More than a week since free agency started, the market is nearly dry and only a handful of marquee free agents remain unsigned. Many have predicted that due to only a few teams having cap space (and said teams are not really buyers given their rebuilding phase), there won't be much spending sprees this summer.
Those in a particularly troubling predicament are restricted free agents, given their respective teams having the ability to match any offer, negotiations tend to be a waiting game between the two parties.
Among the few whose future is still in limbo is Marcus Smart. The 6-foot-4 guard has been very vocal (at least through his camp) regarding his frustrations with the Boston Celtics for apparently not reaching out at all since free agency started. General manager Danny Ainge, on the other hand, refutes these reports and consider the defensive ace their top priority. And in a recent tweet by Yahoo Sports' Jordan Schultz, it appears that the team has indeed been communicating with Smart… he just wasn't having any of it.
A source close to Marcus Smart says Smart has been “unresponsive” in #Celtics’ efforts to reach out because he is “insulted by what he feels is a lack of respect by front office.” https://t.co/aGVO4xiA6t
— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) July 12, 2018
So far, Smart has been in contact with the Brooklyn Nets and the team has the necessary cap space to offer him a deal, although that would be doing the Celtics a favor unless it's a ridiculously overpriced offer sheet littered with a poison pill similar to what the New York Knicks did with Tim Hardaway Jr.‘s contract.
But there is also word that the 24-year-old is perfectly willing to revisit the four-year extension that the team previously handed out which is along the ballpark of Exum money.
If all else fails, Smart could always forego negotiations this year and play for the qualifying offer and explore the market next summer as an unrestricted free agent, albeit he would be competing with a bumper crop of big names.
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