Free Agent/Trade/Waiver Thread, 2025-26

[jmr07019]

I hate to say it, but I'm pretty sure we could now duck the tax AND keep Simons, lol.

1) Send Hauser somewhere for a pick and no player back
2) Sign Amari to the 2nd round min
3) Send Tillman and one other player somewhere with cash at the deadline.
4) Sign 10-day players as long as possible.
5) Sign pro-rated mins for the 13th & 14th spots

Numbers get super-duper close to ducking the tax. Not super plausible, but let it be said I found a way to keep Simons, lol.
Let it also be super-clear I am NOT advocating for that.

I appreciate this post

[brackdan70]

Hmm. A lot happened today when I wasn’t paying attention.
That seems like a lot of draft capital to move Niang, but I am not too offended.
Love adding Boucher. He is really a positive impact player. That wasn’t on my radar.
The tank just threw a track.

[djFan71]

Hmm. A lot happened today when I wasn’t paying attention.
That seems like a lot of draft capital to move Niang, but I am not too offended.
Love adding Boucher. He is really a positive impact player. That wasn’t on my radar.
The tank just threw a track.

I think it's one 2nd to dump Niang, the other to get RJ Luis. I don't love sending them, but that's why Brad gets em.

I don't think the sidegrade really effects the tank one way or the other, tbh. Purely financial, with maybe the slightest on court improvement due to fit, than anything else.

[brackdan70]

Hmm. A lot happened today when I wasn’t paying attention.
That seems like a lot of draft capital to move Niang, but I am not too offended.
Love adding Boucher. He is really a positive impact player. That wasn’t on my radar.
The tank just threw a track.

I think it's one 2nd to dump Niang, the other to get RJ Luis. I don't love sending them, but that's why Brad gets em.

I don't think the sidegrade really effects the tank one way or the other, tbh. Purely financial, with maybe the slightest on court improvement due to fit, than anything else.

Oh thanks for the clarification. I did t catch the the rights to RJ was part of the trade.

[jmr07019]

Hmm. A lot happened today when I wasn’t paying attention.
That seems like a lot of draft capital to move Niang, but I am not too offended.
Love adding Boucher. He is really a positive impact player. That wasn’t on my radar.
The tank just threw a track.

I think it's one 2nd to dump Niang, the other to get RJ Luis. I don't love sending them, but that's why Brad gets em.

I don't think the sidegrade really effects the tank one way or the other, tbh. Purely financial, with maybe the slightest on court improvement due to fit, than anything else.

Why sign Boucher though? He’s roughly equal to Niang but he’s better than an UDFA rookie or an empty roster spot.

[djFan71]

Fully duck the tax:

BOS: Josh Green & DaQuan Jeffries for Simons and Tillman
MIL: Simons & Tillman for Kuz
CHA: Kuz for Green & Jeffries

Charlotte has basically no PFs. MIL needs the scoring upgrade. BOS ducks the tax. Add minor $ as needed.

[Celts17Pride]

Hmm. A lot happened today when I wasn’t paying attention.
That seems like a lot of draft capital to move Niang, but I am not too offended.
Love adding Boucher. He is really a positive impact player. That wasn’t on my radar.
The tank just threw a track.

I think it's one 2nd to dump Niang, the other to get RJ Luis. I don't love sending them, but that's why Brad gets em.

I don't think the sidegrade really effects the tank one way or the other, tbh. Purely financial, with maybe the slightest on court improvement due to fit, than anything else.

Why sign Boucher though? He’s roughly equal to Niang but he’s better than an UDFA rookie or an empty roster spot.

Celtics still have to find players for 2026/2027. This is an audition for Boucher, just like Garza, Minott.

[djFan71]

I think it's one 2nd to dump Niang, the other to get RJ Luis. I don't love sending them, but that's why Brad gets em.

I don't think the sidegrade really effects the tank one way or the other, tbh. Purely financial, with maybe the slightest on court improvement due to fit, than anything else.

Why sign Boucher though? He’s roughly equal to Niang but he’s better than an UDFA rookie or an empty roster spot.

