A pair of Celtics players benefited financially in a major way as a result of the team’s Game 7 win over Miami on Sunday in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Swingman Jaylen Brown, who previously earned a bonus worth $321,429 for making the Eastern Finals, had that bonus voided and replaced by a bonus worth triple that amount, according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks, who tweets that Brown will receive $964,286 for making the NBA Finals.
Meanwhile, big man Al Horford didn’t receive a bonus on this year’s salary as a result of Boston’s Eastern Finals victory, but his salary guarantee for next season’s salary has increased. Horford is on the books for $26.5M in the final year of his contract in 2022-23, but only $14.5M had been guaranteed. That partial guarantee has increased to $19.5M now that the Celtics are in the NBA Finals, tweets Marks.
If the Celtics defeat the Warriors and win the NBA Finals, Brown would receive another bonus and Horford’s ’22-23 salary would become fully guaranteed. In that scenario, the Celtics — who are currently $358K below the tax line — would go into the tax as a result of Brown’s final bonus, making them a taxpaying team, tweets Marks.
While the Celtics made an effort at the trade deadline to stay out of tax territory by sending Bol Bol and PJ Dozier to Orlando in a salary-dump deal, it’s safe to assume team ownership would be comfortable paying a very modest tax bill in exchange for a title. The Bucks were in a similar situation a year ago, when Jrue Holiday‘s championship bonus pushed their team salary over the tax line.
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