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

[MaxwellSmart]

Trade Brown to SA for the #2 pick and Vassell, then draft Ace Bailey...He looks like a Freshman Len Bias...Mini Tank and get a good pick next year when Tatum is ready.

[ConstableGeneva]

Brad Stevens not leaning on young guys is just blatantly false. Peep Celtics roster when they made ECF in 2020 with Brad as coach. Somewhat similar state when they made ECF in 2018 with Kyrie and Hayward injured.



EDIT: Or is it, if he had a choice, he'd pick a vet over a young guy? He still played the likes of Ojeleye and Langford in his time as coach even if they weren't really good.

[redslastlaugh]

These are the rosters Danny Ainge gave Brad!

I don’t think Brad appreciated all the rookies and draft picks and I even kinda suspect that the bubble Celts that saddled Brad with like 7 rookies (incl old rookies like Wanamaker and Poirier) is the straw that broke the camels back. After that, once Brad became POBO he was like, “That was unbearable… now that I’m in charge of the roster construction, I’m never gonna roster more than 1 rookie, ideally one rookie every other year” … lol… I really think it was just so personally unpleasant for Brad under Ainge with so many eager and unplayable and chemistry-killing young guys that Brad promised himself that he’d never do that to Joe …

However, IMO, he’s shifted so far from rookie development that he’s hurting the team… and Brad needs to shift back

Brad Stevens not leaning on young guys is just blatantly false. Peep Celtics roster when they made ECF in 2020 with Brad as coach. Somewhat similar state when they made ECF in 2018 with Kyrie and Hayward injured.



EDIT: Or is it, if he had a choice, he'd pick a vet over a young guy? He still played the likes of Ojeleye and Langford in his time as coach even if they weren't really good.

[leper-con]

No rumours anywhere the league is being very tightlipped

[ConstableGeneva]

Then why bring up Doc AS COACH? Brad as coach played his young guys. Played PP and Nesmith (while Ime didn't). Played Grant Wiliams a TON. Wanamaker and Poirier aren't considered rookies since they have years of experience abroad. When Danny brought in veterans like Kanter, Fournier, and Jeff, we stunk. It's still about the quality of the players, If you stink like Walsh, why will they play you? We are not OKC when Brad took over. We didn't have the luxury of high picks or even lottery picks so there's just no point in comparing them with the roster Mazzulla was coaching. You can maybe compare OKC now with the roster Brad coached -- young studs in Jays surrounded by guys in rookie contracts. One of the youngest teams to make the conference finals multiple times. Again, Brad isn't averse to playing young guys or even having young guys on the roster. We had young guys including the two-ways. It was Joe's call not to play them.

These are the rosters Danny Ainge gave Brad!

I don’t think Brad appreciated all the rookies and draft picks and I even kinda suspect that the bubble Celts that saddled Brad with like 7 rookies (incl old rookies like Wanamaker and Poirier) is the straw that broke the camels back. After that, once Brad became POBO he was like, “That was unbearable… now that I’m in charge of the roster construction, I’m never gonna roster more than 1 rookie, ideally one rookie every other year” … lol… I really think it was just so personally unpleasant for Brad under Ainge with so many eager and unplayable and chemistry-killing young guys that Brad promised himself that he’d never do that to Joe …

However, IMO, he’s shifted so far from rookie development that he’s hurting the team… and Brad needs to shift back

Brad Stevens not leaning on young guys is just blatantly false. Peep Celtics roster when they made ECF in 2020 with Brad as coach. Somewhat similar state when they made ECF in 2018 with Kyrie and Hayward injured.



EDIT: Or is it, if he had a choice, he'd pick a vet over a young guy? He still played the likes of Ojeleye and Langford in his time as coach even if they weren't really good.

[Celts17Pride]

The goal of this thread should be for the Celtics RealGM posters to come up with every possible trade scenario imaginable and challenge Brad Stevens to come up with something original. We are off to a great start!

[redslastlaugh]

Yea, no, I meant Brad as GM providing a roster for Joe to coach in comparison to Danny as GM putting together a roster for Doc and then Brad to coach.

When Brad was coach he was playing rookie Semi Ojeleye 13 minutes a night in the playoffs for crying out loud, lol. Course, we were down Haywood and Kyrie in those playoffs but still, Brad would play younger players quite a bit ... But it's not clear if that was his preference or the only options Danny gave him to choose from.

And once Brad took over as POBO he's traded like 6 firsts (and did a '28 swap) and he's also traded many, many seconds. And these trades of draft picks have not ever been to trade up or into a draft to get the rookie Brad wants on a favorable rookie scale contract, but Celts sending out draft capital for various NBA players in the league already (Muscala, Springer, Tillman,etc) .

In 2023 Brad acquired the 25th pick for Marcus Smart, traded it down 4 times and acquired Jordan Walsh and 4 seconds. He could have gone into 2024 and traded those extra four 2nds for a pick in that draft and nabbed a player he liked and we'd have the player a full four years cheap... but he hasn't used his assets to do that. Basically, we've acquired rookies to stick them in the G like Walsh, Davison, etc ... Scheierman is the most minutes a rookie has played, which is not even 400 minutes and Baylor is gonna be 25 yrs old in the fall.

