Free Agent/Trade/Waiver Thread, 2025-26

[Celts17Pride]

Shams Charania

Twelve-time All-Star Chris Paul has agreed to a deal with the Los Angeles Clippers, CAA's Steven Heumann, Ty Sullivan and Jessica Holtz told ESPN. Paul had multiple suitors, but chose the contending Clippers and their shared history in L.A. for his likely final, 21st NBA season.


Chris Paul to the Clippers as expected.

[return2glory]

No to Ben Simmons. You want players that get better, not worse unless they are at the end of their careers.

Domantas Sabonis would be a good PF playing with a rim protecting center. If he plays center, Boston will struggle defensively. His rebounding is great. He can pass and score.

You move Tatum to the 3, Brown to the 2, White at PG, Sabonis at the 4 with a rim protecting 5, then you can have something special. Don't know how we can afford that lineup.

[chrisab123]

Domas moves the needle, for sure.

But too good to be true IMO.

People would be furious on here.

Even without JT, adding Domas puts the Cs in the top 4 in the east.

And that’s why people would be pissed

[jmr07019]

Pritchard White Brown Tatum Sabonis would cost 186 million next year. The second apron is 207.8 this year. Celtics would have 21ish million to fill out a bench and 9 roster spots so pretty much everyone on the bench would be vet min in order to avoid second apron. Of course avoiding the second apron is not a requirement and spending into the second apron resulted in a championship. I would like more championships myself. Not too worried about billionaires being able to feed their families.

Roster would be top heavy but realistically you play 7 or 8 guys in the playoffs. Brad would have to find 2 or 3 contributors on cheap contracts. A challenge but certainly not impossible. You would hope one of Rico or Hugo could be a productive, dependable player by next years playoffs.

[jmr07019]

No to Ben Simmons. You want players that get better, not worse unless they are at the end of their careers.

Domantas Sabonis would be a good PF playing with a rim protecting center. If he plays center, Boston will struggle defensively. His rebounding is great. He can pass and score.

You move Tatum to the 3, Brown to the 2, White at PG, Sabonis at the 4 with a rim protecting 5, then you can have something special. Don't know how we can afford that lineup.

You likely can’t afford that lineup and if you could it would only be for two to three years. But you could afford Pritchard in place of a center.

The question is do you wait for a big man to come on the market who is a better fit? You don’t want to waste too much of Tatum’s prime waiting for something that may never materialize.

[jmr07019]

People would be furious on here.

Even without JT, adding Domas puts the Cs in the top 4 in the east.

And that’s why people would be pissed

Tank fever has hit the board hard

[chrisab123]

Even without JT, adding Domas puts the Cs in the top 4 in the east.

And that’s why people would be pissed

Tank fever has hit the board hard

Even though they don’t have the roster needed to tank.

[brackdan70]

And that’s why people would be pissed

Tank fever has hit the board hard

Even though they don’t have the roster needed to tank.

It’s not really a tank…more like a Mazda B2000 with an M60 mounted in the bed.

[bigfoot_cryptozoology]

Read on Twitter

[Hal14]

"While White and Brown aren't going anywhere, there have been plenty of questions asked about Anfernee Simons and Georges Niang, two players the Celtics received in their Holiday and Porzingis trades.

Since before NBA Summer League, Simons and Niang have been linked to intel and chatter around the league. The Celtics have talked with multiple teams over the last handful of weeks regarding these players, sources said. Changes will be coming to Boston between now and the trade deadline, but whether they make moves before training camp is the big question that is receiving mixed reviews.

It is worth noting that the Celtics do like Simons and believe he could emerge as a key contributor in the backcourt when Tatum and Brown are at full strength. Although the team has explored possible ways to flip him for other assets this offseason, Boston is fully confident in Simons' abilities should he remain on the roster, sources said.

On the third day of NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, the latest chatter and intel about the Celtics linked them to a potential trade with the Memphis Grizzlies, league sources said. In the midst of scrambling for details, it became clear that these talks were around before Summer League and nothing ever materialized.

Boston had been seeking potential paths to free up extra money given their ties to Damian Lillard. When it became clear that the Celtics were out of the running for Lillard, the organization backed off on trade talks with Memphis, sources said.

https://clutchpoints.com/nba/nba-stories/siegels-scoop-nba-intel-chris-paul-bradley-beal-marcus-smart-deals

[djFan71]

Is this Siegel guy legit now?

