The Boston Celtics have continued their busy offseason by securing forward Jordan Walsh to a three-year, $16 million contract extension. However, the decision to lock down the 22-year-old wing long-term has drawn mixed reactions. Among them is CLNS Media analyst Bobby Manning, who questions whether Walsh has truly separated himself from Boston’s crowded depth chart.

On The Garden Report, Manning hesitated to give a positive review of Walsh’s extension, given the heavy competition for wing minutes in Boston.

“I’m a little torn on this one. I like [Jordan] Walsh; I’ve long been a believer in him. I love what he gave them in that starting role for 20 games last season,” Manning said. “I think you could argue that alone at this number makes him worth buying into for two more years, which is what this is. The third year is a team option, so they don’t have to commit to that minimum next season. It’s the rookie deal, so you’re going to take that on regardless. But I’ll say this…  they have eight, nine, ten wings on the roster if you’re going down to [Chris] Cenac and John Tonje, who’s coming on a two-way… and there’s not a lot of difference between them.”

Manning pointed to the revolving door of wing options the shorthanded Celtics utilized last year to highlight his point.

“We saw [Josh] Minott start last season, Walsh had his moment, [Baylor] Scheierman’s the guy by the end of it. So you would think, going into next year, it’s probably going to be [Jayson] Tatum and [Paul] George. Obviously, [Sam] Hauser always seems to be the next wing up. Scheierman is somewhere around there, and then it’s still Walsh who would go,” Manning explained. “But was Ron Harper [Jr.] far behind Walsh or Hugo [González]? With Dillon Mitchell coming in, can he make some noise there immediately? Even Tonje, who had a great summer.”

Once again, Manning implies that Walsh’s signing makes sense for future cap space. “I get it, right? He’s going into the last year of his deal, he’s extension-eligible, and you get it done early at a discount compared to what it would have cost if he had a great season.” Yet he asks, “But has he separated himself from the other guys?”

Walsh’s new deal kicks off in the 2027-28 season after Boston previously picked up his $2.4 million team option for 2026-27. The extension includes two fully guaranteed years with a team option for the final 2029-30 season.

These team-friendly contracts give President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens flexibility as he reshapes the roster following the blockbuster trade that sent Jaylen Brown to the Philadelphia 76ers for Paul George.

The former second-round pick out of Arkansas, who suffers from an autoimmune condition, alopecia universalis, made a major improvement in his third NBA season, averaging 5.4 points and 4.0 rebounds over 68 games (25 starts) while boosting his three-point accuracy to 38.4%.

While Walsh showed flashes as a versatile defender, the Celtics’ lineup remains stacked with young perimeter talent. Whether Walsh can make that contract worthwhile as a core rotation piece alongside Jayson Tatum and George will be one of the central storylines going into this season.