And so yea... I don't know the thinking because not having contributors playing minutes for their first four yrs on rookie scale, makes the budgetary math a big freakin problem...

I don't know if Brad believes the draft is too much a crapshoot or if he feels young players are an emotional burden on locker room chemistry? I can only guess because it just seems like the team would be more financially viable if we had some cheaper salaried guys but we've not gone that route

Then why bring up Doc AS COACH? Brad as coach played his young guys. Played PP and Nesmith (while Ime didn't). Played Grant Wiliams a TON. Wanamaker and Poirier aren't considered rookies since they have years of experience abroad. When Danny brought in veterans like Kanter, Fournier, and Jeff, we stunk. It's still about the quality of the players, If you stink like Walsh, why will they play you? We are not OKC when Brad took over. We didn't have the luxury of high picks or even lottery picks so there's just no point in comparing them with the roster Mazzulla was coaching. You can maybe compare OKC now with the roster Brad coached -- young studs in Jays surrounded by guys in rookie contracts. One of the youngest teams to make the conference finals multiple times. Again, Brad isn't averse to playing young guys or even having young guys on the roster. We had young guys including the two-ways. It was Joe's call not to play them.

These are the rosters Danny Ainge gave Brad!

[ThePigeon]

Playing experienced players brought a championship - so it was/is a good strategy
Cap rules changed and are now limiting teams and probably forcing them to play players on rookie contracts or minimum contract. The NIL and the salaries in Europe pose further complications for building a competitive roster

We have a few young players we invested in - JD, Walsh, Roco, Queta, Peterson. Probably not the ones we want and probably older than we wish. We also have our 2-ways - which are older guys. Issue is, Joe probably doesn't know how to integrate young players into a championship caliber older team. I don't know if there is a coach out there that knows how to do it properly. It is what it is

We missed on the Begarin and Madar drafts. Nothing came out of them. Just a waste of assets that could be used in trades or drafting and developing other players

[ThePigeon]

Interesting:

Read on Twitter

Putting 2 and 2 together:
-Nigel Hayes-Davis is garnering NBA interest
-A few yrs ago there were reports that we brought Hayes-Davis in for a workout and were considering signing him..but he stayed overseas instead. I wonder if things may be different now..
-maybe before we were telling him he probably wouldn't play much..just a spot on the roster as a deep bench wing. So he stayed overseas..but now with Tatum's torn achilles, Hauser/KP/Jrue/JB possibly getting traded..there could be a bit more playing time available for him. So maybe now he comes over. Plus at age 30, he might feel like it's now or never in terms of playing in the NBA..and might feel like he's got nothing left to prove in Europe at this point..

Hayes-Davis is a wing, 6'7", strong, athletic, can put the ball on the floor, defend and shoot..last 3 yrs his 3 FG% is 39, 38, 43.

You sign a guy like that to a cheap contract (cheap because he's only played in 9 total NBA games and that was 7 yrs ago and he's 30 yrs old..). And that is a way you could trim payroll, get rid of some higher priced contracts, yet still have a competitive team, even with Tatum's injury..

Jaylen Hoard is another player I would look at

A bigger wing that plays hard

[bigfoot_cryptozoology]

The Trade Board is crushed...

Read on Twitter

Per NBA insider Matt Moore, the price tag for Holiday is starting to become clear from the Boston’s side. The Celtics are reportedly "setting the price at a first-round pick along with whatever reduced salary comes back in the deal." Now, it remains to be seen if the C’s can get that kind of return for Holiday, a two-time champion.

[GrandTheftRondo]

Comparing OKC to Boston in terms of draft picks, playing rookies etc is not fair at all.

They’ve been essentially playing with a ridiculous amount of house money due to the Clippers gifting them a boat load of picks.

It makes the assets we had available under Danny when Brown was drafted look like nothing.

Outside of SGA they are young as and have had all these picks to keep and use because they've had to wait for Chet, J-Dub and heck even SGA to develop. They haven’t been on the clock.

We had a fair share of assets and a young team from 2017-2022, however Tatum and Brown got good pretty quickly but weren’t quite good enough to win it all.

Brad clearly knew this team needed some savvy ready made players to get us over the hump. He brought back Al, traded a first rounder for White and we almost won a title. Then a year later he realised a shake up was needed and more ready made talent was needed and it got us a title.

Yes it would be nice to have a couple of cheap rookies that can play but that’s easier said than done.

Maybe it’s what they go for in the next few years while they work out what’s happening with Tatum etc.

But I don’t have any issues with a title contending team not focusing on rookie development.

[brackdan70]

The goal of this thread should be for the Celtics RealGM posters to come up with every possible trade scenario imaginable and challenge Brad Stevens to come up with something original. We are off to a great start!

I haven’t seen the Pritchard and Hauser for 5 2nds yet. Gets the Celtics out of the worst tiers of the repeater this year, under the tax next year….and the opportunity to draft lists of rookie minimum studs.

