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A league source tells CelticsBlog that the Boston Celtics have exercised their third-year rookie scale team options for Aaron Nesmith and Payton Pritchard:
The Boston Celtics will pick up the 2022-23 rookie scale team options for Aaron Nesmith and Payton Pritchard, a league source tells @celticsblog.
— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) November 1, 2021
Boston has also reportedly exercised options for Romeo Langford and Grant Williams, as was expected.
In addition, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reported that Boston has exercised the fourth-year option for Romeo Langford:
The Celtics picked up the fourth-year option on guard Romeo Langford for the 2022-2023 season, source tells ESPN. He was the 14th overall pick in the 2019 Draft.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) November 1, 2021
Last but not least, Shams Charania of The Athletic reported that the Celtics have picked up their fourth-year option for Grant Williams:
The Boston Celtics are picking up forward Grant Williams’ fourth-year rookie option for the 2022-23 season, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium. Williams has started two of Boston's six games so far this season. Today is deadline for rookie options.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) November 1, 2021
Rookie scale team options must be exercised nearly a year in advance. The deadline is generally October 31 of a given year, but since that date fell on a Sunday this season, it was pushed to Monday, November 1.
Boston was in the somewhat unique position of having options for four players, as a result of making two first round picks in back-to-back drafts. The Celtics drafted Romeo Langford 14th and Grant Williams 22nd at the 2019 NBA Draft. The next year, Danny Ainge drafted Aaron Nesmith 14th and Payton Pritchard 26th at the 2020 NBA Draft.
Langford has rarely been healthy during his two-plus NBA seasons. When he has been able to play, the 6’4’’ wing has flashed good defensive ability. In 53 career games (six starts), Langford has averaged 13.4 minutes per game.
Williams has played the most of this group, as he’s seen action in 138 regular season games (16 starts). In his two-plus years, Williams has averaged 4.3 points and 2.7 rebounds per game.
Nesmith got off to a slow start in his rookie season, as he recovered from an injury suffered during his final season as Vanderbilt. In 49 games (one start), Nesmith has averaged 4.4 points and 2.7 rebounds.
Pritchard became a regular rotation player as a rookie, as he played in 66 regular season games. In 71 total appearances (four starts) over two-plus years, Pritchard has averaged 7.4 points and 2.4 rebounds per game.
Langford will have a cap hit of $5.6 million for the 2022-23 season. He’ll then be eligible for restricted free agency in the summer of 2023.
Williams will have a cap hit of $4.3 million for 2022-23. He’ll also be eligible for restricted free agency in the summer of 2023.
Nesmith’s cap hit will be $3.8 million for 2022-23. The Celtics will hold a rookie scale team option for Nesmith at $5.6 million for 2023-24.
Pritchard will have a cap hit of $2.2 million for the 2022-23 season. Boston has a rookie scale team option for the point guard of $4.0 million for 2023-24.
The four options, combined with the previously guaranteed salaries, have the Celtics at $120.7 million on the books for the 2022-23 season. The NBA salary cap for that season is currently projected to be $119 million.
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