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

[Celts17Pride]

Brett Siegel is clearly stating the Celtics have been trying like crazy to move Simons and nobody wants him. Not sure why any Celtics fan would be happy with that news. Simons has no value in the NBA and people in this forum are screaming Hooray! Pretty strange. The Celtics don't want to keep Simons, they can't move him.

[redslastlaugh]

I guess because it's financial reasons why we want to trade him, to get off of his contract. And that doesnt mean he stinks, he hasnt played a single game for us yet

But as far as basketball itself, hopefully, he can be a good player on the court and contribute to a fun season or eventually get traded for value or re-signed for a good value or whatever

It is kind of a bummer to have this player who has clear strengths as an NBA player, and... we barely want him. Plus we literally traded him straight up for Jrue Holiday, one of the winningest players of the last 20 years, and it was such an afterthought, Simons did not even get an intro presser .... sort of a bummer, kind of like Kris Humpries, Keith Bogans, Gerald Wallace from way back when, sort of awkward

Brett Siegel is clearly stating the Celtics have been trying like crazy to move Simons and nobody wants him. Not sure why any Celtics fan would be happy with that news. Simons has no value in the NBA and people in this forum are screaming Hooray! Pretty strange. The Celtics don't want to keep Simons, they can't move him.

[Fierce1]

Now that we've reached the proverbial September or mid-September deadline that some of the Celtic fans expected Simons would be gone, I will give my take on why July was the best time to trade Simons.

After trading for Simons in June, the deal couldn't be made official until after July 6.

At that point there were multiple teams with significant cap space.

Fast-forward today, Brooklyn is the only team way below the salary cap.
They even needed to trade cash considerations for Kobe Bufkin so that they reach the minimum salary floor.

So the highest chance of Simons of getting flipped by Brad Stevens was from early July to end of July.
By August teams with cap space, like Utah were already acquiring more salaries in exchange for picks.
That's why I thought it was really laughable that Sep. 7 was a magical date.

Don't get me wrong, trading Simons for financial or cap reasons is really a valid argument.
But if money was really the #1 priority for Celtic owners, Simons would've been gone in July, even if the Cs had to give up some draft pick or picks just to get rid of Simons.

Moving forward, it doesn't mean the Celtics will keep Simons.
If things don't work out and the Cs are a struggling team by January, Brad will trade Simons at the trade deadline.
It will be a different story if the Cs are a winning team and are a legit playoff team by trade deadline.
So right now what's important is Simons having one of the best seasons in his career to raise his trade value.

Or the Celts could end up keeping Simons and make a decision after the season to re-sign him or not.

The point is it's been proven that the sentiment of the Celtics are desperate to trade Simons is false and that the proverbial September or mid-September Simons trade is fantasy.

It's September 18, right?

[Fierce1]

Brett Siegel is clearly stating the Celtics have been trying like crazy to move Simons and nobody wants him. Not sure why any Celtics fan would be happy with that news. Simons has no value in the NBA and people in this forum are screaming Hooray! Pretty strange. The Celtics don't want to keep Simons, they can't move him.

Nobody is disputing the claim that nobody wants Simons right now.

In fact, it's 100% true that Brad was trying to trade Simons and no team would bite.

That's not the issue here.

The issue here is some of you guys kept insisting Simons would be traded since the Cs acquired him in June.

Some said Simons would not play a single game for the Cs and Simons would be gone after July 6, when the trade becomes official.

After that didn't work, it was the proverbial Sep. 7 to Sep. 15 deadline, when players can be aggregated.

So yeah, the Cs want to move Simons and they can't move him.

That's why some of us said let Simons play for the Cs so that he can raise his trade value then trade him at the trade deadline.

It's as simple as that.

[Celts17Pride]

Brett Siegel is clearly stating the Celtics have been trying like crazy to move Simons and nobody wants him. Not sure why any Celtics fan would be happy with that news. Simons has no value in the NBA and people in this forum are screaming Hooray! Pretty strange. The Celtics don't want to keep Simons, they can't move him.