Celtics still have to find players for 2026/2027. This is an audition for Boucher.

Yep, and he's a vet min. His cap hit is only $2.3M, so $1M more than the cheapest possible 2nd round salary. Any Simons move will be able to handle that difference.

[Fierce1]

If I was a betting man, I would say the odds are good that Brad Stevens gets the Celtics below the tax before the season starts. Brad will most definitely get the Celtics below the tax before the end of the season. If people don't see this then I'm sorry but you are just blind.

Now you're hedging.

Before the season starts or before the end of the season?

Which is it?

I don't know because I'm not making the phone calls, but one thing I do know, is I'm not in denial.

Like I said, I don't disagree with you about getting below the tax because it makes sense.

The only difference is you want it before the season while I think it's better to wait on or before trade deadline.

Now you're hedging by saying it will happen before the season starts and before the season ends.

[djFan71]

Hmm. A lot happened today when I wasn’t paying attention.
That seems like a lot of draft capital to move Niang, but I am not too offended.
Love adding Boucher. He is really a positive impact player. That wasn’t on my radar.
The tank just threw a track.

I think it's one 2nd to dump Niang, the other to get RJ Luis. I don't love sending them, but that's why Brad gets em.

I don't think the sidegrade really effects the tank one way or the other, tbh. Purely financial, with maybe the slightest on court improvement due to fit, than anything else.

Oh thanks for the clarification. I did t catch the the rights to RJ was part of the trade.

Me neither at first. I saw Parl or someone else replying to him mention it.

[Fierce1]

Fully duck the tax:

BOS: Josh Green & DaQuan Jeffries for Simons and Tillman
MIL: Simons & Tillman for Kuz
CHA: Kuz for Green & Jeffries

Charlotte has basically no PFs. MIL needs the scoring upgrade. BOS ducks the tax. Add minor $ as needed.

Josh Green???

Wow!

And I thought Mann and Slo-Mo were bad deals for Simons.

[djFan71]

Fully duck the tax:

BOS: Josh Green & DaQuan Jeffries for Simons and Tillman
MIL: Simons & Tillman for Kuz
CHA: Kuz for Green & Jeffries

Charlotte has basically no PFs. MIL needs the scoring upgrade. BOS ducks the tax. Add minor $ as needed.

Josh Green???

Wow!

And I thought Mann and Slo-Mo were bad deals for Simons.

I can probably go lower. Gimme a few days.

I think MIL owes a pick here, but they just don't have any. I like a secondary swap on the 28 first round pick, tbh. We should be good again, so upgrading from 28-30 to something slightly higher isn't nothing.

[Fierce1]

Hmm. A lot happened today when I wasn’t paying attention.
That seems like a lot of draft capital to move Niang, but I am not too offended.
Love adding Boucher. He is really a positive impact player. That wasn’t on my radar.
The tank just threw a track.

I think it's one 2nd to dump Niang, the other to get RJ Luis. I don't love sending them, but that's why Brad gets em.

I don't think the sidegrade really effects the tank one way or the other, tbh. Purely financial, with maybe the slightest on court improvement due to fit, than anything else.

That is to be determined.

Having a starting 5 of Q, Boucher, JB, Simons, and White is better than the Q, Niang, JB, Simons, and White starting 5.

Right now some of the pressure is taken off from Queta.

Boucher is a proven veteran.

The impact of Boucher is to be determined.

Also, we're just talking regular season here.
So if it's just regular season, I think Brad made the Celtics better today.

[Fierce1]

Fully duck the tax:

BOS: Josh Green & DaQuan Jeffries for Simons and Tillman
MIL: Simons & Tillman for Kuz
CHA: Kuz for Green & Jeffries

Charlotte has basically no PFs. MIL needs the scoring upgrade. BOS ducks the tax. Add minor $ as needed.

Josh Green???

Wow!

And I thought Mann and Slo-Mo were bad deals for Simons.

I can probably go lower. Gimme a few days.

