The Boston Celtics are among the big winners in this free agency after winning the battle to sign the most coveted free agent Gordon Hayward. 

Hayward has agreed to sign a four-year, $128 million deal with the C's and it adds another All-Star to their roster. 

To facilitate the move for Hayward, however, Boston was forced to trade Avery Bradley and renounce the rights to multiple players including Kelly Olynyk in order to create the necessary cap space and avoid going into the luxury tax. 

Bradley was eligible for an extension this summer and was heading into free agency next year where he would've commanded a max contract or close to it. 

With Hayward's commitment to join, the Celtics were not prepared to fork out for Bradley and made the decision to offload a player who has spent his entire seven-year career in Massachusetts. 

Despite getting Bradley off the books, Boston will still have a huge decision to make next summer as their All-Star point guard Isaiah Thomas will become a free agent. 

The 28-year-old has become a two-time All-Star and an All-NBA player with the Celtics but will earn just $6.3m next season, which is one of the cheapest contracts among stars in the league. 

Of course, the C's picked up that contract when they acquired Thomas from the Phoenix Suns in 2015 and have benefited hugely from it. 

IT had the best year of his career last season as he averaged an impressive 28.9 points per game and led the Celtics to the Eastern Conference Finals.  

When asked about his free agency next summer, Thomas told A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com that he will be looking to get paid what he believes he deserves and sent a clear message out to the Celtics front office. 

“I’m a max guy. I deserve the max… my time is coming, they know they’ve got to bring the Brinks truck,” he said. 

Most franchises wouldn't hesitate to max out an All-NBA star but the case could be different for Boston and Thomas. 

A max deal for the miniature guard would be around five years, $172m but it remains to be seen whether Danny Ainge and the Celtics top brass would be willing to dish out that sort of contract to a player aged 28.

According to Zach Lowe of ESPN, Boston is keen to keep Thomas but are hoping to strike a compromise with him. 

Per Lowe, the Celtics are eyeing all of this, confident they can retain Thomas on a deal well below his max.

With a stacked free agency class including LeBron James, Russell Westbrook, Paul George and DeMarcus Cousins, the teams around the league with max contract money will be looking to acquire one of these players before they consider Thomas so his options will be limited. 

But a year is a long time in the NBA and many things can change between now and then but it'll be something to keep a close eye on.