Free Agent/Trade/Waiver Thread, 2025-26

[Fierce1]

Trade Simons and a 1st rnd pick for Coby White and I will be ecstatic!

[cl2117]

Saw this on the trade thread. Want no part of Murray or involving Hauser. But it still works for NOP if you send Bey and Alvarado for Simons as part of the 3-team deal.

BOS part: Bey and Alvarado for Simons (and if I'm greedy, X).

Gets us almost too far below the tax, lol. Even if they don't take X, we'd have plenty of room to just waive someone (not Jordan... i know he's non-guaranteed, but la la la, can't hear you). Or do a 2 for 1 consolidation trade where we take more money back and still end up below the tax.

Alvarado would be a fun 3rd guard. Size a mild concern with Pritchard, but it's not a long term solution necessarily. Just a minutes eater for this year, or part of that 2 for 1 consolidation trade. Bey and Alavarado for Clarke saves MEM some money. Or something similar.

EDIT: No idea if NOP goes for the amended version, but they still get Simons, just not off of Murray. I'd toss in a few 2nds, but not anything more.

I don't think NOP can take on Simons without sending back signficantly more money.

Keeping with that original deal including Kuzma, I think you could do something like:

BOS: Bey, Alvarado, Andre Jackson

NOP: Simons, Kuzma

MIL: Poole

The Kuzma for Poole and Simons/Poole swaps I'm still unsure on, but assuming the Bucks an Pelicans were on board this would be a huge win for us.

Some solid replacement level vets and a ton of cap savings. We could then pivot to making some Jaden Springer-esque trades for 2nd draft guys on the cheap and still try to duck the tax while taking a gap year and developing the kids.

[Fierce1]

Add Bey to the list of "ugh" players.

Are we playing Bey Blade now?

Trade to upgrade!

I understand a 500m payroll is too much, but sacrificing talent just to save millions is being cheap.

The owner can afford to pay billions for the Celtic franchise.

By going under the 2nd apron, the Cs already saved millions.

Maybe that's why Brad is not trading Simons for "ugh" players.

[165bows]

Add Bey to the list of "ugh" players.

Are we playing Bey Blade now?

Trade to upgrade!

I understand a 500m payroll is too much, but sacrificing talent just to save millions is being cheap.

The owner can afford to pay billions for the Celtic franchise.

By going under the 2nd apron, the Cs already saved millions.

Maybe that's why Brad is not trading Simons for "ugh" players.

Nah Billy C ponied up about $1.5B the rest was others no one is in for multiple billions on this team right now.

I agree though on the trade targets. They will wait until the deadline if they don't get some modest level of asset back for SimonsIfHe'sStillAround.

[Hal14]

Paint touches. It opens everything up.

Puts the defense in rotation.

Creates advantages.

You don't just jack up 3's. You take open 3's which are generated after the defense collapses from a paint touch.

Read on Twitter

Besides the Jays, we don't have anyone else who can get paint touches. Simons gives us 3 guys who can get paint touches.

[Larry_Russell]

Paint touches. It opens everything up.

Puts the defense in rotation.

Creates advantages.

You don't just jack up 3's. You take open 3's which are generated after the defense collapses from a paint touch.

Read on Twitter

Besides the Jays, we don't have anyone else who can get paint touches. Simons gives us 3 guys who can get paint touches.

still with this nonsense.


Know who else gives paint touches? A **** post up.

[Celts17Pride]

I really don't understand these Simons arguments. The Celtics don't think Simons is part of their future and are looking to move him as soon as a an acceptable deal presents itself. It's well documented the Celtics have been trying to move Simons from the moment they traded for him. Simons was a way to get off of Jrue Holiday's long term money.

So this is not a question of what value Simons could bring to the Celtics, the Celtics don't want him for whatever their reasons. The Celtics moving Simons is just a matter of time.

[Hal14]

I really don't understand these Simons arguments. The Celtics don't think Simons is part of their future and are looking to move him as soon as a an acceptable deal presents itself. It's well documented the Celtics have been trying to move Simons from the moment they traded for him. Simons was a way to get off of Jrue Holiday's long term money.

