Thanks to league measures intended to help small-market teams retain talent, if Gordon Hayward (center) makes an All-NBA team this year, he'll be eligible for an extra $70 million in his next contract.Rick Bowmer / AP

What does it take to keep a basketball player from leaving his team? Some Utah Jazz fans are hoping a billboard will help. With the team’s season over, its 27-year-old star Gordon Hayward is eligible to enter free agency and likely to entertain enormous contract offers from several teams in July. In anticipation, some Salt Lake City residents have chipped in to emblazon his likeness and the slogan “#STAYWARD” on a massive sign near the arena.

Ultimately, though, whether Hayward re-signs in Utah may hinge not on a billboard, but on the NBA’s latestsuperstar to maximize his salary would be to stay with his team through a four-year rookie deal, a four- or five-year maximum extension, and then a five-year super-max contract, adding up to 13 or 14 years with the same team (and hundreds of millions of dollars).

Currently, Hayward is right on the cusp of that status. Next season will be his eighth year, and he’s in the likely prime of his athletic career; if he continues on his current trajectory, he’ll be a strong candidate for a slot on an All-NBA team, if not for this past season than for the one starting this fall. If he does, he’ll be eligible for a super-max contract from Utah, as enticing an incentive as any to stay on his team.

That is,