If there was a ’70s rock song to sum up the Boston Celtics’ plans for free agency next offseason, apparently it would be “Carry On My Hayward Son.”
According to Zach Lowe of ESPN on Wednesday, the Celtics have “very real” interest in pursuing Utah Jazz swingman Gordon Hayward next summer.
Hayward, 26, is expected to decline his player option for the 2017-18 season and become a free agent. He will almost certainly command a max contract on the open market, but that won’t be a problem for the Celtics. With the salary cap projected to climb again to over $100 million, Boston will head into the summer with less than $65 million in salary on the books once Amir Johnson and Jonas Jerebko come off at the end of the season (per Spotrac). Hayward is also close with Celtics head coach Brad Stevens, who coached him in college during his two years at Butler University.
It seems likely that the Jazz will do all that they can to keep Hayward, who is currently sidelined with a finger injury. But players of his skillset at his position are few and far between, and the Jazz are already getting an idea of how heated of a competition it will be to retain Hayward’s services.
H/T theScore