[playa-hater]

Drama drama drama.. and I love it

[playa-hater]

BTW on the hypothetical team of -

Sabonis at center, Ben Simmons and Tatum at forward and Brown and White at guards -

That would make Boston a great passing team. Good rebounding, good deesnive perimeter, Not so good at shot blocking. Tatum and Brown would be set up with the way Simmons and Sabonis like to pass. We certainly wouldn't/shouldn't be jacking up 3s with that lineup but Still think that would make us a serious contender.

Also imagine Sabonis and PP setting each other up..

I am in on this.. git err dun Brad.

[hugepatsfan]

Haven't posted in a while but catching up on some name posted recently...

Ben Simmons is a controversial name but actually fits this team really well. People talk about how how much we lack at center and while our depth chart obviously sucks there, but they have center sized players under contract. Unless you feel comfortable playing Brown or Hauser as PFs for long stretches when they really aren't, then we lack guys physically built like PFs. Simmons actually addresses that. And then from a skill set standpoint, we don't really have a point guard. We really passed off on that archetype of player in favor of a point forward in Tatum backed up buy combo guards in White/Holiday/Pritchard because that archetype is more comfortable playing off Tatum when he's the point forward while still providing some support. Now Tatum is out, one of those combo guards (Holiday) is gone and the replacement (Simons) isn't a PG either. So from a skillset standpoint, another check in the box for Simmons. Culture is important though and he hasn't been the best guy for that of course, so obviously someone you'd need to ask around and assess where his head is at now before you signed him.

KCP is a better player than Simons, or at least he has been, if you're goal is actually winning games. Simons plays a losing game, KCP plays like a winner. That being said, while both are overpaid KCP is overpaid one year longer and having him on the books for 26-27 is not a positive. And then for 25-26, even if he's better than Simons, with Tatum out for all/most of the year and no front court players under contract I don't see them really set up where they should be taking on long term money that's not seen as great for moderate short term improvement. That's not even taking into consideration that Simons is a younger player who you never know, maybe has some gears of improvement in him and could actually work himself into being winning player. You should always be building with a cohesive plan. This roster is built like a team taking a gap year so trading younger Simons on an expiring deal for older KCP on a multi year deal for marginal improvement on paper now but long term money and possibly lost player improvement just runs completely counter to that. HOWEVER, there are some current year savings there so IF there's a scenario where that means something then that changes it. Like if it opened up enough to get Dame for a MLE deal - fine, makes sense if they value having him on the team for 26-27. Or if the savings make the difference between being over/under the tax this year and resetting repeater rates for a year then ok, there's value in that even on a reset year timeline.

Sabonis is a really good player, but IDK. He's always going to have a clunky setup of whether you play him as a C and struggle to find rim protection or if you play him at PF and maybe be too slow footed on the perimeter. His game as a point center forces everyone else, even your best perimeter scorers, to play more off ball and honestly that's not something I think Tatum or Brown have ever truly felt comfortable with. Both really look more comfortable creating their own shot than playing off of others, so not sure Sabonis' game fits well with them. That might be a good think though. Maybe they could use a switch up. But even if we could land him via trade, I do view it as a gamble. And then yeah, there are definitely some challenges of building the needed depth around him and our 3 core pieces in place. Even if we are willing to back into the 2nd apron for him long term, it's easier said than done. It's hard to actually acquire someone who puts you into the 2nd apron. We'd basically be Tatum/Brown/Sabonis/White/Pritchard all vet min deals. Going back into the apron would probably have to come from trading Pritchard for a rookie wage player who you then go over to re-sign or some other guy you get for dirt cheap on a rookie or low cost deal who you then use bird rights to keep.

Back to Simons... I'm generally low on him but they shouldn't be looking to give him away. If it achieves roster balance - fine. If it makes the difference in clearing some significant/meaningful financial hurdle (i.e. ducking the tax) - fine. But he's a young player who might carve out a role here. I think with Tatum/Brown/White as our main investments and then role player-sized contracts for Hauser/Pritchard in place, Simons added to the mix would be overkill and if they did end up keeping him long term they'd likely need to move one or both of Hauser or Pritchard for balance (how Scheierman/Hugo develop plays into that as well). But that's a good problem to have if he is a keeper and even if he's not there's still probably some functional use for him as a S&T candidate next year.

[hugepatsfan]

BTW on the hypothetical team of -

Sabonis at center, Ben Simmons and Tatum at forward and Brown and White at guards -

That would make Boston a great passing team. Good rebounding, good deesnive perimeter, Not so good at shot blocking. Tatum and Brown would be set up with the way Simmons and Sabonis like to pass. We certainly wouldn't/shouldn't be jacking up 3s with that lineup but Still think that would make us a serious contender.

