, like Liv golfers after getting their guaranteed money, but I believe Jaylen is highly principled & will redouble his work effort to earn his pay. Go Celtics!
This would make sense if they won the championship against the Warriors or even beat the Heat this year, but this just looks like a horrible overpay. Congrats tho. Family is set for generations.
Celtics never really had a choice, they thought they did for some reason and delayed the inevitable for a few weeks.
So they gave him what he wanted. So basically the Celtics just held out for absolutely no reason. Just disrespectful. 2 more years in Boston and then Jaylen will be gone.
He was overseas… Can’t sign a deal if your not there and can’t take a physical.
Take it down a notch bud
Actually they got the key point no plzyer option in the final year and that is the key point
Saltyyy
more lazy analysis from Kurtis blows. Your relationship with facts or credibility is getting worse by the post.
Wow. I get the Cs didn’t really have options but 70 Million a for year 5 of that deal is a scary thought
It wont be in 5 years when 30 other guys are making more than that.
He will be traded next year when Tatum will want his super Max contract
Nice player but huge overpay.
Tbf they probably realize this, but if they win a championship no one will care. Big if, of course.
What does it matter if it’s an overpay? If it were 5 years at $200 million it would still put the Celtics way over the cap for years to come. Even if they’d let him walk to free agency they would still be way over the cap, only difference is that ownership would have a few more million dollars in their pockets and only one All-NBA wing with no way to replace Brown.
And now the Celtics are locked into mediocrity for ever. Tatum and brown have shown over and over again that they can not win the big games. They should’ve traded brown for a player that fits better. This is comedy for Non Celtic fans.
Might want to look up mediocrity in the dictionary. They have been perenial contenders.
You clearly do not know basketball.
Except they aren’t mediocre even now.
You don’t seem biased at all.
I mean, they still will trade Brown, probably as soon as next season as soon as he’s eligible.
Wow I had to double check those shooting splits because sub 50 fg and sub 34 3pt and a guy who turns it over with subpar handles? Yikes.
Yeah, he became secound team NBA by fooling everyone. Thank god you figured it out.
He was a 19 PER. That’s good but not great. Now he’s the highest paid player in basketball history.
You get this is about the Supermax salary structure and the CBA and not Brown, right?
By the time this contract is over he’ll be the 30th highest paid player in the NBA.
I get your point but we’ll see. Not sure there will be 29 other super max players in the next few years. Do teams have the appetite for this deal across the board? Who knows.
As long as the cap goes up, so will player salaries.
There is a reason every sale of a major sports franchise breaks a record. It’s an insanely safe investment. None of these owners are going broke.
Been saying this in here for a while, new NBA reality: max players 5yr 300mm, average joes (Jerami Grant) 5yr 150-160mm
Jerami contract was just an average, that’s the NBA market nowadays, deal with it
Hahahaha….what a joke of a contract ….don’t know where BOS is going ….or in fact, the NBA…with these monster deals …too much discrepancy within the players…..
These salaries are crazy.
What until the Saudi’s make their own league…
You make a good point and they already have a league. They just offered Kylian Mbappé the equivalent to $300 million to play soccer for one season.
Now I know basketball isn’t as huge as soccer on the world stage but I could see them offer an NBA player like say Giannis close to that.
They offered Mbappe little over 700 million for one year. 300 and change was the transfer fee for PSG. Make it 100 million a year for 10 of the best young NBA talent and you will get viewership.
Lol tell me you’re a middle schooler without telling me you’re a middle schooler. Who is watching a league with 10 NBA rookies? Lmao people barely watch the g league. Better luck next time bud!
They teach reading comprehension in middle school. Did he say anything about rookies? He said 10 of the best young NBA talent. You know like Morant, LaMelo, Edwards, Barnes, Mobley, Banchero etc.
OK my bad billions of Saudis tuning in for Scottie Barnes highlights cancel the superball
Why?!?!?
So who gets these massive profits? The owners? Get this “yes, m’lord” crap out of here, America doesnt do that. We share with each other, we share the profits, pay our taxes and arent animals IRL, despite what the media will have you believe. Grow some balls. Learn some Ball. Know some Ball.
Now the Celtics should hire a coach that specialize on dribble drills. J.Brown and Tatum have the worst turnover duo in the NBA. J.Brown should practice Hanamichi Sakuragi’s basic dribble drills.
Another brilliant hoops mind weighs in.
Better hope that upcoming TV deal is as beefy as expected.
These contracts are beyond ridiculous.
It is ridiculous. LeBron will make $47.6 million next season and if we’re being honest he’s worth more than 4 times that to the NBA. Curry and Durant are probably worth 2-3 times what they make. It is ridiculous that players of this magnitude don’t make a whole lot more.
