Celtics have contract decisions to make today

The Celtics have until tonight to pick up options on a few of their young players. It is a virtual lock that Marcus Smart and Terry Rozier will each get their options for next year picked up. These decisions are no-brainers because they are low cost with very high-upside players.

The guy who’s status seems to be up the air is James Young.

via Steve Bulpett

The call will be tougher for Young, who just beat out R.J. Hunter for the final roster spot. He would be guaranteed $2,803,507 for 2016-17 if the C’s pick up the option, but word is the club is still looking around for a trade. While nothing appeared to be close this weekend on that front, it’s obvious the Celts would wait for the deadline on the off chance someone could call with a proposal.

Another pending contract decision is what the Celtics want to do with Kelly Olynyk. He’s going into his last year on his rookie contract, and the Celtics have the option of negotiating an extension with him. Various reports, however, indicate that the Celtics aren’t expected to come to an agreement with him before Monday night’s deadline.

Kelly would be a restricted free agent at the end of this season, so the team will still have the right to match any offers. The biggest reason to extend a player at this point would be if the team thought they could lock them up at a lower rate than they would get next offseason. Kelly’s injury history may be giving the team pause as well.

If Kelly has a great year (something I tend to think he’s capable of) then he’ll be paid handsomely by the Celtics or another team. If not, then the Celtics can maintain flexibility with him by letting him hit the free-agent market.