Contract decision coming on Yabusele

http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/celtics/2018/10/celtics_notebook_contract_decision_coming_on_yabusele



Celtics notebook: Contract decision coming on Yabusele



Steve Bulpett Sunday, October 28, 2018




UP IN THE AIR: The Celtics will soon have to make a contract decision on forward Guerschon Yabusele.



DETROIT -- The Celtics have until Wednesday to make decisions on three players’ futures. Two are dead-lock certainties. One is not.

While the club will clearly be exercising their 2019-20 options on Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, the call on Guerschon Yabusele is more complicated.


Tatum will get his third-year slot of $7,830,000 next season and Brown will get his fourth-year number, $6,534,829. The Celtics aren’t letting either get out of their sight.

And even though Yabusele’s third-year guarantee would be for a relatively modest $3,117,240, the real dollars are much greater. The club would be committing more than double that because of the luxury tax implications. And at present, Yabusele isn’t part of the main rotation and doesn’t figure to get there without injuries or roster moves that open playing time.

It’s possible the Celts could decline the option and sign Yabusele to a more team-friendly deal next summer. But if the C’s pass now, the Dancing Bear will be an unrestricted free agent -- and if he shows something this season, he could be wanted elsewhere. What’s more, if there is demand, Boston would be able to start a new deal at an amount no higher than what it declined.

If the option is picked up, the process will play out again at this time next season, when a call will have to be made on $4,781,846 for 2020-21.

Yabusele has thus far heard nothing from the club on the current option, and it’s a fair bet the brass will have to sit down in the next couple of days to discuss the Celts’ longer-term financial picture. With Kyrie Irving definitely opting out to sign a much bigger deal next summer (assuming he follows through on his stated plan) and Al Horford also eligible to re-do his deal, the C’s will be going deep into the luxury tax. Yabusele could be a casualty.

But he’s not concerning himself with that just now.

“I would love to be back here with the team,” Yabusele said. “The Celtics are a great organization, so if I have a chance to be back here, I would love to do that.”


Baynes out again

Aron Baynes missed his third straight game with a strained right hamstring suffered last Saturday in New York. There was some hope he could go against the Pistons here last night, but the center didn’t even take part in the team’s morning workout.

“I think that’s being conservative, especially with two days coming, so that he can hopefully practice Monday and then be ready to go Tuesday,” said Brad Stevens, referencing the rematch with the Pistons at the Garden. “I think that’s a good move.

“I don’t get in the middle of the talks with the training staff and the players with regard to availability. But if Baynes had a broken leg, he’d want to play. That’s just Baynes.”


A little too late

Stevens made it through nine innings of Red Sox-Dodgers World Series Game 3, but not much longer. He missed the end of the Sox’ 3-2 18-inning loss.

“I set my alarm because I was concerned,” he said. “I went to sleep at a more reasonable hour than 3:30. I was concerned I would stay up and it would end like it did. I would have been so mad. But that was a great baseball game, at least the part that I watched.”



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