NBA
Jayson Tatum Contract: Celtics Star a Year Away From $300 Million
Tim Crean started writing about sports in 2016 and joined Sports7 in 2021. He excels with his versatile coverage of the NFL and soccer landscape, as well as his expertise breaking down sports media, which stems from his many years downloading podcasts before they were even cool and countless hours spent listening to Mike & The Mad Dog and The Dan Patrick Show, among other programs. As a longtime self-professed sports junkie who even played DII lacrosse at LeMoyne College in Syracuse, New York, Tim loves reading about all the latest sports news every day and considers it a dream to write about sports professionally. He's a lifelong Buffalo Bills fan from Western New York who mistakenly thought, back in the early '90s, that his team would be in the Super Bowl every year. He started following European soccer — with a Manchester City focus — in the early 2000s after spending far too much time playing FIFA. When he's not enjoying a round of golf or coaching youth soccer and flag football, Tim likes reading the work of Bill Simmons, Tony Kornheiser, Chuck Klosterman, and Tom Wolfe.
All posts by Tim CreanUpdated21 May 2023
The Boston Celtics may be in a tough spot, down to the Miami Heat in the NBA Eastern Conference Finals. And the future might be uncertain with Jaylen Brown’s contract situation coming up. But one thing is for sure. The next Jayson Tatum contract is going to be a massive supermax deal.
The Jayson Tatum contract
Jayson Tatum had to wait until pick No. 3 in the 2017 NBA Draft to hear his name called. Markelle Fultz and Lonzo Ball went ahead of the Duke star, but Tatum is the one who has blossomed into a franchise-carrying superstar.
At the end of the initial rookie Jayson Tatum contract, the Celtics star signed a max five-year, $163,000,300 deal with the Celtics.
This contract will pay Tatum $32,600,060 in 2023-24 and $34,848,340 in 2024-25. After that, he has a 2025-26 player option for $37,096,620. However, the former Blue Devil won’t make it that far on the current Jayson Tatum contract.
Tatum has made first-team All-NBA the last two seasons, which makes him eligible for the Designated Veteran Player Extension (aka the supermax extension). That means Tatum can decline his extension next summer (2024) and sign a five-year extension that begins in the 2025-26 season.
And the supermax extension is going to make Tatum an incredibly rich young man.
What is a Supermax Extension in the NBA?
The Designated Veteran Extension is a type of NBA contract that players can sign if they meet specific criteria.
To be eligible for the supermax, a player has to play seven to nine NBA seasons or complete their rookie deal and rookie scale extension (which is how Jayson Tatum qualifies). After that, the player must make All-NBA first, second, or third team or win the Defensive Player of the Year Award in the most recent season before the extension or in the two seasons prior.
If a player wins the Most Valuable Player Award in any of the three seasons leading up to the contract year, they would also be eligible.
When players qualify for this veteran supermax, their five-year deal can be worth 35% of their team’s salary cap and is subject to 8% raises each season after the first.
To see what this looks like in 2023, let’s take a look at the estimated Jayson Tatum contract that he can sign in the summer of 2024. Keep in mind, these are currently just estimates by Spotrac because we don’t know yet what the salary cap will be in the future.
The potential supermax Jayson Tatum contract will be approximately:
- 2025-26: $53,198,250
- 2026-27: $57,454,110
- 2027-28: $61,709,970
- 2028-29: $65,965,830
- 2029-30: $70,221,690
- Total: $308,549,850
This is great for Tatum and good for the Celtics, who will have their young star wrapped up for the foreseeable future in 2024. It does complicate things for the team, though, as Jaylen Brown made the All-NBA tea this season, qualifying him for a super-max as well.
When the 2022-23 Celtics season finally does end, these financial calculations will become front and center in the franchise’s offseason.
