Free Agent/Trade/Waiver Thread, 2025-26, pt 3 – (Trade Deadline = Thurs, Feb. 5, 3pm, ET)

[Triple7]

Player rotation, it's also something to think about when the playoffs start.

Right now Joe is using 10-11 players in the regular season.
But in the playoffs, that will shrink to 8-9 players.

It's either Sam or Simons, but not both.

So trading one of Sam or Simons for a Center should be the ideal.

Sam has no value.

There are teams out there who need shooters.

But even if the Cs end up keeping Hauser, I think nobody will complain as Sam is clearly a specialist.

Joe can sit him for most of the game and just put him in when the Cs need a 3pt shot.

I get that. But can you get something for him? He’s earning 11M per yr till 2029. He is basically a spot up shooter that’s very inconsistent. I’d rather we move from him if we can. That will give our young guys, who can shoot and do more, more burn.

[Fierce1]

Sam has no value.

There are teams out there who need shooters.

But even if the Cs end up keeping Hauser, I think nobody will complain as Sam is clearly a specialist.

Joe can sit him for most of the game and just put him in when the Cs need a 3pt shot.

I get that. But can you get something for him? He’s earning 11M per yr till 2029. He is basically a spot up shooter that’s very inconsistent.

We'll know in a month.

The example I gave is just so salaries will match.

If the Cs want Rob, Sam needs to be included in the trade so that the trade will be legal.

It will be Sam and Boucher for Rob Williams and the Cs will be using part of the 22m KP TPE to acquire Rob.

[Triple7]

There are teams out there who need shooters.

But even if the Cs end up keeping Hauser, I think nobody will complain as Sam is clearly a specialist.

Joe can sit him for most of the game and just put him in when the Cs need a 3pt shot.

I get that. But can you get something for him? He’s earning 11M per yr till 2029. He is basically a spot up shooter that’s very inconsistent.

We'll know in a month.

The example I gave is just so salaries will match.

If the Cs want Rob, Sam needs to be included in the trade so that the trade will be legal.

It will be Sam and Boucher for Rob Williams and the Cs will be using part of the 22m KP TPE to acquire Rob.

That’s just sad. I lke Rob, but he will never play 50 games in a season. It gets worse when he gets older.

[Celts17Pride]

Brad Stevens has a great thing going with PP, DWhite, Brown, Tatum and Queta as eventual starters with two shooters Simons and Hauser off the bench.

I don’t see Brad Stevens messing with that at all. That Top 7 could make some real noise in the playoffs.

Not expecting Simons or Hauser to be moved unless the owner steps in and wants to save a few dollars.

Bill Chisholm’s first big test.

[Larry_Russell]

Brad Stevens has a great thing going with PP, DWhite, Brown, Tatum and Queta as eventual starters with two shooters Simons and Hauser off the bench.

I don’t see Brad Stevens messing with that at all. That Top 7 could make some real noise in the playoffs.

Not expecting Simons or Hauser to be moved unless the owner steps in and wants to save a few dollars.

Bill Chisholm’s first big test.

I see no reason to not shop a 27 million expiring 8th man

Clearly the starters are key
Pritchard
White
Brown
Tatum
Queta

and IMO the most important bench pieces around those 5 are
Hauser
Walsh
Hugo


We really need a big backup guard who can initiate an offense and ideally an improvement over Queta (although Queta's growth has been nice.) but lets be honest. Queta is 27th in rebounds per game, 17th in blocks per game the two highly needed areas.

[Fierce1]

Brad Stevens has a great thing going with PP, DWhite, Brown, Tatum and Queta as eventual starters with two shooters Simons and Hauser off the bench.

I don’t see Brad Stevens messing with that at all. That Top 7 could make some real noise in the playoffs.

Not expecting Simons or Hauser to be moved unless the owner steps in and wants to save a few dollars.

Bill Chisholm’s first big test.

I see no reason to not shop a 27 million expiring 8th man

Clearly the starters are key
Pritchard
White
Brown
Tatum
Queta

and IMO the most important bench pieces around those 5 are
Hauser
Walsh
Hugo


We really need a big backup guard who can initiate an offense and ideally an improvement over Queta (although Queta's growth has been nice.) but lets be honest. Queta is 27th in rebounds per game, 17th in blocks per game the two highly needed areas.

From Day 1 you didn't like Simons.

Be prepared to see Simons play for the Celtics in the 2026 NBA Playoffs, and possibly the NBA Finals.