[Gant]

Joe Mazzulla watches EuroLeague star in Turkey ahead of Celtics free agency

The Celtics coach was spotted courtside in Istanbul for a Turkish League playoff game between Fenerbahce and Bahcesehir, watching among others Nigel Hayes-Davis.

The former Wisconsin standout has thrived overseas since spending the first two years of his pro career in the NBA. The 30-year-old was selected to the All-Euroleague First Team in the past two years while playing for Fenerbahce and he was also the Euroleague Final Four MVP this season.

At 6-foot-8, he’s an intriguing forward option who has improved his shooting in Europe. The Celtics have been linked to Hayes-Davis in the past as well with a source telling MassLive that Hayes-Davis worked out for Boston back in 2021 during Brad Stevens first year as president of basketball operations. Fenerbahce GM Derya Yannier said last month that there was serious NBA interest in multiple Fenerbahce players including Hayes-Davis according to Sportando.

“There is very serious interest from the NBA for Nigel Hayes-Davis and Tarik Biberovic,” Yannier told reporters in May.

https://www.masslive.com/celtics/2025/06/joe-mazzulla-watches-euroleague-star-in-turkey-ahead-of-celtics-free-agency.html



KeithSmithNBA‬

The Celtics scouting Nigel Hayes-Davis makes sense. They've had interest in him before. He's coming off a string of strong seasons with Fenerbahce in Turkey and EuroLeague. Hayes-Davis has also become a good shooter too. Could be a cost-effective depth option for Boston next season.

[Celts17Pride]

I wouldn't be shocked if the Celtics traded Holiday, Porzingis and Hauser for cap space, young players and draft picks, don't resign Big Al Horford and resign Kornet. Celtics would end up with a team something like the following:

Pritchard, Davison
White, Lanier (#32), Walsh
Brown, Scheierman
Hayes-Davis, Tillman, Peterson
Kornet, Queta, Kalkbrenner (#28)

Get a high draft pick, play the young guys (which you will find keepers or trade bait) and then refocus in 2026/2027 with Pritchard, Tatum, Brown, Kornet and White.

Going to be interesting to see what direction Brad Stevens and the Celtics go in next year.

[165bows]

The goal of this thread should be for the Celtics RealGM posters to come up with every possible trade scenario imaginable and challenge Brad Stevens to come up with something original. We are off to a great start!

I haven’t seen the Pritchard and Hauser for 5 2nds yet. Gets the Celtics out of the worst tiers of the repeater this year, under the tax next year….and the opportunity to draft lists of rookie minimum studs.

Good point I've been slacking in not posting deals that don't totally suck.

Here's one:

Boston trades: KP, Hauser
GSW trades: Hield, Moody, Jackson-Davis, G. Santos, #41 2025 pick.

Hauser lands in a GSW TPE.

Saves $15M and more if they move on from Hield, Santos etc in more cost cutting moves. Leaves GSW with very few players but a really talented albeit old group.

[GoCeltics123]

Read on Twitter

He's staying, which kinda shocks me but I respect it honestly

[Larry_Russell]

Jrue, a future protected 2nd and Tillman to the Kings

Sam Hauser and Malik Monk to Orlando

KCP and pick #25 to Brooklyn

Kristaps to Lakers

Jalen Wilson, Wendell Carter Jr, Keegan Murray, Vanderbilt, Knect, Klebr to Boston



White/Pritchard
Brown/Scheierman
Murray/Knect/Walsh
Vanderbilt/Wilson/Klebr
CarterJr/Kornet/Queta

[Bill Lumbergh]

The Trade Board is crushed...

Read on Twitter

Per NBA insider Matt Moore, the price tag for Holiday is starting to become clear from the Boston’s side. The Celtics are reportedly "setting the price at a first-round pick along with whatever reduced salary comes back in the deal." Now, it remains to be seen if the C’s can get that kind of return for Holiday, a two-time champion.

Other teams are countering with "Give us a first for taking that contract," and in the end, they end up in the middle with no draft picks exchanged. Well, we'll see. I have been of the opinion that it might take some capital to move off his contract, but will be very happy to be wrong.

[Bill Lumbergh]

I wouldn't be shocked if the Celtics traded Holiday, Porzingis and Hauser for cap space, young players and draft picks, don't resign Big Al Horford and resign Kornet. Celtics would end up with a team something like the following:

Pritchard, Davison
White, Lanier (#32), Walsh
Brown, Scheierman
Hayes-Davis, Tillman, Peterson
Kornet, Queta, Kalkbrenner (#28)

Get a high draft pick, play the young guys (which you will find keepers or trade bait) and then refocus in 2026/2027 with Pritchard, Tatum, Brown, Kornet and White.

Going to be interesting to see what direction Brad Stevens and the Celtics go in next year.

This is a sensible approach, and you have them taking the exact two guys I want us to take. I am starting to think Kalkbrenner might not be available when we pick, though.

[165bows]

Read on Twitter

He's staying, which kinda shocks me but I respect it honestly

Curious how much was his decision and how much was the trade market that was available to get him where he wanted.

Edit: also means that (esp. if Durant is in fact traded early) Celtics will have some of the better players available on the trade market for teams looking to compete.