Free Agent, Trade, Buyout, Extension & Conversion Thread, 2025 con't

[hugepatsfan]

Porzingis to ORL for Isaac/WCJ/Jett Howard

Howard dumped on 3rd team in the deal. Isaac moved to SAC's TPE. So we end up just Porzingis for WCJ.

The Magic go for the upside of Porzingis at the 5 since they need shooting and they shed the multi year money of WCJ to accommodate Banchero's upcoming extension. The higher upside expiring piece works better for them.

Celtics get a long term center with a much lower 25-26 salary to do most the room ducking the 2nd apron. A salary dump for Hauser and they're below that 2nd apron. It does have us under put pushing the 2nd apron again next year pending a Jrue trade (or White, Brown, Tatum), but still in position to duck it.

If we dump Hauser, swap Porzingis for WCJ, and draft/sign the #28/#32 picks, we'll be $5,875.909 below the 2nd apron with one spot to fill to get to 14. We'll also be $14,052,091 which means that if we did want to duck the apron, we can trade Jrue and take back $18,347,909 less the cost of filling the final roster spot. But we don't HAVE to do that if ownership is willing to keep paying tax.

For 26-27, assuming those moves to add multi year deals for #28/#32 and WCJ replacing Hauser on the books, we'd be at $218.9M in salary with 11 players signed. That's $12.2M above the tax and $9.8M above the apron. We'd have a probably higher than usual 2026 pick to sign too though and 2 more spots to fill after that, so do need to budget more for than usual to fill out the last 3 spots.

It doesn't solve everything but it's an idea to put in the back pocket. Unless ownership is really willing to pay repeater tax for the rest of Tatum's career with no limitations, I prefer resetting the penalties by ducking the tax this year and next while Tatum is injured for the first year and then finding his footing. I'm not saying trade Brown/White to do it, but I'm fine moving Jrue/Porzingis/Hauser to fix the financials and come out of it ready to go all out for another window after these two years. WCJ can fit into that, but requires some maneuvering with Jrue's deal for sure.

[celtxman]

I can't lie - I don't love that Harper and Bailey played for a losing team.

That's not their fault:

-They were freshmen. The teams in college basketball that win lots of games and make deep tourney runs are veteran teams with seniors, juniors..hell, with COVID there's actually lots of 24 and even 25 year old dudes playing on some of the top college basketball teams. Auburn had a 25 year old (Chad Baker Mazara) who's going to be playing college basketball AGAIN next year, lol. Auburn's average age of their starters was like 23. Kentucky had a bunch of 23 year olds. Duke had a few freshmen but balanced that out nicely with good older vets like Gillis, James, Brown and Proctor.

Florida had a bunch of older guys.

Who did Rutgers have for good vets? Nobody. Not only were Harper and Ace freshmen but they were young freshmen, 2 of the youngest freshmen in college basketball..Ace is still only 18 and Harper was 18 for pretty much the whole season

-PLus they started 2 other freshmen in addition to Ace and Harper

-The rest of the team outside of Ace and Harper was basically America East talent, at best.

-Harper had knee surgery over the summer before last season..he also sprained his ankle mid-season and had the flu so bad that he lost 15 lbs in January. Ace had an injury early in the season and an illness mid-season

-Jaylen Brown, Lamelo Ball, Ant Edwards..their teams in their pre-draft season were bad too..

Yes - I did think of Jaylen Brown to balance my Markell Fultz thoughts. I'm not saying that Harper and Bailey aren't good #2 and #3 picks, but when the pick is this high it has to enter the radar, even considering other factors at Rutgers.

[djFan71]

Porzingis to ORL for Isaac/WCJ/Jett Howard

Howard dumped on 3rd team in the deal. Isaac moved to SAC's TPE. So we end up just Porzingis for WCJ.

The Magic go for the upside of Porzingis at the 5 since they need shooting and they shed the multi year money of WCJ to accommodate Banchero's upcoming extension. The higher upside expiring piece works better for them.

