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

[shi-woo]

Simons if he’s willing to come back on a MLE deal for a chance to win a ring could be a key cog. The question is will someone else overpay?

Not a chance. One of the reason why he wasn't flipped off the rip is because this FA is loaded with similar players, and tons of guys on the block as well. If you need a 6'3-6'5 SG this offseason, you aren't overpaying money wise or in a trade, that's for sure. There are just too many similar players available.

Huerter
Monk
Clarkson
Sexton
White
Cam Thomas
CJ
Ayo
Grimes
Harden
Westbrook
Shroeder

I think a lot of these guys got overpaid when they were getting the 1st contract, and we will see more of them do what Clarkson did this year. Take a small deal to go to a good team, and just microwave off the bench.

I've been questioning people in these threads who think we trade a FRP to get rid of Simons just to save some money. The dude would be the best signing we can do in the offseason all things considered, and we all would like Simmons more if he was on Sam Hauser deal, which is what he's most likely going to get.

Once we get that locked up, I expect us to make the Hauser trade in the offseason after going all in on Walsh, Hugo, and Minott.

If the Simmons deal is around 15 mil, that's okay value for a dude that can volume shoot and score 15 ppg in only 20/25 mins a game. I've grown to appretiate this line of thinking, and Simmons as a player.

But we might luck out, and the market might not be there for Simmons and we get another steal of a contract like 3/45 which would be nice, and tradable if it doesn't work out

[redslastlaugh]

Bill Simmons weighed in on the Celtics trade deadline plans on his podcast yesterday:

"The one thing that has unquestionably changed with Celtics tied for 2nd seed, they were definitely going to try to get under the first apron and completely reset everything by trading Simons and selling off the end of the roster.

They're not thinking that way anymore. Simons is in the mix for sixth man of the year. The idea to cut and save money is gone

Celtics have a new owner, this is his first moment with a winning team, who's like, "Holy ****, we're good!!""

Quote at 1:19:02

Watch on YouTube

[Fierce1]

I like that idea of using Sam Hauser as the trade piece to get a Center.

Cs have up to 207m to not go over the 1st apron.

Right now the Cs are at 200m.
So if you trade Sam and Tillman, that gives you 12.5m of total salaries to use in a trade.

Like the example given in the previous page of this thread, Cs can send out 12.5m and take back 18m, using the KP TPE.

Compared to last season, when the Cs were a 2nd apron team, this season the Cs have more options.

[brackdan70]

The CBA and TPE rules confuse me lol.
So I think this is right …right?
A TPE created in the previous season if used would trigger a hard cap at the first Apron.
The Porzingis TPE, since it was created after the previous season ended can be used until the 25-26 season ends without triggering the hard cap at the first Apron?

[CelticFaninLBC]

I like that idea of using Sam Hauser as the trade piece to get a Center.

Cs have up to 207m to not go over the 1st apron.

Right now the Cs are at 200m.
So if you trade Sam and Tillman, that gives you 12.5m of total salaries to use in a trade.

Like the example given in the previous page of this thread, Cs can send out 12.5m and take back 18m, using the KP TPE.

Compared to last season, when the Cs were a 2nd apron team, this season the Cs have more options.

The 1st apron is $196 mil. The 2nd apron is $208 mil.

[165bows]

Nurkic or Rob Williams off of the waiver wire

[Fierce1]

I like that idea of using Sam Hauser as the trade piece to get a Center.

Cs have up to 207m to not go over the 1st apron.

Right now the Cs are at 200m.
So if you trade Sam and Tillman, that gives you 12.5m of total salaries to use in a trade.

Like the example given in the previous page of this thread, Cs can send out 12.5m and take back 18m, using the KP TPE.

Compared to last season, when the Cs were a 2nd apron team, this season the Cs have more options.

The 1st apron is $196 mil. The 2nd apron is $208 mil.

Exactly!

If the Celtics are at 207m then that's still the 1st apron.

[Celts17Pride]

I really don't think the Celtics have to do much at all. I still would wait until the off-season to do more of the heavy lifting especially with the TPE available ($22.5 million).

Celtics playoff lineup Top 9 (assuming Tatum comes back and has limited minutes)

Starters: Pritchard, White, Brown, Walsh, Queta
Bench: Simons, Hauser, Tatum, Garza (tons of shooting)

Others: Gonzalez, Minott, Scheierman, Boucher, Tillman

I would try adding a depth big, someone that fits between Queta and Garza using Boucher, Tillman and a pick. Run it out and then adjust in the off-season.

