Following Sunday night's season-ending 87-79 loss to the Cavs, Marcus Smart's next major career move will be dealing with restricted free agency. And, if his self-assessment is worth anything, it won't be cheap (at least, relatively) for the Celtics to retain him.
We say that because, when Smart was informed that Boston might not be able to pony up the $12-14 million he's reportedly been seeking, the Celtics player replied that he thinks he's worth more than that.
"To be honest, I'm worth more than 12-14 million," Smart said about the figure. "Just for the things I do on the court that don't show up on the stat sheet. You don't find guys like that. I always leave everything on the court, every game. Tell me how many other players can say that."
He was also told that his teammates defended his 1-for-10 day from the field in Sunday's Eastern Conference Finals Game 7, and simultaneously insisted that he was the heart of their squad.
"That's what people say," Smart said. "I'm not sure if you can put a price on that."
The Celtics will be able to make a qualifying offer of $6.1 million to Smart and can match any other offer, though it's unlikely they will if those figures get too high.
With Gordon Hayward ($31.2 million), Al Horford ($28.9 million), and Kyrie Irving ($20 million) all on the books for major paydays (and Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum set for big deals in the future) Smart returning seems like a low priority, at least on paper.
However, on Monday, just hours after he gave a vague idea of what he believes he's worth, Smart made it sound like the franchise is gearing up to bring him back.
"I'm here. They're already planning for me to be here," Smart said in his exit interview. "Those guys, I tip my hat to those guys. You don't see a lot of organizations that's as clear about their players as the way this organization does it."
He also added that he'll weigh his options but that he'd like to stay in Boston.
"I got a lot to think about. There's a lot of factors that go into it. But that being said, I want to be in Boston. I want to be here," Smart said. "I love this city, I love this team, I love the atmosphere it gives off. I've been here for four years. My heart's here. But there's definitely going to be some factors going into it."
Either way, bringing Hayward and Irving back to a team that came a game away from the Finals seems like enough. They'll survive.