Celtics get a long term center with a much lower 25-26 salary to do most the room ducking the 2nd apron. A salary dump for Hauser and they're below that 2nd apron. It does have us under put pushing the 2nd apron again next year pending a Jrue trade (or White, Brown, Tatum), but still in position to duck it.

If we dump Hauser, swap Porzingis for WCJ, and draft/sign the #28/#32 picks, we'll be $5,875.909 below the 2nd apron with one spot to fill to get to 14. We'll also be $14,052,091 which means that if we did want to duck the apron, we can trade Jrue and take back $18,347,909 less the cost of filling the final roster spot. But we don't HAVE to do that if ownership is willing to keep paying tax.

For 26-27, assuming those moves to add multi year deals for #28/#32 and WCJ replacing Hauser on the books, we'd be at $218.9M in salary with 11 players signed. That's $12.2M above the tax and $9.8M above the apron. We'd have a probably higher than usual 2026 pick to sign too though and 2 more spots to fill after that, so do need to budget more for than usual to fill out the last 3 spots.

It doesn't solve everything but it's an idea to put in the back pocket. Unless ownership is really willing to pay repeater tax for the rest of Tatum's career with no limitations, I prefer resetting the penalties by ducking the tax this year and next while Tatum is injured for the first year and then finding his footing. I'm not saying trade Brown/White to do it, but I'm fine moving Jrue/Porzingis/Hauser to fix the financials and come out of it ready to go all out for another window after these two years. WCJ can fit into that, but requires some maneuvering with Jrue's deal for sure.

Nice idea. Sending Isaac to SAC is slick. It leaves ORL with only KP and Goga as bigs beyond Paolo. But, I guess it's just on them to do a vet min / rookie big with one of their picks.

[165bows]

Porzingis to ORL for Isaac/WCJ/Jett Howard

Howard dumped on 3rd team in the deal. Isaac moved to SAC's TPE. So we end up just Porzingis for WCJ.

The Magic go for the upside of Porzingis at the 5 since they need shooting and they shed the multi year money of WCJ to accommodate Banchero's upcoming extension. The higher upside expiring piece works better for them.

Celtics get a long term center with a much lower 25-26 salary to do most the room ducking the 2nd apron. A salary dump for Hauser and they're below that 2nd apron. It does have us under put pushing the 2nd apron again next year pending a Jrue trade (or White, Brown, Tatum), but still in position to duck it.

If we dump Hauser, swap Porzingis for WCJ, and draft/sign the #28/#32 picks, we'll be $5,875.909 below the 2nd apron with one spot to fill to get to 14. We'll also be $14,052,091 which means that if we did want to duck the apron, we can trade Jrue and take back $18,347,909 less the cost of filling the final roster spot. But we don't HAVE to do that if ownership is willing to keep paying tax.

For 26-27, assuming those moves to add multi year deals for #28/#32 and WCJ replacing Hauser on the books, we'd be at $218.9M in salary with 11 players signed. That's $12.2M above the tax and $9.8M above the apron. We'd have a probably higher than usual 2026 pick to sign too though and 2 more spots to fill after that, so do need to budget more for than usual to fill out the last 3 spots.

It doesn't solve everything but it's an idea to put in the back pocket. Unless ownership is really willing to pay repeater tax for the rest of Tatum's career with no limitations, I prefer resetting the penalties by ducking the tax this year and next while Tatum is injured for the first year and then finding his footing. I'm not saying trade Brown/White to do it, but I'm fine moving Jrue/Porzingis/Hauser to fix the financials and come out of it ready to go all out for another window after these two years. WCJ can fit into that, but requires some maneuvering with Jrue's deal for sure.

Nice idea. Sending Isaac to SAC is slick. It leaves ORL with only KP and Goga as bigs beyond Paolo. But, I guess it's just on them to do a vet min / rookie big with one of their picks.

Once Mo comes back they won’t need anymore bigs anyways.

Jk but something like KP for Carter Jr is about the value I hope they can pull off. Might even be a hair optimistic but I like it.

[djFan71]

Porzingis to ORL for Isaac/WCJ/Jett Howard

Howard dumped on 3rd team in the deal. Isaac moved to SAC's TPE. So we end up just Porzingis for WCJ.

