Brandon Bass Makes the Right Play in Declining Player Option for 2012-2013

Somehow, Brandon Bass had something resembling a career year—despite the fact that he posted five-year lows in points per minute, free-throw attempts per minute, rebounds per minute, effective field goal percentage and PER.

This year's Bass was statistically inferior to the Orlando and Dallas variations that came prior, and yet due to playing on a highly visible and highly successful team, Bass' star has never been brighter.

Which is why it makes all the sense in the world that Bass will reportedly decline his $4.25 million player option for the 2012-2013 season, making him an unrestricted free agent this summer. From Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE:

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While there has been considerable speculation as to what Bass will do this summer, his agent tells CSNNE.com that the 6-foot-8 forward plans to opt-out of the final year of his contract, and thus test the free agent waters.

However, all indications are that Bass is hoping to return to the Celtics with a multi-year deal.

"Oh absolutely," his agent Tony Dutt said when asked if Boston was his client's first choice. "Without question, he would love to go back."

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Truly: Good for him. Bass was traded to a good team in need of quality bigs, and after Jermaine O'Neal and Chris Wilcox were ruled out for the season due to injury, he found himself on a good team desperate for quality bigs.

I doubt that the Celtics quite intended for Bass to average 32 minutes per game in the regular season and a few shades more than 30 a night in the playoffs, but circumstances demanded that Bass be a crucial part of Boston's plans. He didn't disappoint, and slight statistical drop-off aside, he deserves a lot of credit for that.

Plus, with Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen also as unrestricted free agents, the situation in Boston is entirely fluid. The Celtics could conceivably be a solid team in the Eastern Conference next season, or they could be leaning far too heavily on Rajon Rondo and Paul Pierce as they await their own collapse.

This moves gives Bass the option to partake in the team's future—whichever way it goes—if he so chooses. Or, conversely, it affords him the opportunity to cash in on his successful campaign with a new free-agent deal elsewhere.

This is the first principle of NBA economics in action: Play well, make money.

Who's writing the checks remains to be seen, but Bass happened to provide a spark for an incredibly popular franchise at exactly the right time, and a decent raise on a long-term deal is almost sure to follow.