Also imagine Sabonis and PP setting each other up..

I am in on this.. git err dun Brad.

Hypothetical is a good word for this because have Tatum or Brown really ever given any evidence that they're comfortable in an off ball role. Tatum still needs to take a rhythm dribble on half of his otherwise open C&S threes. Brown certainly fancies himself more of an on ball player but I think he'd ultimately be find playing off of Sabonis. I genuinely worry about how Tatum would do with Sabonis. Nothing I've ever seen with Tatum indicates that he'd be good playing off of Sabonis. That's why they didn't play him in the Olympics if we're being honest - he's not really comfortable/effective playing without the ball. If you get Sabonis and don't give him the ball then he's kind of a waste then. That Sabonis/Tatum pairing has disastrous downside IMO.

[GoCeltics123]

Since before NBA Summer League, Simons and Niang have been linked to intel and chatter around the league. The Celtics have talked with multiple teams over the last handful of weeks regarding these players, sources said. Changes will be coming to Boston between now and the trade deadline, but whether they make moves before training camp is the big question that is receiving mixed reviews.

It is worth noting that the Celtics do like Simons and believe he could emerge as a key contributor in the backcourt when Tatum and Brown are at full strength. Although the team has explored possible ways to flip him for other assets this offseason, Boston is fully confident in Simons' abilities should he remain on the roster, sources said.

On the third day of NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, the latest chatter and intel about the Celtics linked them to a potential trade with the Memphis Grizzlies, league sources said. In the midst of scrambling for details, it became clear that these talks were around before Summer League and nothing ever materialized.

Boston had been seeking potential paths to free up extra money given their ties to Damian Lillard. When it became clear that the Celtics were out of the running for Lillard, the organization backed off on trade talks with Memphis, sources said.

Read on Twitter

[31to6]

The Celtics can't take on an XL salary like Sabonis. They'd be right back to too few guys eating up too much cap space. That's how this whole mess started.

unless you trade Jaylen for him + let's say Devin Carter
https://fanspo.com/nba/trade-machine

Pay Sabonis $42, $45.5, and $48.6M for the next three years, which might be his peak years

Or pay Jaylen $53, $57, $61M for those same years and $65M for the next one

I don't love it, but I'd probably do it

Keep Simons and try to teach him to play defense?

[darrendaye]

https://clutchpoints.com/nba/nba-stories/nba-rumors-why-celtics-grizzlies-trade-talks-fizzled-out

Article suggests Celts-Grizzlies trade talks cooled not just because Dame went to Portland, but another deal Memphis was trying to work out, didn't. Could be the Smart signing in LA as it was rumored the Lakers had at least some interest in KCP.

[fallguy]

Michael Pina at the Ringer:

"The Celtics Will Be (Very?) Bad

This is a prediction disguised as an observation: In light of Jayson Tatum’s ruptured Achilles tendon and every personnel decision they’ve made since, it’s more than fair to believe that the Celtics are preparing to tank away this upcoming season. A frontcourt rotation of Neemias Queta, Luka Garza, and Xavier Tillman speaks volumes. Boston is still in the second apron and about $20 million over the luxury tax, but, regardless of what Brad Stevens has said, it would be a true stunner if it didn’t shed more money during the season to dodge repeater tax penalties. The likely casualties are Anfernee Simons and Georges Niang, but no one should be shocked if/when Sam Hauser gets traded.

Being bad makes a lot of sense for the Celtics. So does consistently letting Baylor Scheierman, Hugo Gonzalez, JD Davison, and Josh Minott dictate action with the ball in their hands instead of putting unnecessary miles on Jaylen Brown and Derrick White’s legs. If they go that route, having one of the worst records in the league is definitely on the table."

[La Flame]

The Celtics can't take on an XL salary like Sabonis. They'd be right back to too few guys eating up too much cap space. That's how this whole mess started.

unless you trade Jaylen for him + let's say Devin Carter
https://fanspo.com/nba/trade-machine

Pay Sabonis $42, $45.5, and $48.6M for the next three years, which might be his peak years

Or pay Jaylen $53, $57, $61M for those same years and $65M for the next one

I don't love it, but I'd probably do it

Keep Simons and try to teach him to play defense?

No way we are back to Sabonis for Jaylen lmao, SMH