2025 Offseason Trade and Free Agency Thread (The Fun Never Stops Edition)

[31to6]

6m per year is fair.

18m for 3 years.

Signs are that he’s likely to make a lot more than that.

The market is not set by us here on our message board

Luke said he loves Boston.

We'll find out how much he loves Boston.

He already reportedly turned down an $8M offer from the Jazz last summer to resign with Cs for the vet min.

How many millions of dollars should he give up?

He has one chance to make generational wealth, and it’s the day after tomorrow. Go for it, Luke! If we truly love you, we have to let you go.

[Shak_Celts]

Giving assets away to spend less money, I wouldn’t understand us trying to pay Luke. They obviously aren’t making moves to help us win, why keep Luke that would just be crazy to me. You cheap out only to pay him? Nope, I’m not feeling that type of move.


Btw: I want Al to stay but we can’t pay him much either. I’ll cry and get over it. You can’t pay them real money, either they stay for a song or leave!

[djFan71]

If you offered me Luke or Simons and they both were paid $15M/year, I might take Luke.
I think they probably have to go at least $8M per to keep him.

[Bill Lumbergh]

Well, free agency kicks off tomorrow at 6:00 Eastern. They won't announce intentions to sign two minutes later like they used to. They want teams to pretend like they haven't already been in contact. We ought to at least get some decent rumors tomorrow at least.

[31to6]

Giving assets away to spend less money, I wouldn’t understand us trying to pay Luke. They obviously aren’t making moves to help us win, why keep Luke that would just be crazy to me. You cheap out only to pay him? Nope, I’m not feeling that type of move.


Btw: I want Al to stay but we can’t pay him much either. I’ll cry and get over it. You can’t pay them real money, either they stay for a song or leave!

We need a couple of decent centers — or a couple of centers who can look decent thanks to Tatum — for 26-27. I’ve been hoping that would be Luke and Al.

But I’m getting myself ready to say **** it and play the kids this year. I mean, move Simons for whatever if you can, but if we’re building cheap talent then I want to see what
Queta, Williams, Baylor, Hugo, and JD can do — in addition to what JB, DW, Pritchard, and Hauser can do without Jayson.

The FO has clearly said that the reality is their best player is in a boot.

So: get out of the repeater tax, and develop some assets, and horde those picks until it’s time to add another high level starter or two.

[ajones9219]

If you offered me Luke or Simons and they both were paid $15M/year, I might take Luke.
I think they probably have to go at least $8M per to keep him.

Simons is criminally underrated by some here. Id give up any celtic not named brown/white/ tatum to retain him

[redslastlaugh]

We need a couple of decent centers — or a couple of centers who can look decent thanks to Tatum — for 26-27. I’ve been hoping that would be Luke and Al.

But I’m getting myself ready to say **** it and play the kids this year. I mean, move Simons for whatever if you can, but if we’re building cheap talent then I want to see what
Queta, Williams, Baylor, Hugo, and JD can do — in addition to what JB, DW, Pritchard, and Hauser can do without Jayson.

The FO has clearly said that the reality is their best player is in a boot.

So: get out of the repeater tax, and develop some assets, and horde those picks until it’s time to add another high level starter or two.

I can dig it.

The season that ended in the bubble was fun (though not exactly the same) when we lost Kyrie Irving and patched together a froncourt with Kanter, Theis, Rob and Grant. Doc did a "play the young guys year" also with Al Jefferson, Delonte, TA, Marcus Banks, Kendrick Perkins getting mins around PP, GP, Raef LaFrentz and Ricky Davis. That was a fun year too.

Two problems:
1. Brad/Joe don't seem that's in their DNA to take a down year for the good of the long run.

2. Celtics reporters talking about it's gonna cost a draft asset (or we take back bad years) to dump Simons. You can NOT trade our 2026 first round pick to dump Anfernee Simons if you're gonna try to play the young guys.

[titlebound1]

If you offered me Luke or Simons and they both were paid $15M/year, I might take Luke.
I think they probably have to go at least $8M per to keep him.

Simons is criminally underrated by some here. Id give up any celtic not named brown/white/ tatum to retain him

Yeah I agree. He's not a good defender, but he's super talented.

[return2glory]

Read on Twitter

Who are these guys reporting this? Why is it a surprise? I've always said this off season that someone is going to overpay Kornet. Then they are going to be disappointed if they try to make him a starter. He made improvements to his game with the help of the Australians. He has earned a bigger contract. It's most likely going to be with some other team. Look at how Steven Adams got overpaid. Kornet put up 4 points and 3 rebounds and 0.5 blocks in the Magic series, as I posted earlier.

