Just a few weeks after helping the Boston Celtics win their 18th championship, Jayson Tatum was rewarded with a five-year, $314 million contract. It is currently the richest contract in the league’s history. However, with the salary cap projected to increase by 10% each season, his deal is likely to be soon overtaken by other superstars. While discussing Tatum’s hefty contract during a recent interview on Vlad TV, Gilbert Arenas predicted Anthony Edwards and Luka Doncic’s next max extensions to exceed the Celtics star’s deal by a substantial margin.
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Midway through the interview, DJ Vlad asked Arenas if Tatum deserved the supermax extension. Arenas noted that since Tatum has made three straight All-NBA First Teams, he is deserving of such a humungous contract. Tatum’s body of work as the leader of the 2024 NBA champions did merit a big payday.
Subsequently, Arenas refused to see JT’s deal as something surprising and predicted that superstars like Doncic and Edwards could land a five-year contract going up to as much as $360 million. Arenas told DJ Vlad,
“He’s [Jayson Tatum] a max player. Max players are going to get the max contract. There’s stipulations that if you make two All-NBA teams, you can get the supermax, so whoever is in that position to get that supermax, their numbers will be maxed out. He’s been in the league long enough where this is his max,”
“When Luka and Ant-Man are up, their max is going to be about $360, 330, 340 [million], it’s gonna go up every year,” he added
While Doncic is a perennial MVP candidate, Edwards has also become an MVP-level athlete. Considering the impending NBA media rights deal, ANT and Doncic are bound to receive a huge boost in their contracts.
Last season, Jaylen Brown fetched a five-year, $285 million contract in the 2023 offseason, which was the richest at the time. But his teammate’s contract saw a further boost which is in line with what Arenas explained.
Meanwhile, despite a huge increase in his wealth, Tatum may be hesitant to spend the bulk of his money quickly.
Jayson Tatum would be cautious with spending
Despite landing a record-breaking deal, Tatum could end up saving a large amount from his extension. Since his mother Brandy Cole manages his finances, she keeps a lid on his expenses. In 2022, during an interview with Graham Bensinger, Tatum revealed why he thinks twice before spending his contract money. Tatum told Bensinger,
“We had a deal before I got drafted that I couldn’t spend the money I make from the Celtics, that we’d have to live off endorsements, my mom is like the overseer, everything goes through her.”
It will be interesting to see if this approach will remain intact even after his record-breaking deal.
At any rate, JT is set for the future and considering that he may play at a high level for the next 10 years or so, he can fetch another massive contract before it is all said and done.