It’s ridiculous that people already making generations of wealth per season don’t make even more? Why? Do you want all $ to be worth nothing?
Why don’t you break down the true value of an NBA player for us all. I’ll wait.
The profits are even more, yet not a peep from you about them, curious??
Good for him. Next Tatum will have the highest supermax.
Get that money Jaylen!! I don’t understand the people hating on player contracts or teams signing the contracts. The top 30 players in the NBA are going to get big contracts. Probably closer to top 50. As for Jaylen he has already accomplished a lot more than 90% of the max contracts in the league. He and Tatum have proven to be championship caliber players since the day they entered the league. The Celtics would’ve been dumb not to give the man what he has earned. He has done more than Ja Luka Trae Ingram Zion Tobias KAT Rj Barret Embiid Gobert Mitchell etc etc…. Are any of them more likely to win a title than JB in the next 5 years? Probably not. Every offseason there will be a new highest paid player in the NBA get over and count your own money.
This makes Tobias Harris’s contract look like a bargain. No player that isn’t even the best on his own team is worth 60+mil per season. Boston should trade him for picks if they don’t win a title next season.
“trade him for picks”
Another brilliant thought.
What would be your opinion? Not counting you putting others down and not giving an argument for why
Dude, you can’t trade a guy making that much money for “picks”. There has to be a matching salary. I assume that’s why you were made fun of.
If the salary keeps going up, then when he needs traded it will be possible and there will be takers. Eat another garbage contract and get draft picks in the trade with that after they don’t win a championship and don’t want to pay him that much for no rings.
Well, that and a legitimate contender deciding to go backwards by dealing someone like Brown for picks.
Technically, I guess they could trade him for picks AND quality players, then use those picks to make further deals, but that would be crazy given how many more uncertain steps that would require.
Thank you. I know they won’t get good picks and a good player in return, but if they had to pick one I’d guess it’d be picks because they have a contending team now and they could surprise people and do a trade just like the warriors did with Poole. Boston could move the acquired picks for another star or hope they can develop another Tatum or Brown. A max extension isn’t unmovable weather the player is any good or not. Philly got out of the Simmons contract.
So porzingas is 27 brown is 26 and tatum is 25,as much as you don’t like the cash outlay the age of these 3 and there upside is unquestionable
Age doesn’t matter when they won’t ever be the best player on their own team. This contract is as bad or worse than the Tobias Harris deal.
I don’t consider him a great player, but he’s 26, and the team has won consistently with him in the same role that he figures to play going forward. He can command this salary. So, if BOS wasn’t ready to move on from the guy, they really had no choice.
If he stays healthy it’s not a bad deal. People just can’t wrap their heads around how much money these guys are going to be making.
If he stays healthy it’s not a bad deal??? He’s now the highest paid player in the NBA!
I know he’s the only guy up this year for a extension of this magnitude, but the guys not even the best player on his team much less the league. I mean, the guy is going to be getting 40% of the projected cap next year. Throw in an extension the year after for Tatum and the two of them combined would be making more combined than this upcoming season’s cap.
The NBA is in real trouble with these contracts over the next couple of years.
highest paid player in the NBA. That will last all one season…
Worst move I’ve ever seen. Brown literally called Boston racist and that he doesn’t like playing there. They rewarded a cry baby/diva with 304 million dollars. He also defended Kyrie Irving through all his drama. Jalen Brown is barely a top 20-25 player in the league. Give it maybe 6 months and the Celtics will regret this move
You would know bad moves and regrets, being a Mets fans.
@BloodySox I actually hate just about every move the Mets have made under their current GM, so you arent wrong
Why is stating the fact that Boston is racist the first thing you’re mad about? Says a lot about you.
If you felt that ………. That was Wilt rolling over …….. “a Freakin Celtic” !!!!!!
On October 24, 1959, Chamberlain made his NBA debut, starting for the Philadelphia Warriors. He was listed as 7 ft 1 in (2.16 m) tall and 258 lb (117 kg). Chamberlain became the NBA’s highest-paid player when he signed for $30,000 in his rookie contract.
This league is a disaster, everyone already gets max
Not everyone gets the Max. Brown actually last time took a little less than the Max.
What Will Tatum end up getting??
Jaylen Brown is 1-4 in ECF and 0-1 in Finals.
He might be Russ 2
Westbrook at least won an MVP and put up triple double seasons for the first time in decades. Brown doesn’t even have anything close to that.
He’s in the prime of his career. He is arguably their best player. Right time right place. Players get paid today. It’s not your money lols ……..
I rather the players get it than billionaire owners. After all “They are The Show”
Now it’s show me time. Celtics with moves they made. Are expected to go to Finals. Boston will not be happy if they don’t get out of East. And the East is tough this yr.