The Boston Celtics thought they had themselves a steal when they drafted Jared Sullinger with the 21st overall pick in the 2012 NBA Draft and while Sullinger has been pretty good he has still disappointed the Celtics. Sullinger is entering the final year of his rookie deal and is eligible for a contract extension. It has been reported in the past that Sullinger was unlikely to get an extension but he has reportedly been in talks with the Celtics about a possible extension, according to Zach Cox of NESN.com.
The talks are reportedly just preliminary with no deal being imminent but this is a somewhat surprising development. It is very possible that the Celtics just engaged Sullinger to see if they could possibly extend him for cheap without the intention of giving him big time money for the future but the talks could also be a good sign. Celtics general manager Danny Ainge has said that Sullinger and Tyler Zeller are two guys they like a lot and talks will continue.
"Obviously, those are two guys that we like moving forward, so, yeah, there will be more discussions with both of them, probably during the month of October," said Ainge.
Zeller is the more likely of the two to get an extension but those comments from Ainge are a far cry from what we have been hearing about Sullinger recently. Ainge has stated publicly in the past that he wasn't sure how committed Sullinger is to being in shape and his conditioning has been a major concern in the past. Sullinger has reportedly worked very hard this offseason and is in great shape but we will see if he can maintain it for a full year.
Sullinger put up nice numbers in 58 games last year as he averaged 13.3 points and 7.6 rebounds per game but the Celtics brought in David Lee and Amir Johnson to likely be the starting big men making Sullinger's role a question mark. The likelihood still remains that Sullinger doesn't sign an extension and he becomes a restricted free agent after the 2015-16 season but the fact that he is talking to the Celtics about a possible extension is a sign that they may be able to work something out if the price is right.
