Boston Celtics All-NBA small forward Jayson Tatum has agreed to sign a five-year, $195 million extension with the team that drafted him third overall in the 2017 NBA draft with a player option on the fifth year, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
The Duke product’s anticipated extension offer was the team’s most important offseason order of business to attend to, even if the timetable of working through veteran forward Gordon Hayward’s next contract required much of the front office’s early attention in the 2020-21 free agency period.
Tatum began the season with three goals — to make an All-Star team, average more than 20 points per game, and make the NBA Finals — and came within two wins of accomplishing all three.
Tatum's extension includes a player option after the fourth year of the deal in 2025, source tells ESPN. https://t.co/SfGjPRc3J5
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) November 22, 2020
Though he fell short of the Finals at the hands of the Miami Heat, the Missouri native did indeed get his first All-Star nod, and jumped from scoring 15.7 points, 6 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.1 steals per game to 23.4 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 1.4 assists per game.
With Hayward gone to the Charlotte Hornets, those numbers are very likely to keep rising.
And with the 2020-21 roster coming together with the additions of big man Tristan Thompson and point guard Jeff Teague, the Celtics can turn their attention to completing the rest of the necessary moves around the margins to finish it.
