Marcus Smart Salary: Celtics Guard Paid $63,000 In Fines This Season

Marcus Smart is earning $12 million this season, but a lot of it is going to paying fines. The defensive specialist has a knack of getting to the opponent's head but sometimes, his antics backfired.

Smart signed a 4-year, $52 million contract in 2018. This means he is expected to suit up for the Boston Celtics until 2022. The deal includes a $500,000 incentive for targets achieved as the season goes along, a report from Spotrac revealed.

It’s not specified what those goals are, but it could be related to per win game bonus, postseason bonus and even All-Star appearance and All NBA team inclusion incentives. He made the All-NBA Defense First Team for the 2019-2020 season, so the incentives linked to it should kick in this year.

The Flower Mound, Texas native played all his career in Boston. He was chosen 6th in the 2014 NBA Draft, which saw Andrew Wiggins getting nabbed as the 1st pick, followed by Jabari Parker, Joel Embiid, Aaron Gordon and Dante Exum.

Smart’s value to the team does not alway reflect on the stats sheet. He is known as someone who does the little things to make his team win, although borderline controversial in some incidents where critics labeled him as a “flopper” to sell calls to referees. For the Celtics, as long as the combo guard focuses on his defense and outside shooting, he is fulfilling his role for the team.

The downside to the game of the six-year veteran is sometimes his emotions get the best of him. This led to $63,000 payment to fines that are either the result of technical fouls or flopping. However, the biggest fine for Smart this season is $35,000 for confronting game officials during their game against the Brooklyn Nets.

When compared to the salary of fellow defensive specialist Pat Beverley, Smart’s earnings are around the same. The only difference is the incentives involved and with the Los Angeles Clippers getting eliminated in the postseason, Smart is set to earn bigger should the Celtics advance further and make the NBA Finals.

Smart made headlines after their Game 2 loss against the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference finals series. Reports surfaced that there was a screaming match inside Boston's locker room after they squandered a 17-point lead to Miami, per CBS Sports.

It remains to be seen if the latest drama could rally Boston in Game 3 or the outburst would serve as a distraction and added pressure to the Celtics who are trying to fight back after being down 2-0 against the Jimmy Butler-led Heat.