How the expansion of Robert Williams will affect the chances of a Celtic free agent for 2022

Brad Stevens made a big contribution to Robert Williams reaching his long-term potential on Friday by agreeing with the 23-year-old on a four-year contract worth $ 54 million. The deal will take effect during the 2022-23 season and will join Marcus Smarts ’four-year extension, with Smart and Williams in team control over the next five seasons, the longest of the current Celtics.

The Smart and Williams extensions were the only guaranteed money the Celtics distributed after this season. All players acquired through the deal are due (Josh Richardson, Kris Dunn, Bruno Fernando), and the team also distributed one-year free agent contracts to Enes Kanter and Dennis Schroder. However, the Williams and Smart expansions have taken that purchasing power away next summer. A review of Boston’s current projected salary for the period 2022-23.

Jayson Tatum: $ 30.5 million

Jaylen Brown: $ 28.7 million

Al Horford: $ 26.5 million (guaranteed $ 14.5 million)

Marcus Smart: $ 17.2 million

Robert Williams: $ 12 million (estimated)

* Romeo Langford: $ 5.6 million

* Grant Williams: $ 4.3 million

* Aaron Nesmith: $ 3.8 million

* Payton Pritchard: $ 2.2 million

(* indicates team option)

Total salary: $ 130.8 million for nine players

Total money: $ 118.8 million (if Horford is divested)

Expected salary ceiling for 2022-23: $ 119 million

Expected luxury tax 2022-23: $ 145 million

Expected Apron (hard cap) for 2022-23: $ 151 million

So what exactly can we do about this Boston off-season pivot by rewarding the two longest-running Celtics? A review of the 2022 vacant office result and the future composition of the teams after the Williams expansion on Friday.

Easier decisions about future team options

If the Celtics were to keep the path open toward the 2022 flag state, they would have made several major decisions before the October opening. At this point, the team’s options should be decided for four players (Aaron Nesmith, Payton Pritchard, Grant Williams, Romeo Langford) for the 2022-23 season. Nesmith and Pritchard would have been locks to have their options chosen, but the same cannot be said for G. Williams and Langford if the Celtics had seriously opened up enough capacity for the maximum player in 2022. Both players were able to turn into major accidents (via trade) if this route were continued , so the team could have simply rejected these options this fall.

After the Williams / Smart expansions, any cork room is completely gone. Once this factor is eliminated, acquiring sensible team options for Langford ($ 5.6 million) and Williams ($ 4.3 million) will become a much easier choice for the team to ensure some cost control for a couple of younger role players with potential gains.

The Celtics could use a mid-level exemption ($ 10 million) in 2022

With the team using essentially all of the available cap rooms in the Smart / R.Williams extensions, they’ll still be in good shape when it comes to the luxury tax line ($ 145 million) next season. This will allow the team to take advantage of its full mid-range exemption ($ 10.1 million) next summer to look for a free agent on the open market or possibly to re-sign Dennis Schroder if he seems appropriate in Boston this season. Boston doesn’t have bird rights to Schroder, so they have limited use of mid-range money to keep him on the raise. On the flip side, the Celtics have full birding rights to Josh Richardson, which opens the door to a bigger contract if they are interested in keeping him.

Swapped player exceptions available to search for free agents of the starting caliber

Evan Fournier’s signature and deal opened a $ 17 million trade waiver for Celtics, one of the league’s largest TPEs next year. Boston’s likelihood of using this exception is quite low for the current season, preventing the team from proving to be a potential eastern competitor with a major upgrade during the season. If the trade exemption can be useful to a large extent, it will be free office options next summer. The team has no significant caps after last week’s split expansions, but Brad Stevens is projected to be far enough from the tax line at the moment to offer a big deal to a free agent through brand and trade (up to $ 17 million) while still keeping a hard interest ($ 151 million) below with the teams ’current commitments. Limited teams are expected to have free space now next summer in 2022, when several expansions have been distributed this summer, so $ 17 million is a valuable chip for Boston to add reinforcements to a player looking to match big money to a playoff team in a year. It is entirely possible that the Celtics could use the Fournier TPE in other ways over the next 11 months, but this path is a valuable alternative for Stevens in the summer of 2022.