The Magic go for the upside of Porzingis at the 5 since they need shooting and they shed the multi year money of WCJ to accommodate Banchero's upcoming extension. The higher upside expiring piece works better for them.

Celtics get a long term center with a much lower 25-26 salary to do most the room ducking the 2nd apron. A salary dump for Hauser and they're below that 2nd apron. It does have us under put pushing the 2nd apron again next year pending a Jrue trade (or White, Brown, Tatum), but still in position to duck it.

If we dump Hauser, swap Porzingis for WCJ, and draft/sign the #28/#32 picks, we'll be $5,875.909 below the 2nd apron with one spot to fill to get to 14. We'll also be $14,052,091 which means that if we did want to duck the apron, we can trade Jrue and take back $18,347,909 less the cost of filling the final roster spot. But we don't HAVE to do that if ownership is willing to keep paying tax.

For 26-27, assuming those moves to add multi year deals for #28/#32 and WCJ replacing Hauser on the books, we'd be at $218.9M in salary with 11 players signed. That's $12.2M above the tax and $9.8M above the apron. We'd have a probably higher than usual 2026 pick to sign too though and 2 more spots to fill after that, so do need to budget more for than usual to fill out the last 3 spots.

It doesn't solve everything but it's an idea to put in the back pocket. Unless ownership is really willing to pay repeater tax for the rest of Tatum's career with no limitations, I prefer resetting the penalties by ducking the tax this year and next while Tatum is injured for the first year and then finding his footing. I'm not saying trade Brown/White to do it, but I'm fine moving Jrue/Porzingis/Hauser to fix the financials and come out of it ready to go all out for another window after these two years. WCJ can fit into that, but requires some maneuvering with Jrue's deal for sure.

Nice idea. Sending Isaac to SAC is slick. It leaves ORL with only KP and Goga as bigs beyond Paolo. But, I guess it's just on them to do a vet min / rookie big with one of their picks.

Once Mo comes back they won’t need anymore bigs anyways.

Jk but something like KP for Carter Jr is about the value I hope they can pull off. Might even be a hair optimistic but I like it.

Actually, I did forget about him. WCJ's been on my list for a while and to get just him back from KP and save $20M-ish is one of the better outcomes you could ask for. He does get more expensive when his extension kicks in, but it still seems fair.

[Curmudgeon]

Says who?

statistics

Usage down, turnovers up.
shooting worse (attacking rim less and shooting more for 3-10 feet which looks like he is lacking the ability to get to the rim...meaning a decline)

Tatum lead the Celtics in turnovers and turnovers per game and Tatum had the most 5+ turnover games last season. Just keeping it real.

I bet Tatum's turnovers will be way down next year.

As for trades, I don't think anything will happen until Giannis finds a new home. Then the floodgates will open.

[threrf23]

I really like Harper. I’d consider this as well. If they really are considering moving Brown, this as good as they will get.

I can't lie - I don't love that Harper and Bailey played for a losing team.

I like Bailey, Flagg was the obvious consensus #1 guy in his class, Bailey the clear #2. If he wasn't overshadowed by Flagg Bailey would have been prized for years. Guys in his profile are typically a sure thing, and sometimes it's not worth overthinking it. I see no big red flags that make me think I should keep thinking, so...

I am skeptical of Harper. He's one of those guys who benefits from having an adult body & ideal frame as an 18 y/o freshman. And within that context, his rebounding doesn't impress me, his status as main guy on a non-tourney team putting up Fultz-ish numbers doesn't impress me. Scouting capsules don't make me think he is an elite talent. I still draft him top 10, maybe even top 5, but I don't buy the hype.

eta also, Hal points out that Harper had knee surgery his last year of HS, I'm not sure that's another reason to be skeptical of him - it actually could be the opposite, but off the top of my head there are at least a few guys whose knees showed signs of trouble in HS and never improved.

This convo should pr0ob be in the draft thread...

[Shak_Celts]

If brown is traded I HOPE it’s to the Spurs! Haha just making my other team, The Wembys, better! If you must, Brad!

