Roster reset: What are implications of the Celtics stretching Guerschon Yabusele on final open roster spot?

The Celtics offseason is getting closer to the finish line this week after a series of maneuvers brought the team’s roster puzzle into sharper focus. Let’s break down the steps taken by the team this week to put the finishing touches on the roster and how these moves could impact the roster over the long haul.

Why did the Celtics stretch Guerschon Yabusele? 

The third-year power forward was sent packing last week after suffering an injury during Vegas summer league. The team was likely trying to shop him around the league in some form this summer with the hopes a strong performance in Vegas would potentially encourage some team to take a chance on him. That did not happen clearly after a slow start in his first two games, the second of which included a dislocated pinky for the big man. With Yabusele ruled out of action for the rest of the week, the team decided to just take the loss on him and cut him outright, rather than trade him with a second-round pick in order to dump to his $3.1 million salary to another team.

Why did the team stretch Yabusele instead of waiving him? And what’s the difference? When any player is let go in the NBA before the season, a team has two options when deciding how they want to handle the cap hit on their books. An outright waiving costs the team whatever is left exactly how it matters on the contract, in Yabusele’s case, $3.1 million for one year. As long as said player isn't claimed on waivers by another team, he counts for the full amount against the cap.

The alternative to this route is ‘stretching’ a contract when a player is waived, which allows a team to spread out whatever cap hit is left on a contract for multiple years. This is a tactic used by teams when they want to open up more cap room in the present while dumping a contract.

In the Celtics’ current situation, they had used up the majority of their cap room by absorbing Kemba Walker’s max contract in the Terry Rozier sign-and-trade with Charlotte. In order to sign Carsen Edwards and international free agent Vincent Poirier to deals they wanted, they needed to free up a couple more million dollars under the cap. The Celtics’ front office could have done this in a variety of ways but stretching Yabusele was settled on as the best route to take.

By stretching the Frenchman, the Celtics reduced his cap hit from $3.1 million this year to just $1.035 million for each of the next three seasons. That opened up two million dollars more in cap room for this season, which was enough to sign Poirier officially to a two-year, $4.6 million deal on Monday and Edwards to a four-year contract on Friday that will be worth over $6 million.

Is there any downside to stretching a player instead of waiving him?

There can be over the long term. The Celtics now have just over $1 million tied up in dead money for the 2020-21, and 2021-22 seasons thanks to Yabusele being stretched. That’s clearly not a big amount (less than one percent of the cap) in the big picture but could be somewhat limiting if the Celtics are trying to sign free agents with cap room in the next two years. However, the odds are very slim the team will have cap room next summer (assuming Gordon Hayward opts into his $34 million player option). Boston's books should be pretty wide open in 2021-22 (depending on whether Tatum or Brown sign long-term deals) so a modest $1 million hit on the cap that summer should not be a big deterrent for their objectives at that point.

Why didn’t the Celtics just dump Yabusele to another team or the Hornets in the Rozier sign-and-trade?

The Hornets question is a fair one. The Celtics got a second-round pick (for Rozier) out of that deal along with Walker, something that probably wouldn’t have happened if they insisted on the Hornets taking Yabusele with Rozier as part of the trade. The other obstacle was Charlotte’s luxury tax situation. After overpaying Rozier with $19 million per year, the Hornets are dangerously closer to the $132 million luxury tax line so they probably declined to take another $3.1-million player they didn’t want anyway. The Celtics elected to hold onto the second-round pick and take the loss on Yabusele, which shouldn’t be limiting. They probably could have tried to dump Yabusele elsewhere, but it would have cost them a second-round pick, per sources.

What other signings are left for the Celtics?

The team still needs to sign Daniel Theis and Brad Wanamaker to their deals. They will sign Theis in the coming days to his two-year, $10-million contract with Early Bird Rights, which means they won’t need to use cap space to sign him (since that was used on the Edwards and Poirier deals). Wanamaker will sign for the veteran’s minimum as well. That will give Boston 14 players under guaranteed contracts, as well as Tremont Waters and Max Strus on reported two-way deals.

Do the Celtics have any money left to spend on the 15th roster spot?

Nothing more than the veteran’s minimum. They technically just have under a million dollars left of cap room, but that’s essentially equal to a minimum contract. They can sign anyone to a veteran’s minimum deal to fill that 15th spot or could elect to sign Waters to the 15th spot, which would open up another two-way roster slot. We will take a look at some potential candidates for that spot outside of Waters in the coming weeks.

How many more guys can the Celtics bring into camp?

Three at the moment. Tacko Fall is expected to be there on an Exhibit 10 deal, along with the two-way guys and 14 roster players. The Celtics will probably hand out two more camp invites (Exhibit 10 deals) in the coming days and sign another player to take the 15th roster spot.

Guaranteed contracts (14):
Ballhandlers: Walker, Smart, Edwards, Wanamaker
Wings: Hayward, Tatum, Brown, Langford,
Undersized bigs: Grant Williams, Ojeleye
Centers: Kanter, Theis, Poirier, Rob Williams

Two-way contracts (2): Tremont Waters, Max Strus (reported)
Exhibit 10 contract (1): Tacko Fall

Cap sheet