Why Rondo Turned Down An Extension

WEEI did a good job of explaining the finances of it all. When you look at it this way, NOT signing an extension was a no-brainer for Rondo.


http://greenstreet.weei.com/sports/boston/basketball/celtics/2014/01/31/irish-coffee-rajon-rondo-financial-planning-for-nba-free-agency-and-a-celtics-conspiracy-that-just-makes-cents/


Celtics captain Rajon Rondo is due $12.9 million next season — the final year of a five-year, $55 million extension he signed in October 2009 — and the NBA’s new collective bargaining agreement makes any suggestion he’d rather test the free agency waters than sign another longterm extension an obvious one.

In the simplest terms, Rondo stands to make twice as much money on his next contract if he becomes an unrestricted free agent in 2015. So, when he tells reporters, “I may want to go through” free agency, as he did after Friday’s practice, who can blame him? For years, Paul Pierce said the same, because it makes financial sense.

The following timeline — cobbled together using Larry Coon’s NBA Salary Cap FAQ and input from the Celtics front office — details what max contract Rondo can sign at different points over the next 18 months, and should help explain why Rondo won’t sign an extension this season and may not end up signing one next season.

(Even if Rondo doesn’t ultimately sign for max dollars, which he probably won’t, this exercise should still demonstrate the vast difference in money available to him at various times in his near future.)


Feb. 1, 2014 – June 30, 2014: Rondo can only sign a two-year, $28.8 million extension (2015-16: $13.9 million; 2016-17: $14.9M). Under the new CBA, teams can extend veteran contracts for a total of four years, increasing in salary by 7.5 percent each season. But any season under the player’s current deal counts toward those four years, so because Rondo is signed this season and next, he can currently only sign a two-year extension. However …

July 10, 2014 – June 30, 2015: Rondo can sign a three-year, $44.8 million extension (2017-18: $16M). Given the ACL injury that cost him almost a full year of basketball, he might be open to such security. As ESPN.com’s Chris Forsberg noted, such a deal would also set Rondo up to become a free agent again at age 32 in 2018, when he could command a five-year max deal worth 35 percent of the salary cap as a 10-plus-year veteran.

July 10, 2015: Rondo can sign an estimated five-year, $108 million free-agent contract with the Celtics (2015-16: $18.6M, 2016-17: $20.0M, 2017-18: $21.5M, 2018-19: $23.1M, 2019-20: $24.8M). He’ll be nine years into his NBA career after next season and can thus command a maximum of 30 percent of the salary cap. These numbers are based off next year’s projected cap of $62.1 million and should actually be even higher in 2015.

In all likelihood, Rondo wouldn’t command a max contract on the open market, but there’s a lot of negotiating room between the $28.8 million he can accept now and the $108 million he could receive next summer. Regardless of which direction Rondo ultimately chooses, he stands to make more money remaining in Boston, since the rest of the league could only offer four years in free agency while the C’s can give him five. So, when he says, “I wouldn’t mind extending another 10 years in Boston,” as he did a week ago, that’s stating the obvious, too.

For conspiracy theorists out there, if Rondo signs a three-year max extension this summer, becomes a free agent in 2018 and then re-signs for the maximum of five years, he will have played exactly 10 more years in Boston. Considering he used a math equation to announce his return, it’s not out of the question he’s made that calculation.



bob



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Hard to believe Rondo is already in his 8th season, although it's more like his 7th in terms of mileage on the tires. One two-part question I'd like to see debated is how well-equipped he will be physically for the ongoing rigors of the game in another seven years.

Sam

All this talk is fine, but, could it be that he is putting pressure on the Celtics to make him happy at the right given time or he walks?

sam wrote:Hard to believe Rondo is already in his 8th season, although it's more like his 7th in terms of mileage on the tires.  One two-part question I'd like to see debated is how well-equipped he will be physically for the ongoing rigors of the game in another seven years.

Sam

Sam

Rondo has had a major injury so we can only speculate about this but assuming that he regains his pre injury physical abilities, I think he will be a top flight PG that can handle the physical rigors of the game for 5 more years . 7 years down the road is beyond my comprehension.

dboss

RosalieTCeltics wrote:All this talk is fine, but, could it be that he is putting pressure on the Celtics to make him happy at the right given time or he walks?

Hard to say. I think he wants to stay in Boston, he just wants a better payday, as a result of CBA rules. After all, Ainge wasn't surprised Rondo turned down the extension offer.



KJ

This is good for Rondo and good for the Celtics. Why add two years until you see how he is able to play. The Celtics offer was irrelevant because they knew he would not accept it but it was an obligatory good faith effort on their part.

Rondo is good in math so why would he accept a short term extension if he was confident to play well and get a bigger payday.

The Celtics would be wise to draft a replacement for Rondo this year or next year.

dboss

Dboss,

I agree that Rondo's refusal to except the Celtics' offer is good for both sides.  Any question marks about his health and ability to lead the Celtics into the future could very well be answered before his current contract expires.  And the benefits to Rondo from waiting have been well explained above.

In terms of drafting a "replacement" for Rondo, I wonder whether that move alone would alienate him.  Some so-called "pundits" are claiming the Celtics will draft Exum, a tall PG from Australia who is supposed to be explosive but who doesn't seem to average the number of assists I usually expect to see from a floor general.

I just have to believe (probably better described as hope) that the Celtics will open up a whole new vista concerning the draft by trading for an established center before then.  If that shoe dropped (and I guess it's a longshot at best), both Celtics draft picks in the first round would get really interesting and unpredictable.

Sam

Sam

I think that drafting true PG would be wise if not this year maybe next year. That way he will have plenty of time to develop.

Getting a center could be the #1 priority and after that, the best available.

Dboss

I'll be so happy when February 20 has come and gone. Because, if the Celtics have not traded for a genuine center by then, I'll be able to focus on the draft. Until that time, I'd much rather they'd trade for an established center than to try to draft and develop one from an extremely small group near the top (one?) in this draft.

Sam