Jaylen Brown hasn't heard from Celtics yet about a contract extension

LAS VEGAS -- A few members of the 2016 draft class have already received hefty new contracts after becoming eligible for a contract extension on July 1st. Jamal Murray and the Nuggets came to terms on a five-year, $170-million deal earlier this month while the 76ers have offered Ben Simmons five-year max deal according to multiple reports.

Jaylen Brown is eligible for a new long-term deal as well as he enters his fourth NBA season, but the 22-year-old wing told BostonSportsJournal.com on Wednesday at Thomas & Mack Center that the team has not discussed an extension yet with him.

"I haven't heard from them," Brown told BSJ. "The ball is in their court."

Brown is scheduled to make $6.53 million in the final year of his rookie deal for the 2019-20 season. The swingman averaged 13.0 points and 4.2 rebounds per game in 2018-19 in the midst of a tumultuous season for Boston. The athletic guard lost his starting job to Marcus Smart in November but managed to bounce back from tough first two months to be a strong weapon for Boston off the bench the rest of the way.

Danny Ainge singled out Brown and Gordon Hayward for how they adjusted to their bench roles last month.

"I wish our team would have done a better job with that this year," Ainge said when asked about roles. "Not that they don’t want more – and they should want more. That’s what makes them great is they all think they’re great players. I think that I don’t want that to change. But I felt like Gordon and Jaylen handled their positions the best this year when things didn’t go as well as they could. I thought they handled it as good as they could.”

The Celtics have until opening night to come to terms on an extension with Brown. During Ainge's 15-year tenure as president of the Celtics, he has not signed players on rookie contracts to extensions very often. In fact, only Kendrick Perkins (2006) and Rajon Rondo (2009) have agreed to an extension on their rookie deals with Boston ahead of the opening night deadline for former first-round picks.

Ainge’s strategy on this front makes a lot of sense over recent years. The Celtics were set on maintaining cap room for much of this decade, but they also haven’t had any “elite” prospects that have proven themselves worthy of big money (Avery Bradley, Tyler Zeller, Jared Sullinger, Kelly Olynyk, etc.) by their fourth NBA season. Marcus Smart and Terry Rozier both had negotiations go down to the wire in the past two years, with each of them opting for the open market in free agency. The gamble paid off for Rozier, who landed a three-year, $58-million deal with Charlotte, while Smart opted for a similar deal to what was offered in negotiations last summer.

With Rondo and Perkins, Ainge landed deals that ended up being extremely team-friendly for the long-term. Perkins was a raw prospect in 2006 when he signed a four-year, $16-million extension, but he developed nicely over the next few years and was a certified bargain for the final couple years of that deal as Ainge brought in expensive pieces around him in Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen.

Rondo was obviously a more established piece when he signed his extension in October 2009 (five years, $55 million), but he hadn’t fully turned into the triple-double machine and core piece that he would develop into for Boston during final years of the Big 3 era. In both cases, the Celtics had no need to preserve cap space and landed deals with minimal risk and good cost control. It’s safe to say both Perkins and (especially) Rondo regretted signing those deals.

The current market has been set pretty high for this year's extension class with a player like Murray commanding max money. A lack of top-tier talent on the unrestricted free-agent market in 2020 could also push up Brown's asking price along with a lot of other players on the restricted market.

Notable 2020 Unrestricted free agents

Anthony Davis
Draymond Green
Mike Conley
Andre Drummond (PO)
Eric Gordon
Kyle Lowry
Joe Harris
Paul Millsap
Danilo Gallinari
Montreal Harrell
Jae Crowder
Goran Dragic
Jeff Teague
Evan Fournier (PO)
DeMar DeRozan (PO)
Serge Ibaka
Fred VanVleet

Notable 2020 restricted free agents
Caris LaVert
Jamal Murray (five years, $170 million)
Domantas Sabonis
Ben Simmons (five years, $170 million expected)
Buddy Hield
Jaylen Brown
Bogdan Bogdanovic
Pascal Siakam
Brandon Ingram

The Celtics currently have a lot of balls in the air at the moment after waiving Guerschon Yabusele on Wednesday to open up a roster spot. There are still a number of signings to make official (Daniel Theis, Brad Wanamaker, Enes Kanter, Vincent Poirier) and more names could be added to the fold in the meantime with the 15th roster spot open.

While Brown waits to hear from Boston about a long-term commitment, he has spent a lot of time in Boston preparing for a crucial contract year.

"I've been working, working, working, so I can get ready for the upcoming season. Every opportunity is a blessing," Brown said.

While there will be plenty of additional chances for Brown and other young Celtics to shine this year, Brad Stevens is hopeful that Brown and Jayson Tatum doesn't much too much of a burden on themselves heading into next season.

"We don't need people to ascend to those things," Stevens said of bigger roles. "We just need people to be the best version of themselves. Then, that stuff all takes care of itself. We have a lot of different players on this team capable of adding value in all those regards. We don't need Jayson or Jaylen to put that extra burden on themselves, we just need them to get better at what they do well. They've been good at working on it. They've both been in Boston quite a bit and they've both been working when they're not. They will be fine."