[GoCeltics123]

Simons is playing great but he's giving Josh Richardson vibes right now

We know how Brad is, he's the master at selling high, just like he did with J-Rich

[Fierce1]

Simons is playing great but he's giving Josh Richardson vibes right now

We know how Brad is, he's the master at selling high, just like he did with J-Rich

Celtics were getting DWhite for J-Rich.

I don't think Brad will trade Simons for players like Terance Mann.

[Larry_Russell]

Simons is playing great but he's giving Josh Richardson vibes right now

We know how Brad is, he's the master at selling high, just like he did with J-Rich

Agreed.


Simons and Claxton (Boston Pick and Brooklyn pick of some sorts) to the Hawks

Trae Young to Brooklyn

Okongwu and Egor Demin to Boston

Pritch/Egor
White/Hugo/Scheierman
Brown/Hauser/Minott
Tatum/Walsh/Tillman
Okongwu/Queta/Garza

[Fierce1]

There's already a list of teams where Trae is headed.

Brooklyn is not one of them.

Celtics going to get Okongwu for Simons?

Pipe dream.

[GoCeltics123]

Simons is playing great but he's giving Josh Richardson vibes right now

We know how Brad is, he's the master at selling high, just like he did with J-Rich

Celtics were getting DWhite for J-Rich.

I don't think Brad will trade Simons for players like Terance Mann.

Yes again that's why I said sell-high

Maybe they keep Simons, but we know Brad was trying to flip him before. Brad doesn't overreact to a couple of good weeks or months, and Josh Richardson fell off a cliff when we traded him

[CelticFaninLBC]

Simons is playing great but he's giving Josh Richardson vibes right now

We know how Brad is, he's the master at selling high, just like he did with J-Rich

Agreed.


Simons and Claxton (Boston Pick and Brooklyn pick of some sorts) to the Hawks

Trae Young to Brooklyn

Okongwu and Egor Demin to Boston

Pritch/Egor
White/Hugo/Scheierman
Brown/Hauser/Minott
Tatum/Walsh/Tillman
Okongwu/Queta/Garza

Can't be serious.

[Fierce1]

Simons is playing great but he's giving Josh Richardson vibes right now

We know how Brad is, he's the master at selling high, just like he did with J-Rich

Celtics were getting DWhite for J-Rich.

I don't think Brad will trade Simons for players like Terance Mann.

Yes again that's why I said sell-high

Maybe they keep Simons, but we know Brad was trying to flip him before. Brad doesn't overreact to a couple of good weeks or months, and Josh Richardson fell off a cliff when we traded him

I think this will be more about chemistry and cohesion.

Joe has a great thing going right now.

Why mess it up by making drastic changes?

Just use the 22m KP TPE to get Day Sharpe.

[GoCeltics123]

I think the thing sports fans do nowadays is many get so attached to their players (for understandable reasons) that it's hard to see the long-term sometimes. And I get, why think about the long-term when things are going well in the moment?

Simons is having a great stretch, won the team the game yesterday, but we are talking about this team winning at the highest levels of basketball. His game doesn't translate well to the playoffs (same with Garza tbh) because he's going to get picked on on defense. It's great that these guys can be regular-season innings eaters, but the Celtics aren't about winning regular season games.

Brad knows this better than anyone. He saw Josh Richardson's production being fake for us and was right (as he pretty much always is), and flipped him for DWhite. If he sees the right player for this team, I'm pretty sure he's going to do the same thing for Anfernee

[Celts17Pride]

I think the thing sports fans do nowadays is many get so attached to their players (for understandable reasons) that it's hard to see the long-term sometimes. And I get, why think about the long-term when things are going well in the moment?

Simons is having a great stretch, won the team the game yesterday, but we are talking about this team winning at the highest levels of basketball. His game doesn't translate well to the playoffs (same with Garza tbh) because he's going to get picked on on defense. It's great that these guys can be regular-season innings eaters, but the Celtics aren't about winning regular season games.

Brad knows this better than anyone. He saw Josh Richardson's production being fake for us and was right (as he pretty much always is), and flipped him for DWhite. If he sees the right player for this team, I'm pretty sure he's going to do the same thing for Anfernee

I know where you are coming from and I don't necessarily disagree. I don't think the Celtics are going to end up trading Simons for a lot of reasons but if they do, it better be for an upgrade because if it isn't Stevens will be in danger of losing the team in my opinion.

What the Celtics have done this year has been remarkable and for Stevens to turn around and do a salary dump with Simons, I can't see it sitting well with Mazzulla, Tatum, Brown, White, Pritchard etc.