I think MIL owes a pick here, but they just don't have any. I like a secondary swap on the 28 first round pick, tbh. We should be good again, so upgrading from 28-30 to something slightly higher isn't nothing.

I would agree with you if Ainge is still calling the shots for the Cs.

But Brad apparently does not care about picks.

Guess we'll just have to wait for Sep. 7.

I still think Simons will end up playing for the Celtics.

Raise Simons' trade value then trade him for something significant.

[djFan71]

Hmm. A lot happened today when I wasn’t paying attention.
That seems like a lot of draft capital to move Niang, but I am not too offended.
Love adding Boucher. He is really a positive impact player. That wasn’t on my radar.
The tank just threw a track.

I think it's one 2nd to dump Niang, the other to get RJ Luis. I don't love sending them, but that's why Brad gets em.

I don't think the sidegrade really effects the tank one way or the other, tbh. Purely financial, with maybe the slightest on court improvement due to fit, than anything else.

That is to be determined.

Having a starting 5 of Q, Boucher, JB, Simons, and White is better than the Q, Niang, JB, Simons, and White starting 5.

Right now some of the pressure is taken off from Queta.

Boucher is a proven veteran.

The impact of Boucher is to be determined.

Also, we're just talking regular season here.
So if it's just regular season, I think Brad made the Celtics better today.

Sure, I'm not gonna quibble about the degree of improvement from Niang to Boucher. I said slightest bit better, if you wanna put a bigger adjective on it, feel free.

[Celts17Pride]

Now you're hedging.

Before the season starts or before the end of the season?

Which is it?

I don't know because I'm not making the phone calls, but one thing I do know, is I'm not in denial.

Like I said, I don't disagree with you about getting below the tax because it makes sense.

The only difference is you want it before the season while I think it's better to wait on or before trade deadline.

Now you're hedging by saying it will happen before the season starts and before the season ends.

If Brad Stevens can get it done before the season then he will do it instantly. He might have to wait until in season. It takes two teams to trade. I still think Simons is gone in mid September.

[djFan71]

Josh Green???

Wow!

And I thought Mann and Slo-Mo were bad deals for Simons.

I can probably go lower. Gimme a few days.

I think MIL owes a pick here, but they just don't have any. I like a secondary swap on the 28 first round pick, tbh. We should be good again, so upgrading from 28-30 to something slightly higher isn't nothing.

I would agree with you if Ainge is still calling the shots for the Cs.

But Brad apparently does not care about picks.

Guess we'll just have to wait for Sep. 7.

I still think Simons will end up playing for the Celtics.

Raise Simons' trade value then trade him for something significant.

I think the last part is what I don't get. Even if he plays a lot better in BOS than he has the rest of his career and scores more efficiently, shows progress on D, you've used up even more of his contract as an expiring. Any value he's added is offset by that. At the deadline, someone would need to:

a) be so much more enamored with Simons than they are now
b) feel like that's worth giving up something significant rather than wait for FA in the summer - where more teams will have space than this summer.
c) negotiate an extension at the time of the trade, or feel very confident they could resign him.

It's possible but pretty unlikely, imo.

[bigfoot_cryptozoology]

The suckitude of this off-season is breathtaking to behold.

But good news, the Patriots start up Friday and the Red Sox may win the World Series and are absolutely stacked with young talent.

So if Corporal Chisholm and the other Venture Capitalists wannabees want to gut this team, there are sports alternatives....

[Celts17Pride]

The suckitude of this off-season is breathtaking to behold...

and it's not done yet.

[jmr07019]

I think it's one 2nd to dump Niang, the other to get RJ Luis. I don't love sending them, but that's why Brad gets em.

I don't think the sidegrade really effects the tank one way or the other, tbh. Purely financial, with maybe the slightest on court improvement due to fit, than anything else.

Why sign Boucher though? He’s roughly equal to Niang but he’s better than an UDFA rookie or an empty roster spot.

Celtics still have to find players for 2026/2027. This is an audition for Boucher, just like Garza, Minott.

Could replace them with Amari Williams and two rookie UDFA’s, save some money and make the team worse at the same time.