Free Agent/Trade/Waiver Thread, 2025-26, part 2

[Darthlukey]

All of them all-defensive candidates for sure.

I thought there was a decent chance Simons could have been traded in the Sep 6th - Sep 10th range. He wasn't traded. It would be very surprising if Simons was traded now before the mid-season trade deadline. Looks like Simons is a Celtics player for the foreseeable future. Hopefully he shows interest in defending and does well in a Celtics uniform. The Celtics could use a focused Anfernee Simons this year.

Decent chance Simons would be traded Sep. 6th - Sep. 10th range???

You guaranteed Simons would be gone when players can be aggregated.

Just like you were wrong about Fox being traded, you're also wrong about this one.

What happened to just admitting you were wrong?

Didn't you agree with me and djFan71 to man up when the time comes?

Dude, there is something wrong with you, maybe go see a doctor.

Please refrain from the personal jabs - DL

I think Brad Stevens last moves (Simons, Simmons, whoever) will come during the week of Sep 8th. If Simons makes it past the 8th/9th then he probably will make it until mid-season. I still think Simons will be gone sometime in the Sep 7th-9th range.

[Hal14]

Simons for 7 years has been a below average efficiency.

Incorrect. league average TS% is usually around 58. Last season it was 57.6.

Simons has had 3 seasons of over 58.0 TS.

Also, you're ignoring some important context:

a) Age. Brunson is 3 yrs older than Simons. Typically, the younger the player is, the less efficient they are. Typically, NBA players peak sometime around age 28-31. There's usually improvement until then. Simons just turned 26. His best basketball is likely still to come. Yet he's already been over league average TS% 3 times

Trae is about same age as Simons. TS% last year:
Trae 56.7
Simons 55.7

Trae is higher but not significantly higher. They're pretty close. Of course, Trae is better. But he also gets paid WAY more, is ATL's franchise player. Point is, guards of this age with high usage, typically aren't much higher than Simons is in terms of TS%..

b) Usage. The higher the usage, the harder it is to have really high efficiency. Look at guys like Maxey, Cade Cunningham and Lamelo Ball. Young guards with high usage. Last yr TS%..all of them were below league average:

Donovan Mitchell 57.5
Trae 56.7
Cade 56.5
Ja 56.3
Maxey 56.2
De'Aaron Fox 56.0
Simons 55.7
Lamelo 53.6

They're mostly around that 56 mark..

c) Teammates. The better the teammates are, the easier it is to have high efficiency. The worse the teammates are, the harder it is to have high efficiency. Lamelo's hornets team was dog poo last season..he's young, very high usage, hence the low TS% he had. Maxey's team was also very bad last season - otherwise his TS% would have been higher. Fox was on 2 teams last year..one of them was slightly better than Simons' blazers team, while the other was slightly worse (the spurs who Fox didn't play many games for) and he is slightly older than Simons. And he and Simons had nearly identical TS%.

Neither are very good defenders. Yet look at the contract Fox just got. 4 yrs, $229 mil. Sure, probably a bit of an overpay, but still. It shows that Simons is much better than some folks on here seem to think.

Garland had a TS% last year of around 60. However, if we take the cumulative TS% over the past 4 seasons of both Garland and Simons, they're pretty much the same. Yet Garland is on a 5 yr, $197 mil contract. Garland's TS% spiked up last year though because Cleveland was such a freakishly good team. His teammates were awesome, which meant less defensive pressure on him, and better ball movement - both of those factors together = easier shots for Garland = higher TS%.

Simply pulling numbers and posting them can be misleading. Gotta factor in the context.

Not to mention that if we look at the past 7 years and and rank the 30 NBA teams in terms of how good their coaching has been during that time, Portland might be dead last on that list.

Young guard with high usage, the no. 1 option on a bad team with bad coaching. That's a recipe for a low TS% if I've ever seen one. The fact that he's actually been over league average TS% 3 times given the circumstances is a damn near miracle..it shows how talented he is.

Can't imagine how good he would be in Boston with lower usage (which means higher efficiency), plus he'll be older and closer to his peak (means higher efficiency) and he'll have better teammates (means higher efficiency). Not to mention he'll have better coaching and be playing in the weaker conference.

