Free Agent/Trade/Waiver Thread, 2025-26

[bucknersrevenge]

I was looking at hoopshype at the 2025 2nd round picks who've signed standard contracts (Kam Jones, Rasheer Flemind, etc) and the 2025-26 salary figure for these signees is $1.28 million.

One thing that still doesn't make sense to me, with us being so strapped financially, is wouldn't the easiest way to save on the margins be to sign some draftees to an NBA contract. This goes beyond questioning, "Why didn't Brad just keep pick #32 and take Kalkbrenner or Raynaud" but like if we had just signed Amari Williams and Max Shulga ($1.27 + $1.27) to the roster spots that we signed Josh Minott and Luka Garza to wouldn't we have saved over $2 million?

Because I do some trade math on various suggested trades, and a lot of these hypothetical deals that move Hauser, Niang, Simons etc that after we get players back we're still ending up $250k - $2.5 million over the tax. And, if the math is so tight, why are we not just signing our picks but instead signing veteran FAs?

Seems like just that extra $2 million we spent on Minott and Garza is really going to come into play for getting under the tax.

He either disliked both Kalkbrenner and Raynaud, or he has his eye on something or both. Lots of other teams passed on these guys, so there's that. But you can't have enough good big men, so this has a chance to look bad on what would have been a small cost.

Not to mention that neither Williams or Shulga deserve a roster spot

Ryan Kalkbrenner and Amari Williams are pretty much the exact same age. Same wingspan as well. Williams projects as a better rebounder and passer but Kalk is a way better finisher right now. Kalk looks like a Luke clone but I think he'd be getting the exact same treatment from the team that Williams is getting if we had drafted him instead. Plus he's a lefty and lefties in general are just harder to guard.

[dortmunder]

Kai jones?

[Riverwalk2021]

I still want to see the C's consolidate Simons, Hauser and Niang to get under the tax and create flexibility for next offseason. Maybe get back a piece at $15M or less that has some upside like WCJ/Isaacs from Orl who both seem repetitive (Orl needs shooting).

[Hal14]

Ben Simmons looking in good shape:

Read on Twitter

Bring him to Boston.

Bassey headed to Partizan, EuroLeague team:

Read on Twitter

So what do we do?

-Dump Tillman via trade, like the trade dump we did with Vonleh and Springer
-Sign Simmons
-Leaves us at 14 on standard roster..leave it there, convert 1 of our 2-way guys late in the season
-Let's roll

[playa-hater]

Ben Simmons looking in good shape:

Read on Twitter

Bring him to Boston.

Bassey headed to Partizan, EuroLeague team:

Read on Twitter

So what do we do?

-Dump Tillman via trade, like the trade dump we did with Vonleh and Springer
-Sign Simmons
-Leaves us at 14 on standard roster..leave it there, convert 1 of our 2-way guys late in the season
-Let's roll

Ben Simmons looking good in the summer??? shocker.. what's next, Ben Simmons making some 3s ?? Opps.. LOL..

OK whatever. I am already on board bringing Ben in..

[chrisab123]

The Ben Simmons stuff isn’t happening unless GSW LAL LAC NYK all pass on him.

Boston isn’t a preferred market for this guy. This is the same guy who had Rich Paul fake his back injury to get to his preferred destination of the Lakers. It didn’t work and he got Brooklyn instead but still…

[Hal14]

I still want to see the C's consolidate Simons, Hauser and Niang to get under the tax and create flexibility for next offseason. Maybe get back a piece at $15M or less that has some upside like WCJ/Isaacs from Orl who both seem repetitive (Orl needs shooting).

Maybe.

Downside of that plan?

You're trading 3 good players away for nothing.

Sure, we'e creating flexibility to *hopefully acquire good player(s) next summer. But there's no guarantee we'll be able to acquire good player(s) next summer. But we have 3 good players on our team now - Simons, Niang, Hauser who could potentially help us win banner 19..mine as well keep them, rather than move them, just to *maybe* get some other player a year from now who could *maybe* be as good as the ones we're getting rid of now..

[chrisab123]

I still want to see the C's consolidate Simons, Hauser and Niang to get under the tax and create flexibility for next offseason. Maybe get back a piece at $15M or less that has some upside like WCJ/Isaacs from Orl who both seem repetitive (Orl needs shooting).

Maybe.

Downside of that plan?

You're trading 3 good players away for nothing.

Sure, we'e creating flexibility to *hopefully acquire good player(s) next summer. But there's no guarantee we'll be able to acquire good player(s) next summer. But we have 3 good players on our team now - Simons, Niang, Hauser who could potentially help us win banner 19..mine as well keep them, rather than move them, just to *maybe* get some other player a year from now who could *maybe* be as good as the ones we're getting rid of now..

But think about the savings and the tanking….

Boston is not a true destination for elite talent. The Celtics aren’t located in Miami LA or NYC. Those are the teams that can safely dump players for nothing and know that most of the time they’ll probably get who they want.

[Celts17Pride]

Can’t wait to see those off-season videos of Ben Simmons making a couple three pointers

[jfs1000d]

The Ben Simmons stuff isn’t happening unless GSW LAL LAC NYK all pass on him.

Boston isn’t a preferred market for this guy. This is the same guy who had Rich Paul fake his back injury to get to his preferred destination of the Lakers. It didn’t work and he got Brooklyn instead but still…

I just find this nonsense. Knicks never get anyone. Comes down to money and playing time.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Gant]

Noa Dalzell:

Former Celtics guard signs with Houston Rockets
JD Davison, who was on a two-way contract with the Celtics for the last three seasons, signs a two-way contract with the Rockets shortly after being waived.

https://www.celticsblog.com/2025/7/26/24475138/celtics-jd-davison-houston-rockets-two-way-contract

[Hal14]

I was looking at hoopshype at the 2025 2nd round picks who've signed standard contracts (Kam Jones, Rasheer Flemind, etc) and the 2025-26 salary figure for these signees is $1.28 million.