We get it.

We don't have to agree with it.

[Celts17Pride]

I really don't understand these Simons arguments. The Celtics don't think Simons is part of their future and are looking to move him as soon as a an acceptable deal presents itself. It's well documented the Celtics have been trying to move Simons from the moment they traded for him. Simons was a way to get off of Jrue Holiday's long term money.

You've said that 300 times now.

We get it.

We don't have to agree.

You don't have to keep repeating yourself.

Apparently you don't get it.

[Hal14]

I really don't understand these Simons arguments. The Celtics don't think Simons is part of their future and are looking to move him as soon as a an acceptable deal presents itself. It's well documented the Celtics have been trying to move Simons from the moment they traded for him. Simons was a way to get off of Jrue Holiday's long term money.

You've said that 300 times now.

We get it.

We don't have to agree.

You don't have to keep repeating yourself.

Apparently you don't get it.

I don't have to agree with everything you say.

Sure, there's rumors that the Celtics are open to trading Simons. There's rumors that he will be moved by the trade deadline. But not all rumors are true, not all trade rumors actually happen (especially since there isn't a single team that is rumored to be interested in trading for Simons) and there's also rumors that the C's like Simons as a player and are excited to see how he fits on this team and in our system.

It's also the slowest time of year for basketball news. There's nothing else going on right now, nothing else to talk about so as a result all of these NBA reporters just take the same rumors about Simons, Kuminga and Cam Thomas and regurgitate them a million times which makes it seem like they are a bigger rumor than they are and it makes it seem like there are more reporters talking about it.

Jake Fischer just repeats the same Simons rumor ever 2 or 3 weeks and then all of these smaller, lesser known reporters just write articles that link to the latest Jake Fischer rumor.

It takes 2 teams to make a trade. Even if BOS wants to trade him, we can't force another team to do it. So there's a non-zero chance he plays here the whole season if Brad can't find a trade partner and if he's here all season there's a non-zero chance he plays well enough and is a good enough fit that BOS resigns him next summer. Maybe a small chance of these things happening but it's a higher than 0% chance.

And even if the C's are open to trading him, what harm does it do if someone posts about how he could possibly help this team win games and how he could possibly help us win banner 19?

Why belittle those posters and try to shut them down every single time they post the slightest thing positive about a player currently on our roster?

[Larry_Russell]

You repeating the same thing 300 times offers no value to this forum.

thats precious.

[Celts17Pride]

You repeating the same thing 300 times offers no value to this forum.

thats precious.

Isn't it?

[Celts17Pride]

Why belittle those posters and try to shut them down every single time they post the slightest thing positive about a player currently on our roster?

You can post whatever you want. I didn't even respond to one of your posts until you started attacking me. My initial post was I don't understand the Simons arguments, the Celtics don't want him. End of story.

[fallguy]

I really don't understand these Simons arguments. The Celtics don't think Simons is part of their future and are looking to move him as soon as a an acceptable deal presents itself. It's well documented the Celtics have been trying to move Simons from the moment they traded for him. Simons was a way to get off of Jrue Holiday's long term money.

You've said that 300 times now.

We get it.

We don't have to agree.

You don't have to keep repeating yourself.

Pot. Kettle.

[celtxman]

Of course Stevens is going to say he likes Simons. A salesman doesn't say he dislikes the product he's trying to sell. So let's forget about that little clip that we've all watched ad nauseum.

Payton Pritchard is the same offensive player with better defense and rebounding. Derrick White is a better player in all facets. On offense, Simons duplicates what they already have. On defense he is a long step down. They would be a far better team if they could exchange Simons for help in the frontcourt and save some tax in the process. Then they could sign someone like Melton or Milton for the minimum to be the third guard.

I think the Celtics plan is not to resign a guy like Simons at $30 million a season(or more) after this season and to ultimately beat the bushes for someone making much less. So yes - if they can lose more money and get something serviceable in return, they do it. And then pick up Milton to eat up minutes.
There was value in making the Simons trade to take out 2 seasons of Jrue's contract. But we can't get out of Jrue's contract.....just to get back in. The priority is a top level big and the money needs to be saved for that.