If and most likely when Kornet signs elsewhere for a bigger pay day, I will miss him and his entertainment. Dude was funny and a good teammate. He got better at basketball, over the last few years. Well deserved. Queta, stay ready. Amari, get ready.

[return2glory]

If you offered me Luke or Simons and they both were paid $15M/year, I might take Luke.
I think they probably have to go at least $8M per to keep him.

Simons is criminally underrated by some here. Id give up any celtic not named brown/white/ tatum to retain him

I agree. People want to talk ****. He can't play d, blah blah. Well KP couldn't rebound for a 7'3 guy and couldn't play in the playoffs, when it counted. Hardly anyone said anything bad about KP. I loved KP. I was also glad he was gone after being useless in the playoffs. He isn't a playoff player, because the game becomes to tough for him. Soon as you put a body on him and push him around, he is done.

[Fierce1]

Guys like Olynyk and Valanciunas are a waste of time and money.

If they're trading a scorer like Simons, better get something worth the time and money.

[Fierce1]

If you offered me Luke or Simons and they both were paid $15M/year, I might take Luke.
I think they probably have to go at least $8M per to keep him.

Simons is criminally underrated by some here. Id give up any celtic not named brown/white/ tatum to retain him

I agree. People want to talk ****. He can't play d, blah blah. Well KP couldn't rebound for a 7'3 guy and couldn't play in the playoffs, when it counted. Hardly anyone said anything bad about KP. I loved KP. I was also glad he was gone after being useless in the playoffs. He isn't a playoff player, because the game becomes to tough for him. Soon as you put a body on him and push him around, he is done.

[redslastlaugh]

Somebody maybe better knows the math than I do, but if we can send Simons + Niang (expirings) to Brooklyn and we mainly compensate BRK by taking back Terance Mann's years ($15.5, $15.5, $16) and not sending draft capital.

Then the team
JT
JB
White
Terance Mann
Hauser
Pritchard
Scheierman
Tillman
Queta
Davison
Walsh
Hugo

That's 12 men. 2 more cheapest minimum fliers and I think we are 14 men and under the tax without paying draft picks nor Sam Hauser.
I don't want to give picks. And I don't want Terance Mann, but this I think gets us under the tax

[Fierce1]

Somebody maybe better knows the math than I do, but if we can send Simons + Niang (expirings) to Brooklyn and we mainly compensate BRK by taking back Terance Mann's years ($15.5, $15.5, $16) and not sending draft capital.

Then the team
JT
JB
White
Terance Mann
Hauser
Pritchard
Scheierman
Tillman
Queta
Davison
Walsh
Hugo

That's 12 men. 2 more cheapest minimum fliers and I think we are 14 men and under the tax without paying draft picks nor Sam Hauser.
I don't want to give picks. And I don't want Terance Mann, but this I think gets us under the tax

No way, Mann!

[Fierce1]

If the Cs are to avoid being a repeater, the number to hit is 188m.

If Cs get to that number with a full roster then the Cs are halfway to a tax reset.

Cs will then have to hit the 22% threshold again in 2026-27 for a full reset of the tax.

[return2glory]

They may not succeed, but somebody's telling those beat reporters that they're trying.

We basically never make trades that get reported on besides KP/Jrue but those were extremely obvious.

Just don't see the point of dumping an elite, young scorer.

Nothing about Simons is Elite.

Watch on YouTube

[Shak_Celts]

Giving assets away to spend less money, I wouldn’t understand us trying to pay Luke. They obviously aren’t making moves to help us win, why keep Luke that would just be crazy to me. You cheap out only to pay him? Nope, I’m not feeling that type of move.


Btw: I want Al to stay but we can’t pay him much either. I’ll cry and get over it. You can’t pay them real money, either they stay for a song or leave!

We need a couple of decent centers — or a couple of centers who can look decent thanks to Tatum — for 26-27. I’ve been hoping that would be Luke and Al.

But I’m getting myself ready to say **** it and play the kids this year. I mean, move Simons for whatever if you can, but if we’re building cheap talent then I want to see what
Queta, Williams, Baylor, Hugo, and JD can do — in addition to what JB, DW, Pritchard, and Hauser can do without Jayson.

The FO has clearly said that the reality is their best player is in a boot.

So: get out of the repeater tax, and develop some assets, and horde those picks until it’s time to add another high level starter or two.