Nobody is disputing the claim that nobody wants Simons right now.

In fact, it's 100% true that Brad was trying to trade Simons and no team would bite.

That's not the issue here.

The issue here is some of you guys kept insisting Simons would be traded since the Cs acquired him in June.

Some said Simons would not play a single game for the Cs and Simons would be gone after July 6, when the trade becomes official.

After that didn't work, it was the proverbial Sep. 7 to Sep. 15 deadline, when players can be aggregated.

So yeah, the Cs want to move Simons and they can't move him.

That's why some of us said let Simons play for the Cs so that he can raise his trade value then trade him at the trade deadline.

It's as simple as that.

No one insisted anything, posters said they “believed”, they “thought” Simon’s would be traded when players could be aggregated. No one guaranteed anything. You really need to throughly read posts.

Just like the Connaughton and Grant Williams post which had a sentence of “This is just an example” in it.

Either you can’t comprehend written words or you are just out to cause trouble. I’ll let the mods decide.

[Jammer]

I tend to think that they did WANT TO move him in July, but there were no takers without draft compensation beyond what the Celtics probably felt was reasonable. And the Celtics have limited seconds, but they actually want to use their 2026 pick.

So, the fantasy of the aggregation date was on everyone's wish list, since the truth was probably too unpalatable to accept. I fall in that second group.

The Celtics wanted Simons 27.6M outgoing with 17.3M or less coming back and only one player coming back. But teams know that Simons is looking for a pay day, wants lots of shots this season, will sell himself to the highest bidder next season so Bird Rights may not be the issue although he may need a Sign & Trade to get anywhere but the team he plays for. And if he takes a buyout to play for a playoff team, he gives up his Bird Rights, which he would not want to do so he's going to stick somewhere. But no one wants to pay him 27.6M and maybe not even give him 16.4 shots per game or whatever he was taking last year in Portland.

[Hal14]

Brett Siegel is clearly stating the Celtics have been trying like crazy to move Simons and nobody wants him. Not sure why any Celtics fan would be happy with that news. Simons has no value in the NBA and people in this forum are screaming Hooray! Pretty strange. The Celtics don't want to keep Simons, they can't move him.

Trying like crazy? Where does it say that? Seems like you're using hyberbole so you can keep pushing your trade Simons agenda.

This is what the article says:

As the Boston Celtics continue to explore ways to cut costs, they have held discussions with a few teams about Simons' value and what a potential deal could look like since Summer League in July, sources said. It does not appear as if there is any immediate traction on a deal involving the sharpshooting guard before the season starts.

It doesn't say the Celtics have been trying like crazy to do anything. It says they've tried to cut costs, which they have done by trading KP, Jrue, Niang, letting Kornet walk in free agency, etc.

It says the Celtics "held discussions" with a few teams since July. We don't know how many conversations there's been, what the extent of those conversations has been, which teams the conversations were with, who initiated those conversations (Boston or the other team) or when the conversations took place. We know there was possibly some conversations in July and possibly other conversations at some point more recently than July.

That's really it.

And I say possibly because all of this stuff is just rumors and heresy. We don't really know that any of these rumors are real or not.

Again, this just seems like Siegel and Fischer who continue to just recycle the same rumors for the past 3 months. I mean, the top of the Siegal article has a picture with Giannis and LeBron in it with a bunch of question marks. I mean, if that's not clickbait, I don't know what is.

Reading through this article, there's a ton of fluff. A lot of it is just rambling, saying stuff that every NBA fan who is somewhat informed already knows.

I am not aware of any time where Siegel has actually been the one to break a legit NBA news story.

A lot of his content is “rumors,” “trade speculations,” etc., which often doesn’t pan out or is only partially accurate.