[cl2117]

I can see value for Simons for next year for this team on the court, but I still firmly believe he's a "fool's gold" kind of player. There is a reason why the Blazers hadn't found a taker for him prior to us. I wouldn't want to invest money in him long-term and if he's available to re-sign on a team friendly deal that means it didn't work out here and I don't want him.

I'm keen to get off that ride as soon as possible provided we can get something workable back.

I'm all for adding draft capital to him if it would mean getting a significant piece back but I struggle to see anything viable that's worthwhile. A couple firsts for Trey Murphy? Absolutely. A first for Coby White? Not interested. I'd want to make sure whatever we got back would be worth not keeping our powder dry.

The next best thing would be to break him into pieces where we can have a bit of a pick and mix between trialing some more cost effective vets or some 2nd draft guys and/or dump some salary to save more tax money in a "gap year". I think there is also sine validity to the idea we need to maintain some of these salary slots so that we have a chance to aggregate enough to match for an impact player in the future, so I'm also fine with just getting back some non-expiring pieces that would be good ballast down the line in a big trade.

Factor in the added benefit of a better 2026 draft pick with him gone and it just makes me more keen to trade him away. That goes to show that he would have a positive on court impact next year because he'd likely help us win a decent number more games than we would without. However since I have no interest in investing in him long-term I'd rather those minutes to go to our rookie scale guys and/or 2nd draft guys we could get on the cheap (even if that's a much uglier product and results in more losses).

It's a waiting game at this stage. I'm sure Joe is working equally as hard to figure out how to best use him as Brad is to try to find a good deal for him. Those two things hopefully will positively impact each other.

[flintsky21]

The Celtics prefer to move Simons, yes. But until that happens, there remains the possibility that he's on the opening night roster, he plays well enough for the FO to like him, Simons like Boston, and both sides that can work on a long term partnership. That's an idea that some of us here are willing to entertain.

[Hal14]

I think the Celtics plan is not to resign a guy like Simons at $30 million a season(or more) after this season and to ultimately beat the bushes for someone making much less. So yes - if they can lose more money and get something serviceable in return, they do it. And then pick up Milton to eat up minutes.
There was value in making the Simons trade to take out 2 seasons of Jrue's contract. But we can't get out of Jrue's contract.....just to get back in. The priority is a top level big and the money needs to be saved for that.

Some championship teams have a "top level big". Some don't. It's not a necessity.

What all championship teams have is talent. Simons has talent.

Sure, in a perfect world we would magically just flip Simons for a big of equal or greater talent level. But it's not an perfect world. And chances are, if that deal was possible, it would have happened by now.

I'd like to win another championship sooner rather than later. So I'd rather not downgrade our talent level.

[2Mas]

I don't think the new ownership bodes well for Jaylen Brown, especially if they end up with an impactful player in the Draft. That guy could end up being Brown's replacement. You would hope they use Brown to obtain a better player of equal or larger salary, but they could opt for Tax Relief and Future Picks.

I just don't trust this new guy not to pull a Henry on Celtics fans...

Yeah this is where I’m at. If they trade Brown, Tatum isn’t sticking around for a rebuild with young guys. Especially when the Lakers are going to need someone to team up with Luka and he’s a life long Laker fan.

I couldn't disagree more with your comments about Luka and the Lakers. I think Tatum is not the biggest Luka fan, JT really enjoyed beating Luka for a title and would never (n-e-v-e-r) sign up to be Robin to Luka's Batman - JT thinks he's better than Luka. Just not gonna be something JT will ever have interest in, so I really wouldn't lose sleep over it.

Facts. Tatum hates Luka. & he's not a lifelong Lakers fan. He was a Kobe fan.

[threrf23]

Some championship teams have a "top level big". Some don't. It's not a necessity.

I guess it depends on the definition of "top level big," but with the exception of our '24 championship team (and possibly OKC to be determined), literally every NBA champion for at least the past 25+ years has had a big man who played in an all star game +/- 9 months from winning a championship.

And even our '24 team at least had KP who affected the game like a top level big in stretches (and he has played in at least one all star game).