Robb: Celtics Salary Cap Overview
By Brian Robb, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- One thing Danny Ainge has managed particularly well during the rebuild is maintaining the Celtics' flexibility and assets. For three straight seasons now, Boston has steadily stockpiled valuable trade chips, team friendly contracts and a truckload of future draft picks. Little changed on that front this offseason, as outside of using a large chunk of salary cap space on Al Horford for a four-year max contract, the Celtics maintained the team's treasure chest of goodies.
With that in mind, let's recap where the team stands with its salary cap situation for this season and beyond, and see how it could factor into the team's strategy moving forward.
NBA Salary Cap for 2016-17: $94.1 million
NBA Luxury Tax for 2016-17: $113.3 million
Celtics current salary cap situation for 2016-17: $94.1 million on 18 players, $92.9 million guaranteed
2016-17 salaries player breakdown
Al Horford -- $26.5 million
Amir Johnson -- $12 million
Avery Bradley -- $8.3 million
Tyler Zeller -- $8 million
Isaiah Thomas -- $6.6 million
Jae Crowder -- $6.3 million
Jonas Jerebko -- $5 million
Jaylen Brown -- $4.7 million
Marcus Smart -- $3.6 million
Kelly Olynyk -- $3.1 million
Terry Rozier -- $1.9 million
James Young -- $1.8 million
Demetrius Jackson -- $1.45 million
Jordan Mickey -- $1.2 million
R.J. Hunter -- $1.2 million
Gerald Green -- $980,431 (Celtics only responsible for portion of veteran's minimum)
John Holland -- $874,636 (non-guaranteed)
Ben Bentil -- $543,471 ($250k guaranteed)
Overview: With only two players on the roster earning over $12 million in salary next season, the Celtics have assembled one of the most well-balanced roster payrolls in the league. While players like Crowder, Thomas and Bradley are probably wishing they hit the free agent market a little earlier with their current contracts, the Celtics will reap the benefits of having some of their best players under comfortable cost control through 2018-19 for trade or efficient team building purposes.
The main element that Ainge has emphasized with his flood of free agent and rookie signings in the last week of July is heavy competition for spots at the bottom of the depth chart. Players like Young and Hunter on guaranteed rookie deals can no longer feel safe about their spots on the roster with rookies like Jackson and Bentil pushing hard for spots in training camp. The Celtics can afford to eat or dump the salaries of Hunter/Young with no damage to the team's long term salary cap picture, so it will simply be letting the best man win for those final spots.
2017-18 Salary Cap Overview: This is where the Celtics set themselves up extremely well. Ainge will only have roughly $62 million locked up in seven rotation players (Horford, Thomas, Bradley, Smart, Crowder, Brown, Rozier), giving him the ability to go after two potential big names in free agency next summer with the salary cap expected to rise to $102 million. Youngsters under long-term contracts like Mickey and Jackson have guarantee dates in July, giving the team the flexibility to cut them to open up more salary cap space if needed.
Olynyk, Jerebko and Johnson will be the biggest names hitting free agency next summer, but Olynyk will be restricted with a limited cap hold. All three have replaceable skillsets if Ainge is able to land a bigger fish.
The bottom line is that the biggest thing Ainge left himself with this offseason is options. Whenever the opportunity comes to land the next star via trade or free agency, the team's roster is well equipped to handle an overhaul at a moment's notice, without tearing apart the team's core.
Brian Robb covers the Celtics for CBS Boston and contributes to NBA.com, among other media outlets. You can follow him on Twitter @CelticsHub.
