BOSTON, MA - JANUARY 06: Kevin Garnett #5, Ray Allen #20 and Paul Pierce #34 of the Boston Celtics react in the fourth quarter against the Indiana Pacers on January 6, 2012 at TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. The Indiana Pacers defeated the Boston Celtics 87-74. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)NBA players that have no contracts for the 2012-13 season are set to become free agents just after midnight on Sunday, setting off a frenzy of agreements (but not signings, as the teams and players can't official put pen to paper until July 11) even in the early hours of Sunday. Boston Celtics center Kevin Garnett decided to bypass on the whole early morning thing altogether, agreeing on a three-year, $34 million contract on Saturday, one that more or less ensures Kevin Garnett will never be an active unrestricted free agent a single time in what could be a 20-year career.
Think about it. Garnett signed an extension during the summer of 1997 to avoid a free-agent recruitment in what turned out to be a truncated offseason in January 1999. He signed another extension with the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2003 to avoid 2004's free agency, and a three-year extension in 2007 after being traded to the Boston Celtics to avoid 2010 free agency. This time around, K.G. snuck it in with just hours to spare. And in doing so, signed off on what will probably be the last three years of his storied career.
And, in concert, the Boston Celtics signed off on just about more of the same — the veteran-y same — along the way.
This isn't a bad thing, mind you. Observers might think that by agreeing to pay KG double figures from now until 2015 that the Celtics were committing themselves to another year of limping with aged legs into the playoffs and hoping for the best, but I take issue with that. For one, they'd be limping in on the legs of Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce, with sprightly guard Rajon Rondo chucking behind the back bottles of ibuprofen at them along the way.
Secondly, the Celtics were going down that route anyway. They had been since signing Paul Pierce to a four-year contract extension in 2010.
The last year of Pierce's deal, in 2013-14, is only partially guaranteed. But while this may have felt like an easy out for Celtics GM Danny Ainge back in 2010, the idea of asking a Celtic legend like Pierce to move on while Boston declines its team option is easier assumed than actually accomplished. Especially if Pierce still wants to play in 2013-14, which is very likely even considering his nagging injury woes. So while Ainge probably had every intention of starting up a rebuilding plan in 2013 when he extended Pierce's time in Boston back in 2010, the likelihood of that diminished year to year. Nobody wants to be the guy to tell Paul Pierce that he's had enough in Boston.
This is why we shouldn't be surprised if two or even three years of Garnett's deal are fully guaranteed. Two is far more likely, which would give the chance for Ainge to start over once Pierce's deal ends for real in 2014. But even fully committing to Garnett in 2014-15 (via a fully guaranteed three-year deal now, or picking up his team option that season) is far from the worst thing in the world. A lot can change between now and the summer of 2014 to make me look a fool for writing that — especially as Garnett enters 2012-13 with exactly 50,600 career minutes to his regular and postseason credit — but K.G. making close to eight figures on a rebuilding or brand new-ish C's club in 2014-15 doesn't look too prohibitive right now.
Garnett's per-minute offensive production has held steady over the last four seasons. His defense, once the NBA's best, now merely places him in the discussion for the NBA's best. He doesn't rely on slapping the top of the backboard or throwing down huge dunks, he's smarter than all of us and he gets away with more in a first quarter with the referees than some centers do in a career. He's Kevin Garnett, and he'll be fine.
This deal allows the Celtics to move forward in their own yearly roster shakeup. You're correct in pointing out that if Boston lets Ray Allen (who was not happy with his team last year) move off to Miami or Phoenix, the Celtics would technically have double-figure cap space to work with, but things don't work that way in the NBA.
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