Report: Smart returns for $52 million

Restricted free agent Marcus Smart has agreed to a four-year, $52M deal to return to the Boston Celtics, league sources tell Yahoo Sports.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 19, 2018

Whatever disrespect or animosity that existed between both the Boston Celtics and Marcus Smart quickly dissipated once both sides were out of options for an offer sheet or a trade.

Smart’s options dwindled quickly and Boston moved immediately after Toronto secured Kawhi Leonard. Something we discuss in the new Locked on Celtics podcast

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The question now is what the terms will be. There is a possibility the Celtics will structure this weirdly to push the repeater tax off a little bit.

Annual raises and decreases are limited to 8% of first season salary, so there are different ways to structure things based on priorities and future payroll projections. pic.twitter.com/hawMFcYsJx

— Ryan Bernardoni (@dangercart) July 19, 2018

If the Celtics can negotiate a long-term deal with Al Horford, he can opt out of his $30 million next season and agree to a five-year contract that pays him less next season, but more over the life of the contract. Combine that with a lower second year salary for Smart and an increase in the cap/tax in the next two seasons, and Boston could have the best of both worlds… Smart and Horford both here for the long-term AND avoiding a tax hit in one or two of the next three years.

Remember, the repeater tax kicks in when you’re a taxpayer in three of the previous four seasons, so the Celtics have some time to figure it out, but cleverly structured Smart and Horford contracts could keep the Celtics out of that for a long time, minimizing their tax hit and keeping this core together for a long time.

Despite some of the typical negotiating tactics that run the risk of hard feelings, this is a really fair deal for Smart. The timing was bad for him, but this ended up working out well for both sides.