Can't believe everything you see on the internet. Especially if it's from Brett Siegel. At this point it's pretty much only Shams who is the real insider..

EuroBasket just ended and Training Camp is about 2 weeks away. Right now is literally like the slowest time of year for NBA news. These guys need to post *something* to get clicks, hit their quota and stay relevant.

Wake me up if a deal actually happens

[Curmudgeon]

The Celtic can aggregate now, but many trade restrictions expire on 12/15. I think Simons is here until at least then.

[bucknersrevenge]

If Brad was "trying like crazy" to trade Simons he'd be gone. Brad and everyone in here knows what the price for moving Simons is. And we also know that is Brad was still hell bent on cutting cost, Hauser, who is far easier to move right now, would be gone. Nothing in these regurgitated reports have said anything new since early July when Brad did his due diligence. Brad doesn't need to keep asking GMs to take Simons every 5 minutes because Brad wouldn't have traded for him if he wasn't comfortable with the possibility that he might end up here to stay.

[Fierce1]

Brett Siegel is clearly stating the Celtics have been trying like crazy to move Simons and nobody wants him. Not sure why any Celtics fan would be happy with that news. Simons has no value in the NBA and people in this forum are screaming Hooray! Pretty strange. The Celtics don't want to keep Simons, they can't move him.

Nobody is disputing the claim that nobody wants Simons right now.

In fact, it's 100% true that Brad was trying to trade Simons and no team would bite.

That's not the issue here.

The issue here is some of you guys kept insisting Simons would be traded since the Cs acquired him in June.

Some said Simons would not play a single game for the Cs and Simons would be gone after July 6, when the trade becomes official.

After that didn't work, it was the proverbial Sep. 7 to Sep. 15 deadline, when players can be aggregated.

So yeah, the Cs want to move Simons and they can't move him.

That's why some of us said let Simons play for the Cs so that he can raise his trade value then trade him at the trade deadline.

It's as simple as that.

No one insisted anything, posters said they “believed”, they “thought” Simon’s would be traded when players could be aggregated. No one guaranteed anything. You really need to throughly read posts.

Just like the Connaughton and Grant Williams post which had a sentence of “This is just an example” in it.

Either you can’t comprehend written words or you are just out to cause trouble. I’ll let the mods decide.

Come on, man, you're better than that.

Here:
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=2468842&start=1600#p119470980

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=2468842&start=1500#p119467510

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=2468842&start=1460#p119467088

It's not cool to lie when the reason why there are so many arguments about Simons is because you and some of the other Celtic fans here said Simons will be gone by September 7 or mid-September.

[Fierce1]

If Brad was "trying like crazy" to trade Simons he'd be gone. Brad and everyone in here knows what the price for moving Simons is. And we also know that is Brad was still hell bent on cutting cost, Hauser, who is far easier to move right now, would be gone. Nothing in these regurgitated reports have said anything new since early July when Brad did his due diligence. Brad doesn't need to keep asking GMs to take Simons every 5 minutes because Brad wouldn't have traded for him if he wasn't comfortable with the possibility that he might end up here to stay.

Bingo!

Report from July just reposted on Sept. 17.

Old news with a new date.

[redslastlaugh]

People have said Brad woudn't have acquired Simons if he wasn't comfortable with him as a player... But I think it's possible that Brad just wanted to take back an expiring contract for cap reasons.

The only 1:1 trade possibilities given Jrue's salary (outside of dealing Jrue into Brooklyn's cap space) whose contracts were under $30 million were Anfernee Simons, Terry Rozier or John Collins. Those were the only eligible expirings...

Anfernee Simons conceivably was the only expiring contract offered for Jrue, and that the trade didn't hinge on Simons game at all

If Brad was "trying like crazy" to trade Simons he'd be gone. Brad and everyone in here knows what the price for moving Simons is. And we also know that is Brad was still hell bent on cutting cost, Hauser, who is far easier to move right now, would be gone. Nothing in these regurgitated reports have said anything new since early July when Brad did his due diligence. Brad doesn't need to keep asking GMs to take Simons every 5 minutes because Brad wouldn't have traded for him if he wasn't comfortable with the possibility that he might end up here to stay.