This is what I think the Celtics will do unless Bill Chisholm gave Brad Stevens a mandate to cut salary even more.

[winsomme2]

Anybody else see a real potential for Stefan Todorovic in Maine?

I'd really like to see him and Amari get some minutes in Boston to see how they look.

Do we even have much of a claim to Todorovic at this point? Not sure what kind of contract he is on.

[Celts17Pride]

Chris Boucher and a 2nd round pick to Milwaukee for Jericho Sims?
Chris Boucher and a 2nd round pick to Portland for Duop Reath?
Chris Boucher and a 2nd round pick to Golden State for Trayce Jackson-Davis?

[Fierce1]

Anybody else see a real potential for Stefan Todorovic in Maine?

I'd really like to see him and Amari get some minutes in Boston to see how they look.

Do we even have much of a claim to Todorovic at this point? Not sure what kind of contract he is on.

Joe won't go for that.

The Cs are trying to win every game.
They don't have time to see how guys like Amari will look.

[redslastlaugh]

Anybody else see a real potential for Stefan Todorovic in Maine?

I'd really like to see him and Amari get some minutes in Boston to see how they look.

Do we even have much of a claim to Todorovic at this point? Not sure what kind of contract he is on.

Joe won't go for that.

The Cs are trying to win every game.
They don't have time to see how guys like Amari will look.

Last year we didn't put enough energy into understanding all our assets. We should have played Walsh and Queta more during the season because you never know who could help you if you don't play everyone

I didn't even know we had a player named Stefan Todorvic, i've never heard this name, but I think Amari Williams should be playing. Lots of teams play their second round picks over the season. You look at Sion James (CHO), Will Richard (GSW), Maxime Raynaud (SAC) and second rounders are doing great this year!

[Fierce1]

Anybody else see a real potential for Stefan Todorovic in Maine?

I'd really like to see him and Amari get some minutes in Boston to see how they look.

Do we even have much of a claim to Todorovic at this point? Not sure what kind of contract he is on.

Joe won't go for that.

The Cs are trying to win every game.
They don't have time to see how guys like Amari will look.

Last year we didn't put enough energy into understanding all our assets. We should have played Walsh and Queta more during the season because you never know who could help you if you don't play everyone

I didn't even know we had a player named Stefan Todorvic, i've never heard this name, but I think Amari Williams should be playing. Lots of teams play their second round picks over the season. You look at Sion James (CHO), Will Richard (GSW), Maxime Raynaud (SAC) and second rounders are doing great this year!

Queta and Walsh were not ready last season.

Walsh was fouling too much and Queta kept making mistakes.

With this Celtic University thing, the young players only play when Joe thinks they are ready to play.
The downside to Joe's coaching style is he doesn't play the young players because he always plays to win and will not tolerate mistakes.

We saw it when Mynot makes a mistake, Joe yells at him and pulls him out of the game.

The Celtics are really locked in this season and they're exceeding everybody's expectations.

It's like a choice between maximizing the win potential or sacrificing wins for letting guys like Amari play.

[Larry_Russell]

Chris Boucher and a 2nd round pick to Milwaukee for Jericho Sims?
Chris Boucher and a 2nd round pick to Portland for Duop Reath?
Chris Boucher and a 2nd round pick to Golden State for Trayce Jackson-Davis?

Always had a soft spot for Sims personally.

[celtxman]

Simons if he’s willing to come back on a MLE deal for a chance to win a ring could be a key cog. The question is will someone else overpay?

Should the Celtics believe in signing him to a MLE type deal, they should do it before he hits the market. They would be getting the player and they can plan their roster financially

[hugepatsfan]

Chris Boucher and a 2nd round pick to Milwaukee for Jericho Sims?
Chris Boucher and a 2nd round pick to Portland for Duop Reath?
Chris Boucher and a 2nd round pick to Golden State for Trayce Jackson-Davis?

I think all of these deals are waste of a 2nd round pick. Neither are a material upgrade over Garza, if an upgrade at all. Just not a good use of the 2nd round pick.

[hugepatsfan]

Simons if he’s willing to come back on a MLE deal for a chance to win a ring could be a key cog. The question is will someone else overpay?