[Fierce1]

Digging up Simons' past is over.

Time to move forward because it's very obvious now Simons will be playing for the Celtics.

This will be a win-win for both the Cs and Simons.

Simons is playing for his next contract and the Cs need a dynamic scoring guard.

[Hal14]

Digging up Simons' past is over.

Time to move forward because it's very obvious now Simons will be playing for the Celtics.

This will be a win-win for both the Cs and Simons.

Simons is playing for his next contract and the Cs need a dynamic scoring guard.

Yup. And if he's bad, then we get a better draft pick.

Win-win.

[Fierce1]

Digging up Simons' past is over.

Time to move forward because it's very obvious now Simons will be playing for the Celtics.

This will be a win-win for both the Cs and Simons.

Simons is playing for his next contract and the Cs need a dynamic scoring guard.

Yup. And if he's bad, then we get a better draft pick.

Win-win.

Also true.

[tfribs45]

not sure how this would affect our apron, but Westbrook would be a strong fit with this unit.....Noticed a few articles and I'm surprised nobody's talking about it? All I see is this fixation with Simons, he's about to be your beloved Celts fan favorite hahaha, To Be Continued!

[Larry_Russell]

Simons for 7 years has been a below average efficiency.

Incorrect. league average TS% is usually around 58. Last season it was 57.6.

Simons has had 3 seasons of over 58.0 TS.

Also, you're ignoring some important context:

a) Age. Brunson is 3 yrs older than Simons. Typically, the younger the player is, the less efficient they are. Typically, NBA players peak sometime around age 28-31. There's usually improvement until then. Simons just turned 26. His best basketball is likely still to come. Yet he's already been over league average TS% 3 times

Trae is about same age as Simons. TS% last year:
Trae 56.7
Simons 55.7

Trae is higher but not significantly higher. They're pretty close. Of course, Trae is better. But he also gets paid WAY more, is ATL's franchise player. Point is, guards of this age with high usage, typically aren't much higher than Simons is in terms of TS%..

b) Usage. The higher the usage, the harder it is to have really high efficiency. Look at guys like Maxey, Cade Cunningham and Lamelo Ball. Young guards with high usage. Last yr TS%..all of them were below league average:

Donovan Mitchell 57.5
Trae 56.7
Cade 56.5
Ja 56.3
Maxey 56.2
De'Aaron Fox 56.0
Simons 55.7
Lamelo 53.6

They're mostly around that 56 mark..

c) Teammates. The better the teammates are, the easier it is to have high efficiency. The worse the teammates are, the harder it is to have high efficiency. Lamelo's hornets team was dog poo last season..he's young, very high usage, hence the low TS% he had. Maxey's team was also very bad last season - otherwise his TS% would have been higher. Fox was on 2 teams last year..one of them was slightly better than Simons' blazers team, while the other was slightly worse (the spurs who Fox didn't play many games for) and he is slightly older than Simons. And he and Simons had nearly identical TS%.

Neither are very good defenders. Yet look at the contract Fox just got. 4 yrs, $229 mil. Sure, probably a bit of an overpay, but still. It shows that Simons is much better than some folks on here seem to think.

Garland had a TS% last year of around 60. However, if we take the cumulative TS% over the past 4 seasons of both Garland and Simons, they're pretty much the same. Yet Garland is on a 5 yr, $197 mil contract. Garland's TS% spiked up last year though because Cleveland was such a freakishly good team. His teammates were awesome, which meant less defensive pressure on him, and better ball movement - both of those factors together = easier shots for Garland = higher TS%.

Simply pulling numbers and posting them can be misleading. Gotta factor in the context.

Not to mention that if we look at the past 7 years and and rank the 30 NBA teams in terms of how good their coaching has been during that time, Portland might be dead last on that list.

Young guard with high usage, the no. 1 option on a bad team with bad coaching. That's a recipe for a low TS% if I've ever seen one. The fact that he's actually been over league average TS% 3 times given the circumstances is a damn near miracle..it shows how talented he is.

