On July 2, Beijing time, Celtics star Jayson Tatum confirmed to sign a five-year, $314 million super-cap salary contract with the team, which is also the largest contract in NBA history. Tatum won the NBA championship in the 2023-24 season and now has the biggest contract in league history. He broke the record of teammate Jaylen Brown (304 million in 5 years).
The salary expert brought the details of this contract, which will be in effect from the 2025-26 season. It is $54.12 million in 2025-26, $58.45 million in 2026-27, $62.78 million in 2027-28, $67.11 million in 2028-29 and $71.44 million in 2029-30. In the final year of his contract, Tatum will become the first player in history to earn more than 70 million a year.
Tatum's average annual salary under this contract is a staggering $63 million. The Green Army's salary + luxury tax for next season is close to $440 million.
In the 2023-24 season, Tatum played in 74 regular season games, averaging 26.9 points, 8.1 rebounds, 4.9 assists and 1.0 steals per game, and was selected for the third consecutive year, and in the playoffs, Tatum played in 19 games, averaging 25 points, 9.7 rebounds, 6.3 assists and 1.1 steals per game, successfully winning his first NBA championship.
In this year's finals, although Tatum was not selected as FMVP, his all-round contribution should not be underestimated. He averaged 22.2 points, 7.8 rebounds, 7.2 assists and 1 steal per game in the Finals, but he didn't feel very good, shooting only 38.8% from the field. In comparison, Brown averaged 20.8 points, 5.4 rebounds and 5 assists per game, and his basic statistics were not as good as Tatum's, but his shooting percentage was higher, reaching 44%, and he was elected FMVP.
In the 2024-25 season, the Green Army will lead the Celtics to continue to challenge for the championship and strive to successfully defend the title. At the moment, they are the favourites to win the title.