Boston Cetics Sign $315 Million top player For 2024 Season…

According to NBA front office insider Bobby Marks of ESPN, Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum is eligible to sign a five-year, $315 million extension this summer.

Tatum signed a five-year, $163 million extension with the Celtics in November 2020. All signs point toward Boston signing the Duke product to a new extension this offseason.

The Celtics drafted Tatum with the third overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft. Tatum has made five All-Star teams and three All-NBA teams with Boston while averaging 23.1 points, 7.2 rebounds and 3.5 assists.

In the Tatum era, the Celtics have reached the Eastern Conference Finals four times and the NBA Finals once. Boston lost to the Golden State Warriors in the 2022 Finals in six games.

The Celtics look like the championship favorites this season. They have the best record in the NBA.

Tatum, 26, is averaging 27.1 points, 8.3 rebounds and 4.9 assists this season while shooting 47.4% from the field, 38.2% from beyond the arc and 83.0% from the free-throw line.

Seeing how far the Celtics go in the 2024 playoffs will be fascinating. If Boston doesn’t win it all, the season will certainly be a major disappointment for Tatum and Co.

On the first episode of his podcast with former NBA shooting guard JJ Redick called “Mind the Game,” Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James showered Tatum with praise.

LeBron pointed out the success Tatum has experienced since entering the NBA in 2017.

“He’s 25 years old and I believe he’s been to the conference finals four times,” LeBron said about Tatum. “Been to the NBA Finals once. He’s 25. I didn’t win my first one until I was 28. I think Joker (Nikola Jokic) won his first one at 27. I think MJ [Michael Jordan] was 28 as well.

“I think we have a lot of expectations on JT, but he’s experienced a lot of winning in his career so far. And obviously, everyone wants to see him get over the hump, but four conference finals and a Finals appearance before the age of 26 is — that’s elite.”

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Former Boston Celtics MVP candidate unlikely to be rotation mainstay anymore

MassLive’s Brian Robb doesn’t believe former Boston Celtics MVP candidate Isaiah Thomas is going to be a rotation mainstay at this stage of his career following the five-foot-nine messiah’s debut with the Phoenix Suns on March 20; a debut that saw him amass an assist and miss his only shot in two minutes of garbage time.

“Thomas ended up playing in two minutes, putting up one assist while going 0-for-1 from the field,” Robb wrote. “As expected, at this point in his career, Thomas is unlikely to become a rotation mainstay. But there’s plenty he can bring behind the scenes, and he can still get buckets quickly.”

Robb does see Thomas serving as a veteran locker room presence whose wisdom and experience serve more of a purpose to a team than his actual on-court contributions.

“Part of Thomas’ strengths, too, can be as a veteran presence in the locker room,” Robb prefaced before saying, “He’s played plenty of NBA games throughout his career and he’s been a well-liked presence on all of his teams. Thomas played in Phoenix as part of the 2014-15 season, though he was soon traded to the Celtics that year.”

Should the Celtics pull it off this spring, there will be plenty of teams looking to sign away Boston’s role players. Xavier Tillman and Luke Kornet have the most cash-out potential, but don’t discount Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk or even J.D. Davison getting better offers elsewhere.

While Thomas would come with a higher cost as a veteran, he’d also be a valuable addition as a ring-chaser next season. Even if he never played a minute, the love between the player and the franchise was evident when Thomas returned to the G-League in early March.

“It’s real love — you know, that Boston love is real,” Thomas told reporters, per The Boston Globe’s Gary Washburn (h/t NESN). “No matter what happened in the past, all those guys communicate with me still. I’m always locked in on Celtics games. That was big part of my life. That was a really important, important time in my life as well. So it’s always going to be love for everybody that’s in that organization and was a helping hand to me and my family.”

One final ride in Boston for Thomas just feels right. It didn’t make sense in 2023-24, but in the future, it definitely does.