People are still mad JB got the FMVP that he rightfully deserved? Tatum and Jrue would have deserved it too! Them being good enough to get it, doesn’t mean that JB didn’t deserve it!

Put some respect on his name, he was ECFMVP AND FMVP! Haters gon hate! Coming from people who JB would beat with two torn meniscus and only using his left hand! He has more, well earned accolades, than most of the people yall wanted him traded for over the years, it hurts, but chin up, you may get your years long wish of him being gone soon enough!

It’s not simply revisionist history for them, it’s Hater Blindness that makes them see what they want to see! They can’t change what JB has done, they can only do the Arthur gif and hope he plays poorly here on out, they need to find SOMETHING they can be right about! Like I said before, they do a parade when what they say works, but go quiet (hate) all the times, the SAME thing, doesn’t!

Fun!! Entertaining!! Celtics RGM!

[Celts17Pride]

If brown is traded I HOPE it’s to the Spurs! Haha just making my other team, The Wembys, better! If you must, Brad!

People are still mad JB got the FMVP that he rightfully deserved? Tatum and Jrue would have deserved it too! Them being good enough to get it, doesn’t mean that JB didn’t deserve it!

Put some respect on his name, he was ECFMVP AND FMVP! Haters gon hate! Coming from people who JB would beat with two torn meniscus and only using his left hand! He has more, well earned accolades, than most of the people yall wanted him traded for over the years, it hurts, but chin up, you may get your years long wish of him being gone soon enough!

It’s not simply revisionist history for them, it’s Hater Blindness that makes them see what they want to see! They can’t change what JB has done, they can only do the Arthur gif and hope he plays poorly here on out, they need to find SOMETHING they can be right about! Like I said before, they do a parade when what they say works, but go quiet (hate) all the times, the SAME thing, doesn’t!

Fun!! Entertaining!! Celtics RGM!

Always has to be Tatum vs Brown in this forum. 90% of this forum can't wait for the Celtics to be mediocre again.

[Larry_Russell]

Brown is elite at single handedly stopping team runs. - Boston runs that is.

[Hal14]

I like Bailey, Flagg was the obvious consensus #1 guy in his class, Bailey the clear #2. If he wasn't overshadowed by Flagg Bailey would have been prized for years. Guys in his profile are typically a sure thing, and sometimes it's not worth overthinking it. I see no big red flags that make me think I should keep thinking, so...

I am skeptical of Harper. He's one of those guys who benefits from having an adult body & ideal frame as an 18 y/o freshman. And within that context, his rebounding doesn't impress me, his status as main guy on a non-tourney team putting up Fultz-ish numbers doesn't impress me. Scouting capsules don't make me think he is an elite talent. I still draft him top 10, maybe even top 5, but I don't buy the hype.

eta also, Hal points out that Harper had knee surgery his last year of HS, I'm not sure that's another reason to be skeptical of him - it actually could be the opposite, but off the top of my head there are at least a few guys whose knees showed signs of trouble in HS and never improved.

Ace has some major red flags in terms of feel, instincts, awareness, IQ on both ends of the floor.

On offense he has terrible shot selection, just jacks up ill advised shots. Settles for tough, contested jumpers because a) his decision making is bad and b) can't get to the rim off the bounce

On defense he's out of position a lot, gets caught ball watching, etc.

This article touches on some of the issues:
https://nikoza2.substack.com/p/ace-in-the-hole

The knee procedure Harper had was very minor (and was like a year ago now). Only mentioned it as a small footnote in terms of the context for why Rutgers as a team wasn't that great. Like, since the procedure was during the summer, Harper missed out on a lot of the team's workouts, practices, scrimmages and stuff and if your star PG freshman misses a lot of that stuff before the season, it can cause a little but of issues with the team performing well. That's all.

[165bows]

statistics

Usage down, turnovers up.
shooting worse (attacking rim less and shooting more for 3-10 feet which looks like he is lacking the ability to get to the rim...meaning a decline)

Tatum lead the Celtics in turnovers and turnovers per game and Tatum had the most 5+ turnover games last season. Just keeping it real.

