Why Aron Baynes will have a no-trade clause in his deal with Celtics

Aron Baynes will return to the Celtics next season after agreeing to a two-year deal with the team on Sunday morning, with the second year being a player option for the center.

A league source tells BostonSportsJournal.com that Baynes will have the ability to veto any trade involving him next season as part of the deal.

Only a handful of players across the NBA have no-trade protection during any given season, so what exactly prompted Baynes to get this clause in his new deal?

It’s all due to the structure of his contract and the NBA collective bargaining agreement rules. The Celtics signed Baynes with Non-Bird rights for 120 percent of his previous salary ($4.3 million). Any player who is under a one-year contract (excluding an option year) and will have Early Bird or Bird Rights (at least two consecutive seasons playing for the same team) at the end of their new contract gets a no-trade clause.

The reason this provision is in place is to protect the earning power of players. Any player that has Bird Rights with their current team has the ability (in theory) to earn more (since said team can go over the salary cap to retain him). When someone on a one-year contract is dealt, he loses those Bird Rights as part of the transaction and becomes a Non-Bird free agent instead (resulting in less earning power) at the end of the season. For that reason, a player like Baynes has to okay losing his Bird Rights as part of the transaction.

Any restricted free agent who signs a one-year contract for the qualifying offer gets a no-trade clause for the same reason. This could end up being Marcus Smart later this summer.

Danny Ainge likes to have trade flexibility with all of his players, but the terms of Baynes’ deal forced the Celtics to give in on this one. Baynes probably didn’t want to be locked into a longer deal at the money (just over $5 million per year), so he successfully negotiated a player option as part of the deal to give himself some extra security and flexibility. The Celtics could have offered a longer deal using mid-level exception money (eliminating the no-trade clause), but the front office likely has plans for using that money elsewhere in free agency.

This isn’t a major issue for Boston from a team-planning standpoint. Baynes serves a major role on this team, so it’s unlikely the Celtics would have sought to use him during a trade at any point during the upcoming season anyway. Still, if the Celtics end up trying to package together some salary to land a star player at some point during the 2018-19 season, Baynes and his $5.19 million salary can’t be included.