I want Al to stay and retire a Celtics but they made NO WINNING MOVES and are still looking to offload Simons. Might as well play Queta and some other MINIMUM guy of the streets. You can’t be paying Korny more than 5 mil if you think we’re going to be mediocre… they are telling us that by offloading talent. Might as well see what you have in other guys.

Edit: If we keep Simons, no matter what people say about him, that’s a good 20-ish points a game. Then I’ll understand trying to keep Korny and Al. That means we’re trying to hold the fort til Tatum comes back. If you trade him for nothing then it’s a waste to keep guys that provide NO scoring. Paying for good vibes, you could kept Jrue and KP. Don’t play in my face!

[djFan71]

If you offered me Luke or Simons and they both were paid $15M/year, I might take Luke.
I think they probably have to go at least $8M per to keep him.

Simons is criminally underrated by some here. Id give up any celtic not named brown/white/ tatum to retain him

Yeah I agree. He's not a good defender, but he's super talented.

Eh, I said that just to have fun. I am actually curious to see how he’d be here. I know most Blazer fans wanted him gone, but there’s definitely talent there. Whether our org and team can improve him enough to take a leap is pretty intriguing.

[djFan71]

Giving assets away to spend less money, I wouldn’t understand us trying to pay Luke. They obviously aren’t making moves to help us win, why keep Luke that would just be crazy to me. You cheap out only to pay him? Nope, I’m not feeling that type of move.


Btw: I want Al to stay but we can’t pay him much either. I’ll cry and get over it. You can’t pay them real money, either they stay for a song or leave!

We need a couple of decent centers — or a couple of centers who can look decent thanks to Tatum — for 26-27. I’ve been hoping that would be Luke and Al.

But I’m getting myself ready to say **** it and play the kids this year. I mean, move Simons for whatever if you can, but if we’re building cheap talent then I want to see what
Queta, Williams, Baylor, Hugo, and JD can do — in addition to what JB, DW, Pritchard, and Hauser can do without Jayson.

The FO has clearly said that the reality is their best player is in a boot.

So: get out of the repeater tax, and develop some assets, and horde those picks until it’s time to add another high level starter or two.

I want Al to stay and retire a Celtics but they made NO WINNING MOVES and are still looking to offload Simons. Might as well play Queta and some other MINIMUM guy of the streets. You can’t be paying Korny more than 5 mil if you think we’re going to be mediocre… they are telling us that by offloading talent. Might as well see what you have in other guys.

Edit: If we keep Simons, no matter what people say about him, that’s a good 20-ish points a game. Then I’ll understand trying to keep Korny and Al. That means we’re trying to hold the fort til Tatum comes back. If you trade him for nothing then it’s a waste to keep guys that provide NO scoring. Paying for good vibes, you could kept Jrue and KP. Don’t play in my face!

It's about having a good team when Tatum comes back. Luke will be a good player for the term of his next contract, so why not bring him back? Rumors of other teams possibly offering MLE is because he's good. It's just about choices between him, Niang, Horford, Simons and Hauser. Which couple make the most sense with Tatum back when we're trying to win a title? That's all that matters. Picking 2 or 3 doesn't mean the others ones suck or we hate 'em, it just means they weren't the top choices.

[keevsnick1]

I'd be VERY surprised if they weren't aggressively shopping Simons. Right now as things stand they are about 17 million away from the tax. Niang+Hauser make about 18 million, but then you have to replace their roster spots so trading them only really nets you about 13 million. So there's no real way to get completely under the tax unless Simons is moved. I didn't originally think they'd be able to get all the way under the tax, but it feels like that's where they are going.

I think what they'll try to do is another step-down trade, similar to what they did going from Holiday at 32.4 to Simons at 27.4. They try to swap that 27 in Simons for two guys make a combined 22-27 million then spin off one of those guys into a team's trade exception.

One team to keep an eye on is Detroit I think. They could potentially have enough cap space to swap Fontechio for Simons and absorb the bulk of Simons contract without sending anything else back. That saves the C's 19 million. There are also other constructions where they send out Ivey, Duran or Stewart if they want to use their cap space. With Beasley under criminal investigation and Schroder likely gone they could use some shooting/ball handling.

Dallas might still work as well with PJ Washington + Caleb Martin if they want a ball handler/scorer to fill in until Kyrie is back. Jazz might work with Clarkson + KJ Martin if they want a young ball handler/scorer with Sexton traded. The Bulls have a few expiring contracts that might work and might want more scoring.