I bet Tatum's turnovers will be way down next year.

As for trades, I don't think anything will happen until Giannis finds a new home. Then the floodgates will open.

Unfortunately yes

[ConstableGeneva]

Who did we get? Did Brad do it again??

[ddb]

statistics

Usage down, turnovers up.
shooting worse (attacking rim less and shooting more for 3-10 feet which looks like he is lacking the ability to get to the rim...meaning a decline)

Tatum lead the Celtics in turnovers and turnovers per game and Tatum had the most 5+ turnover games last season. Just keeping it real.

I bet Tatum's turnovers will be way down next year.

As for trades, I don't think anything will happen until Giannis finds a new home. Then the floodgates will open.

Yup that's the big move everyone is waiting on, for sure.

[Shak_Celts]

If brown is traded I HOPE it’s to the Spurs! Haha just making my other team, The Wembys, better! If you must, Brad!

People are still mad JB got the FMVP that he rightfully deserved? Tatum and Jrue would have deserved it too! Them being good enough to get it, doesn’t mean that JB didn’t deserve it!

Put some respect on his name, he was ECFMVP AND FMVP! Haters gon hate! Coming from people who JB would beat with two torn meniscus and only using his left hand! He has more, well earned accolades, than most of the people yall wanted him traded for over the years, it hurts, but chin up, you may get your years long wish of him being gone soon enough!

It’s not simply revisionist history for them, it’s Hater Blindness that makes them see what they want to see! They can’t change what JB has done, they can only do the Arthur gif and hope he plays poorly here on out, they need to find SOMETHING they can be right about! Like I said before, they do a parade when what they say works, but go quiet (hate) all the times, the SAME thing, doesn’t!

Fun!! Entertaining!! Celtics RGM!

Always has to be Tatum vs Brown in this forum. 90% of this forum can't wait for the Celtics to be mediocre again.

I don’t think they want the team to be bad, but I do believe they’d be fine with being bad over being good with JB. If it looks the way they want it to, then nothing else matters. Winning a chip isn’t good enough, they need a chip without JB. You would think we didn’t win last season with the conversations had this season. Like it’s so easy to win.

[djFan71]

Porzingis to ORL for Isaac/WCJ/Jett Howard

Howard dumped on 3rd team in the deal. Isaac moved to SAC's TPE. So we end up just Porzingis for WCJ.

The Magic go for the upside of Porzingis at the 5 since they need shooting and they shed the multi year money of WCJ to accommodate Banchero's upcoming extension. The higher upside expiring piece works better for them.

Celtics get a long term center with a much lower 25-26 salary to do most the room ducking the 2nd apron. A salary dump for Hauser and they're below that 2nd apron. It does have us under put pushing the 2nd apron again next year pending a Jrue trade (or White, Brown, Tatum), but still in position to duck it.

If we dump Hauser, swap Porzingis for WCJ, and draft/sign the #28/#32 picks, we'll be $5,875.909 below the 2nd apron with one spot to fill to get to 14. We'll also be $14,052,091 which means that if we did want to duck the apron, we can trade Jrue and take back $18,347,909 less the cost of filling the final roster spot. But we don't HAVE to do that if ownership is willing to keep paying tax.

For 26-27, assuming those moves to add multi year deals for #28/#32 and WCJ replacing Hauser on the books, we'd be at $218.9M in salary with 11 players signed. That's $12.2M above the tax and $9.8M above the apron. We'd have a probably higher than usual 2026 pick to sign too though and 2 more spots to fill after that, so do need to budget more for than usual to fill out the last 3 spots.

It doesn't solve everything but it's an idea to put in the back pocket. Unless ownership is really willing to pay repeater tax for the rest of Tatum's career with no limitations, I prefer resetting the penalties by ducking the tax this year and next while Tatum is injured for the first year and then finding his footing. I'm not saying trade Brown/White to do it, but I'm fine moving Jrue/Porzingis/Hauser to fix the financials and come out of it ready to go all out for another window after these two years. WCJ can fit into that, but requires some maneuvering with Jrue's deal for sure.

