Potential Celtics trade target Lou Williams signs extension with Clippers

WASHINGTON -- The pool of trade deadline targets for the Celtics just got a little bit thinner on Wednesday, as the Clippers announced they have signed Lou Williams to a three-year contract extension. Mark Deeks reports that the extension will be worth $8 million annually starting next season, with the third year of the deal only guaranteed for $1.5 million.

The extension immediately takes Williams off the table in trade talks since a player who signs a veteran extension is ineligible to be traded for six months. Williams had been connected to the Celtics and various other teams in trade rumors over the past week in the midst of a career season (23.3 ppg) at age 31.

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This signing could have some minor ripple effects on the trade market overall since Williams was one of the more premier names available among scorers. More suitors could be in play for names like Tyreke Evans now with Williams off the table as a potential option. Williams never made a lot of sense to me as a potential option for the Celtics anyway, given what the price tag would be. His lack of size (6-foot-2), ball domination and awful postseason track record made him a player that was not worth spending a lot of capital on as a rental.

The other noteworthy part of this extension is the modest amount that Williams signed for. He was in contention for an All-Star spot this year out West and agreed to sign for less than the mid-level exception ($8.6 million) for the next three seasons after playing some of the best basketball of his life during the past four months. There are a lot of potential factors that could have come into play for this extension (Williams likes playing in LA, likes his role in the Clippers offense) but that dollar figure is not a good sign if you are Marcus Smart or another guard heading into free agency this summer. If Williams is willing to settle for $8 million per year after averaging 23 points per game, Smart is going to have a very hard time to convince a team to pay him much (if anything) more than that this summer given his horrendous offensive stats.

That's good news for the Celtics if they elect to keep the point guard (given their expensive projected payroll next year) and rough news for Smart, who turned down a significant extension offer from Boston this preseason, according to league sources.