Can't imagine how good he would be in Boston with lower usage (which means higher efficiency), plus he'll be older and closer to his peak (means higher efficiency) and he'll have better teammates (means higher efficiency). Not to mention he'll have better coaching and be playing in the weaker conference.

that's a lot of typing just to state:
"I think he is going to get better because he is close to average TS%, He is still young and he has played on a poor team. That is why I think he is going to get better"

Heck, maybe you are correct. I don't believe it, but Lord knows I have been wrong many times in life. And I hope I am, many didn't think White was going to break through as a player (I thought he would because shooting was his only bad trait and that can be taught) and he is a borderline stud now.

And like I posted earlier, Hedo broke out in his 8th season, maybe the same can happen with Simons.

I am not convinced he has added anything of value to his game in the past 5 years, I thought he would by now, and I watched him pretty closely as I wanted the Celtics to trade Brown for him and pick number 3 back in 2023. I was CONVINCED he would break out that year, then he didn't, then he didn't in 2024 either. I wanted to post on this board and hit people with an I told you so really bad, never happened, I was very wrong.


I don't think Simons added ANYTHING to his game over the past 5 seasons at all.
And it isn't like he didn't have the opportunity.

There comes a point when you cannot say that his inefficiencies and his shortcomings are all due to coaching and teammates.

Also I think it is pretty telling that is "appears" as though no one is offering anything of any sort of value for Simons. We all know this team keeps it cards pretty close to the chest, and if reports are claiming team is "inviting" offers on him, that means you can pretty easily infer that the team has zero long term plans for him and want to move him but are getting the aforementioned poo poo platter offers.

[Larry_Russell]

not sure how this would affect our apron, but Westbrook would be a strong fit with this unit.....Noticed a few articles and I'm surprised nobody's talking about it? All I see is this fixation with Simons, he's about to be your beloved Celts fan favorite hahaha, To Be Continued!

I have always liked Westbrook.

I just dont think this team is in any sort of position to add a player like him.

I think you add him if you think his 6th man style spark can help win a title. This team needs to lose.

[tfribs45]

not sure how this would affect our apron, but Westbrook would be a strong fit with this unit.....Noticed a few articles and I'm surprised nobody's talking about it? All I see is this fixation with Simons, he's about to be your beloved Celts fan favorite hahaha, To Be Continued!

I have always liked Westbrook.

I just dont think this team is in any sort of position to add a player like him.

I think you add him if you think his 6th man style spark can help win a title. This team needs to lose.

I hear ya, but this teams going to crack the top 6 in the East IMO, these guys aren't going to fold like many here are wishing..... You minus well add depth and Westbrook could easily start or come off the bench with this group. JT may even be available towards the end of the season, you never know...

[Fierce1]

Intentionally losing games is loser's mentality.

That's not happening with Brad and Joe.

[Hal14]

not sure how this would affect our apron, but Westbrook would be a strong fit with this unit.....Noticed a few articles and I'm surprised nobody's talking about it? All I see is this fixation with Simons, he's about to be your beloved Celts fan favorite hahaha, To Be Continued!

I have always liked Westbrook.

I just dont think this team is in any sort of position to add a player like him.

I think you add him if you think his 6th man style spark can help win a title. This team needs to lose.

I hear ya, but this teams going to crack the top 6 in the East IMO, these guys aren't going to fold like many here are wishing..... You minus well add depth and Westbrook could easily start or come off the bench with this group. JT may even be available towards the end of the season, you never know...

How would westbrook start?

We don't know who will start between Pritchard and Simons. The one who doesn't start is the first guard off the bench. Westbrook would be (at best) the second guard off the bench.

I'm sure he would rather sign with a team where:

a) he's got a better chance to win a title (since Westbrook is a veteran ring chaser who's never won a ring) and we're currently 15th in Vegas betting odds to win the 2026 title. I'm sure he'd prefer to go to a team further up on that list..his recent teams are the Clippers and Nuggets who both had a much better chance to compete for a title than Boston does this season

b) He'd have a larger role than 2nd guard off the bench

Plus, we don't have any roster spots available. We're at the maximum 21 guys on the offseason roster. Sure, we could waive 1 of our exhibit 10 guys to make room, but then we'd be at the maximum 15 guys on standard contracts and Brad is unlikely to fill all 15 standard roster spots out of the gate. He typically leaves the 15th spot open, for $ savings and flexibility reasons.

