For Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, contract extensions loom over poor playoff performances

Six-hundred and thirteen million dollars.

That’s the dollar amount it’s projected to cost the Boston Celtics to retain both Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown when they become contract extension-eligible over the next two summers.

Or at least it was the ticket price before Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat reduced Boston’s franchise cornerstones to ash, stealing Games 1 and 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals via back-to-back late-game Celtics collapses.

And with both Tatum and Brown struggling in crunch time — also known as money time — both look like potential poor investments if the second-seeded Celtics cannot capitalize as heavy favorites against a Heat team down both a former Sixth Man of the Year (Tyler Herro) and a former All-Star (Victor Oladipo).

Yet it’s the fashion with which the meltdowns occurred that’s most concerning for a Celtics team now projected to come up short in consecutive legitimate championship runs. Tatum, for example, is only a week removed from “humbly” declaring himself one of the best players on the planet.

The best basketball players don’t say as much with their words, more so their actions when a game is on the line. In Game 1, Tatum turned the ball over three times in the game’s final minutes as the Celtics coughed up a late lead.

And it was more of the same from Tatum in Game 2: The Celtics star scored 34 points on 10-of-20 shooting from the field but did not make a field goal in the entire fourth quarter. He attempted just three shots in the period — all three-pointers — and deferred to his teammates when the pressure rose.

Just like he did in Game 1.

Tatum, for reference, will be eligible to sign a five-year, $318M contract extension next summer.

And Brown can ink his deal in the next two months: He’ll be eligible to sign a five-year, $295M extension once a champion is crowned and the offseason begins.

Brown’s play against the Heat, however, hasn’t helped his cause: He is shooting just 2-of-13 from downtown through two conference finals games at home and after turning the ball over six times in Game 1, Brown shot just 7-of-23 from the field for 16 points in Game 2.

Not the kind of performance you want from your two best players.

And certainly not the kind of championship-caliber coaching the Celtics saw with Ime Udoka at the helm last season. After all, the Celtics and Heat met each other in the conference finals last season — and after Udoka’s Celtics surrendered Game 1 at the TD Garden, they regained momentum in Game 2 then took Game 3 in Miami before winning the series in seven.

The Celtics under Joe Mazzulla do not look like a confident basketball team. They have been exposed by an undermanned Heat team that may very well have the best head coach in all of basketball.

Erik Spoelstra has run circles around Mazzulla. It’s another decision Boston’s front office will undoubtedly face should their Celtics fall short of the NBA Finals despite the Heat clearing Giannis Antetokounmpo and the conference-favorite Milwaukee Bucks in the first round.

Especially given the number of quality coaching candidates who have suddenly become available thanks to the league-wide firing spree.

The players have their coach’s back.

“Joe ain’t miss no shots tonight. He ain’t have no turnovers,” Tatum said after the Game 2 blunder. “I missed shots. I had turnovers.”

It’s unclear, however, whether or not the organization’s belief in Tatum and Brown as a duo will waver if they continue on the embarrassing trajectory they’re headed after dropping their first two Eastern Conference Finals games on their own home court.

One thing is for sure: $613M is a boatload for players who can’t get the job done.

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