Jayson Tatum has inked the NBA‘s largest deal ever, worth a whopping $314 million.
The Boston Celtics superstar, who led the team to their 18th championship last month, is finalizing a five-year, super maximum contract extension through the 2029-30 season, sources told The Athletic’s Shams Charania on Monday.
The 26-year-old’s deal supersedes the five-year, $304 million contract that his teammate Jaylen Brown signed last season.
At the time, Brown’s deal was the NBA’s richest contract.
The pair have helped lead the franchise to the NBA Finals in two of the past three years, most recently beating the Mavericks 106-88 to become the winningest team in the league’s history.
After clinching victory two weeks ago, Tatum got on the mic at the Celtics’ after party and repeated a line from Kanye West’s infamous 2005 Grammys speech.
‘Everybody was wondering what would happen if we didn’t win. I guess we’ll never know,’ he said, as his teammates cheered.
It comes amid news that the ownership group of the Celtics is reportedly planning to put the team up for sale.
After buying the franchise back in 2002, the team – led by CEO Wyc Grousbeck – is set to hit the open market.
‘Boston Basketball Partners LLC, the ownership group of the Boston Celtics, announced today its intention to sell all the shares of the team,’ read a statement from the team.
‘The controlling family of the ownership group, after considerable thought and internal discussion, has decided to sell the team for estate and family planning considerations.’
The statement continued, ‘The managing board of the ownership group expects to sell a majority interest in 2024 or early 2025, with the balance closing in 2028, and expects Wyc Grousbeck to remain as the Governor of the team until the second closing in 2028.’
According to Forbes, the Celtics were the fourth-most valuable NBA franchise in 2023 – at a valuation of $4.7billion. The current owners bought the team for a value of $360m at the time.
Boston Basketball Partners LLC purchased the team from Paul Gaston back in 2002 and have seen the franchise reach the NBA Finals four times since that purchase.