I'm also not sure how Westbrook is a good fit here? The guards/wings who have fit well here in recent years have pretty much all been guys who can shoot the ball well from deep..or they were elite defenders like Smart. Westbrook isn't either of those things.

[Riverwalk2021]

Simmons is a bigger version of Cam Thomas. Empty stats and no impact on winning, the anti-Derrick White. Might be best to let his contract expire and free up all that cap space instead of taking on salary and shelling out 2nd round picks unless you can get a guy that helps in the front court.

[Riverwalk2021]

Signing Westbrick is the ultimate white flag a contender is cooked. He messes up spacing on offense, low bball iq and can't finish at the rim anymore. Definitely a net negative player. He doesn't really fit on any type of NBA team anymore.

[tfribs45]

Signing Westbrick is the ultimate white flag a contender is cooked. He messes up spacing on offense, low bball iq and can't finish at the rim anymore. Definitely a net negative player. He doesn't really fit on any type of NBA team anymore.

have you seen our bench and options at the 5, he'd absolutely help with the effort/rebounding/athleticism on this roster

[tfribs45]

I have always liked Westbrook.

I just dont think this team is in any sort of position to add a player like him.

I think you add him if you think his 6th man style spark can help win a title. This team needs to lose.

I hear ya, but this teams going to crack the top 6 in the East IMO, these guys aren't going to fold like many here are wishing..... You minus well add depth and Westbrook could easily start or come off the bench with this group. JT may even be available towards the end of the season, you never know...

How would westbrook start?

We don't know who will start between Pritchard and Simons. The one who doesn't start is the first guard off the bench. Westbrook would be (at best) the second guard off the bench.

I'm sure he would rather sign with a team where:

a) he's got a better chance to win a title (since Westbrook is a veteran ring chaser who's never won a ring) and we're currently 15th in Vegas betting odds to win the 2026 title. I'm sure he'd prefer to go to a team further up on that list

b) He'd have a larger role than 2nd guard off the bench

Plus, we don't have any roster spots available. We're at the maximum 21 guys on the offseason roster. Sure, we could waive 1 of our exhibit 10 guys to make room, but then we'd be at the maximum 15 guys on standard contracts and Brad is unlikely to fill all 15 standard roster spots out of the gate. He typically leaves the 15th spot open, for $ savings and flexibility reasons.

I'm also not sure how Westbrook is a good fit here? The guards/wings who have fit well here in recent years have pretty much all been guys who can shoot the ball well from deep..or they were elite defenders like Smart. Westbrook isn't either of those things.

he'd be a solid addition to this depleted roster, don't expect the same run and gun offense to survive. I'd start him over Hauser or PP, decent length and athleticism/rebounder. We could easily trim the fat on this roster and add on, just not sure on the finances. Either way your opinion, but our bench is prob one of the worst in the league right now. Still a better convo then trading Simons for 15 pages LMAO. Enjoy the offseason

[Hal14]

Simmons is a bigger version of Cam Thomas. Empty stats and no impact on winning, the anti-Derrick White. Might be best to let his contract expire and free up all that cap space instead of taking on salary and shelling out 2nd round picks unless you can get a guy that helps in the front court.

Chances are, you're only saying that because he happened to get drafted by Portland. He's been on a bad team with bad coaching for 7 years.

Let's imagine for a moment, he was drafted by Denver and Jamal Murray was drafted by Portland. What would you say then? I'd say there's a pretty good chance that Simons would have a ring right now and be making $40mil a year or more.

Or if he was drafted by Cleveland and Garland was drafted by Portland.

Or if he was drafted by Detroit. And Cade was drafted by Portland.

Or if he was drafted by Dallas (then later signed with the Knicks) and Jalen Brunson was drafted by Portland.

Or if he was drafted by Utah, while Donovan Mitchell was drafted by Portland?

Is Paolo empty stats? What about De'Aaron Fox? Lamelo? Ja? Some might say that the only difference between all of these guys I mentioned and Simons is they had better teammates and better coaches than Simons.

