The Boston Celtics have had a busy offseason to say the least.
After the departures of Al Horford, Kyrie Irving and Aron Baynes, the Celtics added the likes of Kemba Walker, Enes Kanter and Vincent Poirier, in addition to their four draft picks. While Walker and Poirier’s signings have been made official, others have yet to be announced. Not to worry, there’s a method to the madness.
All of Boston’s rookies have been signed via cap space. Poirier’s deal, which officially was announced Monday, also was signed with cap space. That deal was for two years and a total of $5.1 million, according to ESPN’s Tim Bontemps.
The Celtics are waiting to agree to Kanter’s deal, plus the re-signings of Brad Wanamaker and Daniel Theis because all three contracts are being signed via exceptions. Wanamaker will be signed via the veteran’s minimum exception, Kanter via the room exception and Theis via early bird exception. Boston needs to fill out its cap space before making these signings as an “over the cap” club. Of course, waiving Guerschon Yabusele created some extra space for the Celtics.
ESPN’s Bobby Marks lays it out nicely below:
To sign Theis with his early bird rights, the Celtics rescinded their qualifying offer, making the big man an unrestricted free agent, according to Yahoo! Sports’ Keith Smith. This allows Boston to re-sign him via the exception. Theis reportedly agreed to a two-year, $10 million dollar deal in early July, so making him unrestricted doesn’t mean Boston will lose him.
The Celtics have $1.1 million of cap space remaining with one more roster spot waiting to be filled. Don’t be surprised if Boston uses that space on year one of a new minimum contract prior to completing all of the exception-based deals.