One thing that still doesn't make sense to me, with us being so strapped financially, is wouldn't the easiest way to save on the margins be to sign some draftees to an NBA contract. This goes beyond questioning, "Why didn't Brad just keep pick #32 and take Kalkbrenner or Raynaud" but like if we had just signed Amari Williams and Max Shulga ($1.27 + $1.27) to the roster spots that we signed Josh Minott and Luka Garza to wouldn't we have saved over $2 million?

Because I do some trade math on various suggested trades, and a lot of these hypothetical deals that move Hauser, Niang, Simons etc that after we get players back we're still ending up $250k - $2.5 million over the tax. And, if the math is so tight, why are we not just signing our picks but instead signing veteran FAs?

Seems like just that extra $2 million we spent on Minott and Garza is really going to come into play for getting under the tax.

He either disliked both Kalkbrenner and Raynaud, or he has his eye on something or both. Lots of other teams passed on these guys, so there's that. But you can't have enough good big men, so this has a chance to look bad on what would have been a small cost.

We drafted a good big man - Amari Williams, who was arguably a better prospect than Kalkbrenner and Raynaud.

2nd round picks are all basically just scratch tickets. We traded 1 scratch ticket for 4 scratch tickets.

[Hal14]

I still want to see the C's consolidate Simons, Hauser and Niang to get under the tax and create flexibility for next offseason. Maybe get back a piece at $15M or less that has some upside like WCJ/Isaacs from Orl who both seem repetitive (Orl needs shooting).

Maybe.

Downside of that plan?

You're trading 3 good players away for nothing.

Sure, we'e creating flexibility to *hopefully acquire good player(s) next summer. But there's no guarantee we'll be able to acquire good player(s) next summer. But we have 3 good players on our team now - Simons, Niang, Hauser who could potentially help us win banner 19..mine as well keep them, rather than move them, just to *maybe* get some other player a year from now who could *maybe* be as good as the ones we're getting rid of now..

But think about the savings and the tanking….

Boston is not a true destination for elite talent. The Celtics aren’t located in Miami LA or NYC. Those are the teams that can safely dump players for nothing and know that most of the time they’ll probably get who they want.

Agreed. That's why I'm fine keeping these guys (Hauser, Niang, Simons) rather than dumping them with the hope that we can maybe acquire players next summer who are as good or better than them.

In Brad we trust.

[playa-hater]

Can’t wait to see those off-season videos of Ben Simmons making a couple three pointers

Well, what would summer be like without barbecue? Picnics and an occasional ben simmons, three point mirage video.

[Hal14]

Can’t wait to see those off-season videos of Ben Simmons making a couple three pointers

Well, what would summer be like without barbecue? Picnics and an occasional ben simmons, three point mirage video.

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

[Fierce1]

Maybe.

Downside of that plan?

You're trading 3 good players away for nothing.

Sure, we'e creating flexibility to *hopefully acquire good player(s) next summer. But there's no guarantee we'll be able to acquire good player(s) next summer. But we have 3 good players on our team now - Simons, Niang, Hauser who could potentially help us win banner 19..mine as well keep them, rather than move them, just to *maybe* get some other player a year from now who could *maybe* be as good as the ones we're getting rid of now..

But think about the savings and the tanking….

Boston is not a true destination for elite talent. The Celtics aren’t located in Miami LA or NYC. Those are the teams that can safely dump players for nothing and know that most of the time they’ll probably get who they want.

Agreed. That's why I'm fine keeping these guys (Hauser, Niang, Simons) rather than dumping them with the hope that we can maybe acquire players next summer who are as good or better than them.

In Brad we trust.

True.

That's what some pro-tankers want Brad to do, dump players.

Brad does not do dump.

[ThePigeon]

Bassey is probably going to Partizan to join Shake Milton and Jabari Parker
There is interest from other teams in Europe

[Hal14]

C Queta
F Hauser
F Brown
G Simons
G White

6th man: Pritchard

Bench: Niang, Simmons

That could be like the primary 8 man rotation

Then, Garza gets mins as 3rd big as a 9th/10th man

The other guy getting mins as a 9th/10th man would come from the battle between Hugo/Baylor/Minott/Walsh

That's the main 10 guys getting the most mins for us.

Amari will get spot mins as 4th big. Niang play some small ball 5 as another big if needed.

Everyone else will battle for whatever mins are left.

The 2-way guys will play in Maine a bit..Hugo might play in Maine a little too..

*This is based on us dumping Tillman via trade, signing Simmons and leaving the 15th spot open..

Training camp/preseason will clarify things as far as lineups, mins, depth chart..

[sam_I_am]

As fun as it is to hate on Ben Simmons, I love the idea of pairing him with JB and Tatum. I think he could replace Al Horford as a small center/PF minus the 3 point shooting. I think his ability to run the floor and pass could really bring out the best of JB. With shooters like Hauser, PP, Niang and Garza his own poor shooting might be less of an issue. He is going to be a vet minimum guy and to get lotto talent at that tag can sometimes work out even with all the baggage he will bring. I think a role player who is 6-10, a strong defender, had great handles and passing ability is actually extremely hard to find. I have long coveted a guy like that to let JT and JB use their size advantage at SF and SG position.

[Riverwalk2021]

Ben Simmons in a vacuum makes a lot of sense. Length, ball handling, court vision, defense…however like with KP he is better in theory than in actual practice. Injuries, mentally soft, any other intangible you can think of….whatever it is those guys just aren’t as good as you think they should be.

Ask yourself why they can never stick to any team