There's a few differences between Simons and Cam Thomas:

-Simons has averaged 17+ PPG while playing in 45+ games in each of the last 4 seasons. Thomas has only done that once..and it was not last season
-Thomas only played in 25 games last season, due to injury. Simons has no injury concerns
-Simons has been over league average TS% while playing in 45+ games in 3 seasons. Thomas has done it 0 times.
-Simons has had a TS% of 56+ while playing in 45+ games 4 times. Only once for Thomas
-Career assist % Simons at 19. Thomas at only 14.
-Simons has had an assist % of 20+ while playing in 45+ games 3 times. Thomas has done it 0 times
-Simons has had an assist % of 15+ while playing in 45+ games 4 times. Thomas has done it 1 time
-Simons had started 25+ games in each of the past 4 seasons. Thomas has only started 25+ games in 1 season
-Eye test tells me that Simons is more clutch, is better at driving the ball to the basket, a better shooter, is a better passer, a better defender than Thomas
-Simons has a higher career BPM and higher career VORP

[GoCeltics123]

The goals with this team are pretty simple to me:

--Young players need to play a LOT. You need to see what you have with Scheierman, Walsh, Minott, Garza, Queta, Hugo, Amari, Luis, etc. This the perfect team to do it. Competition
--Simons and Boucher are here to be traded at the deadline (hopefully). Take any positive value you can get for them. Simons is a bit challenging due to his salary, but as long as Boucher is healthy and productive, he will 100% have a market due to being on a minimum and for a bunch of teams that will need a backup PF/center. A team like Denver would make a ton of sense for him. Simons I could see the Bucks? Heat? It'll be tricky, and they probably won't want long-term salary unless it's a guy they like (they want to get under the tax). I could see Simons getting bought out at the deadline if there's no trade out there for him (and he's healthy)
--Try to get under the tax as best you can
--Jaylen, Derrick, PP and Hauser should be load-managed as much as possible, this season doesn't matter and their health matters. PP this'll be tough to convince lol

Lastly:
--I think a lot of people are sleeping on the fact that Jaylen Brown and Derrick White's (Derrick to a lesser extent) future could be tied to how this season goes. If the Celtics do end up tanking, and get AJ Dybantsa or Cam Boozer, I could 100% see Jaylen being moved to spread out the talent when Tatum is back

[Curmudgeon]

Is Simons in the Celtics' long term plans? That starts with the question of whether or not Simons is willing to take a steep discount from what he is making this year.

If he's not in the team's long term plans, what's the point of giving him minutes when there are so many other players you are trying to develop?

[GoCeltics123]

Is Simons in the Celtics' long term plans? That starts with the question of whether or not Simons is willing to take a steep discount from what he is making this year.

If he's not in the team's long term plans, what's the point of giving him minutes when there are so many other players you are trying to develop?

He’s not going to be here part this year regardless of what happens imo. He’s not Brad’s type of player

[Hal14]

Is Simons in the Celtics' long term plans? That starts with the question of whether or not Simons is willing to take a steep discount from what he is making this year.

If he's not in the team's long term plans, what's the point of giving him minutes when there are so many other players you are trying to develop?

He’s not going to be here part this year regardless of what happens imo. He’s not Brad’s type of player

What's that supposed to mean?

Brad traded a 1st round pick + 5 players (including Nesmith) for Brogdon. Simons is kind of like Brogdon except better, younger and less injury prone.

Brad also signed Dennis Schroeder. Simons is younger and better.

Brad drafted Scheierman. Simons is better, more proven at the NBA level..

Brad extended Pritchard. Simons is less of a grinder but overall more talented, more athletic, better driver..

Brad brought in Lonnie Walker to training camp and probably would have signed him to a standard contract if we were in a better financial position..

Is there a good chance that Simons gets traded by the deadline? Yeah.

But is it wise to make such definitive statements like the one you just made? I don't think so. None of us have a crystal ball. None of us know with 100% certainty what will happen. All we can do is make educated guesses on what *might* happen or we can say what we would do if we were the Celtics GM.

There's several posters on here who said that Simons would definitely be gone by now. And guess what? He's still here. Those people look silly now. And there's a chance that people will look silly if they say things like "he won't make it past this yr"..

I'm sure there was plenty of people who thought Mazzulla would be gone by now. He's still here. There's probably plenty of people who thought Pritchard would be gone by now too..