[Fierce1]

I think the thing sports fans do nowadays is many get so attached to their players (for understandable reasons) that it's hard to see the long-term sometimes. And I get, why think about the long-term when things are going well in the moment?

Simons is having a great stretch, won the team the game yesterday, but we are talking about this team winning at the highest levels of basketball. His game doesn't translate well to the playoffs (same with Garza tbh) because he's going to get picked on on defense. It's great that these guys can be regular-season innings eaters, but the Celtics aren't about winning regular season games.

Brad knows this better than anyone. He saw Josh Richardson's production being fake for us and was right (as he pretty much always is), and flipped him for DWhite. If he sees the right player for this team, I'm pretty sure he's going to do the same thing for Anfernee

When Tatum returns, Simons doesn't have to play a big role.

Just put Simons in when the Cs need scoring.
Simons has proven that he can score in bunches even with limited minutes and shot attempts.
That's what makes Simons unique.

Josh Richardson could never shoot or score like Simons.

Tatum, Brown, White, and PP will be the 4 players that will play heavy minutes in the playoffs.

So opposing teams will have few chances to pick on Simons.

I just think the Cs are in a good place right now.

[GoCeltics123]

I think the thing sports fans do nowadays is many get so attached to their players (for understandable reasons) that it's hard to see the long-term sometimes. And I get, why think about the long-term when things are going well in the moment?

Simons is having a great stretch, won the team the game yesterday, but we are talking about this team winning at the highest levels of basketball. His game doesn't translate well to the playoffs (same with Garza tbh) because he's going to get picked on on defense. It's great that these guys can be regular-season innings eaters, but the Celtics aren't about winning regular season games.

Brad knows this better than anyone. He saw Josh Richardson's production being fake for us and was right (as he pretty much always is), and flipped him for DWhite. If he sees the right player for this team, I'm pretty sure he's going to do the same thing for Anfernee

I know where you are coming from and I don't necessarily disagree. I don't think the Celtics are going to end up trading Simons for a lot of reasons but if they do, it better be for an upgrade because if it isn't Stevens will be in danger of losing the team in my opinion.

What the Celtics have done this year has been remarkable and for Stevens to turn around and do a salary dump with Simons, I can't see it sitting well with Mazzulla, Tatum, Brown, White, Pritchard etc.

They also wouldn't move Josh Richardson except if it was for a Derrick White type.

I totally agree, if the deal isn't there, you keep him. But I have a feeling a deal will be there for him

[winsomme2]

I think the thing sports fans do nowadays is many get so attached to their players (for understandable reasons) that it's hard to see the long-term sometimes. And I get, why think about the long-term when things are going well in the moment?

Simons is having a great stretch, won the team the game yesterday, but we are talking about this team winning at the highest levels of basketball. His game doesn't translate well to the playoffs (same with Garza tbh) because he's going to get picked on on defense. It's great that these guys can be regular-season innings eaters, but the Celtics aren't about winning regular season games.

Brad knows this better than anyone. He saw Josh Richardson's production being fake for us and was right (as he pretty much always is), and flipped him for DWhite. If he sees the right player for this team, I'm pretty sure he's going to do the same thing for Anfernee

Looking back at our struggles in the playoffs last year, we had long stretches where we couldn't score. Simons is the kind of scorer who can break scoring droughts like that. He scores in so many different ways: deep threes, mid-range, floaters, finishing at the rim.

Last night was a good example of a last year type game where we went cold as ice and lost our defensive intensity as a result. Last night easily could have been a late game loss much like the Knicks series but having a guy like Simons was a good counter punch. You could tell the Bulls knew it too. They were chasing him around because they knew he was stopping their run.

I'm not totally opposed to moving Simons but it would have to be for a serious upgrade because he has the skills that could definitely have saved us in that Knicks series last year and Mazzulla seems to have figured out how to fit him in to do that this year.

[hugepatsfan]

Simons is playing great but he's giving Josh Richardson vibes right now

We know how Brad is, he's the master at selling high, just like he did with J-Rich

Celtics were getting DWhite for J-Rich.

I don't think Brad will trade Simons for players like Terance Mann.

Celtics had a TPE for White. They didn't need to trade JRich for him. They chose to include him so they could avoid the tax and probably paid extra in the deal since his money wasn't desired by SA.

[Scarletfire81]

I think Anfernee Simons is perfect in his role currently. His defensive rating is Trae Young bad though, which prevents him from playing significant minutes. I think the Celtics should keep him for the rest of the season and offer him a contract in the offseason, it will be much lower than his current one. So I’m not sure a deal can happen, it all depends on the open market interest.