Should the Celtics believe in signing him to a MLE type deal, they should do it before he hits the market. They would be getting the player and they can plan their roster financially

He'd probably not want to sign that so far ahead though. If that's his market he probably would want to at least explore options first. Maybe someone overpays him, even if it's just a 1 year deal like we've seen teams do before (Bruce Brown in IND, for example). Sometimes teams have to hit floors or are fine just handing out a 1 year deal they can use in deadline deals.

[hugepatsfan]

This is what I think the Celtics will do unless Bill Chisholm gave Brad Stevens a mandate to cut salary even more.

I doubt Chisholm is going to "mandate" anything. I would expect he tells Brad what payroll he's comfortable paying over the LONG HAUL. From there, Stevens will contemplate what kind of rosters he can build in those limits. If they duck the tax this year (and next) they reset repeater rates which means future payroll dollars stretch a lot further as far as going to the actual roster vs. being paid to other owners instead with no benefit for our team. If Brad thinks that will be important for having enough money to build a championship roster at some point, he'll make moves to reset that. If he doesn't think the limits are too restrictive to build a championship team with even at repeater rates, then he won't make cost cutting moves unless they're obviously benefitial.

[Hal14]

I really don't think the Celtics have to do much at all. I still would wait until the off-season to do more of the heavy lifting especially with the TPE available ($22.5 million).

Celtics playoff lineup Top 9 (assuming Tatum comes back and has limited minutes)

Starters: Pritchard, White, Brown, Walsh, Queta
Bench: Simons, Hauser, Tatum, Garza (tons of shooting)

Others: Gonzalez, Minott, Scheierman, Boucher, Tillman

I would try adding a depth big, someone that fits between Queta and Garza using Boucher, Tillman and a pick. Run it out and then adjust in the off-season.

This is what I think the Celtics will do unless Bill Chisholm gave Brad Stevens a mandate to cut salary even more.

Tatum isn't coming off the bench. Maybe for a game or 2 if they are really watching his mins when he first comes back.

But I figure if they are that scared about him not being 100% (to the point where he's on a mins restriction of only like 20 MPG) then they mine as well just wait, let him keep working his way back, practicing with the team, rehabbing for another week or 2 and then bring him back.

For context, KD when he came back from torn achilles started ever single game he played in. Played just 24 mins in game 1, but after that was consistently at 33+ MPG.

Yes, KD missed a full season compared to Tatum who is *maybe* coming back sooner than KD did, but Tatum is also like 4 years younger than KD was, got his surgery like a couple days sooner after the injury happened than KD did, etc.

If Tatum comes back this season, the starting lineup will be the same as it's been all season, with Tatum replacing Walsh and Walsh coming off the bench..

[Celts17Pride]

I really don't think the Celtics have to do much at all. I still would wait until the off-season to do more of the heavy lifting especially with the TPE available ($22.5 million).

Celtics playoff lineup Top 9 (assuming Tatum comes back and has limited minutes)

Starters: Pritchard, White, Brown, Walsh, Queta
Bench: Simons, Hauser, Tatum, Garza (tons of shooting)

Others: Gonzalez, Minott, Scheierman, Boucher, Tillman

I would try adding a depth big, someone that fits between Queta and Garza using Boucher, Tillman and a pick. Run it out and then adjust in the off-season.

This is what I think the Celtics will do unless Bill Chisholm gave Brad Stevens a mandate to cut salary even more.

Tatum isn't coming off the bench. Maybe for a game or 2 if they are really watching his mins when he first comes back.

But I figure if they are that scared about him not being 100% (to the point where he's on a mins restriction of only like 20 MPG) then they mine as well just wait, let him keep working his way back, practicing with the team, rehabbing for another week or 2 and then bring him back.

For context, KD when he came back from torn achilles started ever single game he played in. Played just 24 mins in game 1, but after that was consistently at 33+ MPG.

Yes, KD missed a full season compared to Tatum who is *maybe* coming back sooner than KD did, but Tatum is also like 4 years younger than KD was, got his surgery like a couple days sooner after the injury happened than KD did, etc.

If Tatum comes back this season, the starting lineup will be the same as it's been all season, with Tatum replacing Walsh and Walsh coming off the bench..

Switch Walsh with Tatum, the point is exactly the same.