Nice idea. Sending Isaac to SAC is slick. It leaves ORL with only KP and Goga as bigs beyond Paolo. But, I guess it's just on them to do a vet min / rookie big with one of their picks.

Once Mo comes back they won’t need anymore bigs anyways.

Jk but something like KP for Carter Jr is about the value I hope they can pull off. Might even be a hair optimistic but I like it.

Follow up stealing hpf's Jrue to Clippers basis. We add Moses Moody, Naji Marshall, Kobe Brown, #41.

You let Walsh ($200k) or JD go and have 14 guys with $10M under the 2nd apron.
Sign Luke for ~$6M (just over TPMLE).
If Al wants to come back, you do both, or send X or K Brown somewhere, etc and you have ~$12M to split between Al and Luke and stay under the 2nd apron.


Pritchard, White, Brown, WCJ, Luke
Scheierman, Moody, Marshall, Hauser, Queta
28, 3 of 32, K Brown, JD, Walsh, Tillman
x: Tatum

To save more, you could always send one of Hauser/Marshall elsewhere for an asset - both are positive value and fit into MLEs.

Trade in Spoiler

Spoiler:

BOS in: Moses Moody, Naji Marshall, Kobe Brown, #41
BOS out: Jrue

GSW in: Gafford
GSW out: Moody, #41

DAL in: Powell, Dunn
DAL out: Gafford, Marshall

LAC in: Jrue
LAC out: Powell, Dunn, Brown

Maybe GSW gives LAC lotto protected swap rights on a 1st some year as a possible additional value.

[Celts17Pride]

If brown is traded I HOPE it’s to the Spurs! Haha just making my other team, The Wembys, better! If you must, Brad!

People are still mad JB got the FMVP that he rightfully deserved? Tatum and Jrue would have deserved it too! Them being good enough to get it, doesn’t mean that JB didn’t deserve it!

Put some respect on his name, he was ECFMVP AND FMVP! Haters gon hate! Coming from people who JB would beat with two torn meniscus and only using his left hand! He has more, well earned accolades, than most of the people yall wanted him traded for over the years, it hurts, but chin up, you may get your years long wish of him being gone soon enough!

It’s not simply revisionist history for them, it’s Hater Blindness that makes them see what they want to see! They can’t change what JB has done, they can only do the Arthur gif and hope he plays poorly here on out, they need to find SOMETHING they can be right about! Like I said before, they do a parade when what they say works, but go quiet (hate) all the times, the SAME thing, doesn’t!

Fun!! Entertaining!! Celtics RGM!

Always has to be Tatum vs Brown in this forum. 90% of this forum can't wait for the Celtics to be mediocre again.

I don’t think they want the team to be bad, but I do believe they’d be fine with being bad over being good with JB. If it looks the way they want it to, then nothing else matters. Winning a chip isn’t good enough, they need a chip without JB. You would think we didn’t win last season with the conversations had this season. Like it’s so easy to win.

Bingo!

[Curmudgeon]

It either trade Tatum or Brown, or keep those two and unload most of the rest of the team. Mr. Chisholm will have to make the final decision.

[Celts17Pride]

It either trade Tatum or Brown, or keep those two and unload most of the rest of the team. Mr. Chisholm will have to make the final decision.

Absolutely no reason the Celtics can't keep Tatum, Brown and White. No reason at all. Other than the made up reasons in this forum.

[Larry_Russell]

It either trade Tatum or Brown, or keep those two and unload most of the rest of the team. Mr. Chisholm will have to make the final decision.

Absolutely no reason the Celtics can't keep Tatum, Brown and White. No reason at all. Other than the made up reasons in this forum.

the only debate is....should they keep them together.


Is Jaylen worth that contract? Is Tatum.

Is the 2 of them together enough to be a legit contender for the next 5 years?



If you don't think that there is a high probability of wining another title in the next 4 years you take this step back year as an opportunity to move Brown now.

With Brown you might be in the no mans land for picks, without brown you are pulling a spurs getting Duncan move.