[Hal14]

People have said Brad woudn't have acquired Simons if he wasn't comfortable with him as a player... But I think it's possible that Brad just wanted to take back an expiring contract for cap reasons.

The only 1:1 trade possibilities given Jrue's salary (outside of dealing Jrue into Brooklyn's cap space) whose contracts were under $30 million were Anfernee Simons, Terry Rozier or John Collins. Those were the only eligible expirings...

Anfernee Simons conceivably was the only expiring contract offered for Jrue, and that the trade didn't hinge on Simons game at all

If Brad was "trying like crazy" to trade Simons he'd be gone. Brad and everyone in here knows what the price for moving Simons is. And we also know that is Brad was still hell bent on cutting cost, Hauser, who is far easier to move right now, would be gone. Nothing in these regurgitated reports have said anything new since early July when Brad did his due diligence. Brad doesn't need to keep asking GMs to take Simons every 5 minutes because Brad wouldn't have traded for him if he wasn't comfortable with the possibility that he might end up here to stay.

Eh..the Thunder were crowned NBA champions on June 22.

News broke of the Jrue/Simons trade on June 23.

Brad pulled the trigger literally one day after the season ended. That makes me think there's a somewhat decent chance he does like Simons as a player and likes his potential fit here.

There was no rush. Brad had all offseason to try and move Jrue. Hell, the tax bill isn't calculated until the end of the season so he had until the trade deadline in mid-February to move Jrue.

Yet Brad made the trade for Simons literally the day after the season ended.

He could have waited to try and get a better offer, a better player, a better deal. If he had literally no interest at all in seeing Simons play a game as a Celtic, he could have waited for a different deal to come along.

There was rumors that a lot of other teams (SAC, DAL, Clippers, etc) were interested in trading for Jrue. But Brad chose the Simons offer.

Sure, maybe because Simons is expiring but we don't know that for sure..that's just a guess. Brad probably could have got expiring contracts from other teams too. And even if he traded for a non-expiring contract, that player could be flipped later in a separate deal.

[Larry_Russell]

People have said Brad woudn't have acquired Simons if he wasn't comfortable with him as a player... But I think it's possible that Brad just wanted to take back an expiring contract for cap reasons.

The only 1:1 trade possibilities given Jrue's salary (outside of dealing Jrue into Brooklyn's cap space) whose contracts were under $30 million were Anfernee Simons, Terry Rozier or John Collins. Those were the only eligible expirings...

Anfernee Simons conceivably was the only expiring contract offered for Jrue, and that the trade didn't hinge on Simons game at all

If Brad was "trying like crazy" to trade Simons he'd be gone. Brad and everyone in here knows what the price for moving Simons is. And we also know that is Brad was still hell bent on cutting cost, Hauser, who is far easier to move right now, would be gone. Nothing in these regurgitated reports have said anything new since early July when Brad did his due diligence. Brad doesn't need to keep asking GMs to take Simons every 5 minutes because Brad wouldn't have traded for him if he wasn't comfortable with the possibility that he might end up here to stay.

Eh..the Thunder were crowned NBA champions on June 22.

News broke of the Jrue/Simons trade on June 23.

Brad pulled the trigger literally one day after the season ended. That makes me think there's a somewhat decent chance he does like Simons as a player and likes his potential fit here.

There was no rush. Brad had all offseason to try and move Jrue. Hell, the tax bill isn't calculated until the end of the season so he had until the trade deadline in mid-February to move Jrue.

Yet Brad made the trade for Simons literally the day after the season ended.

He could have waited to try and get a better offer, a better player, a better deal. If he had literally no interest at all in seeing Simons play a game as a Celtic, he could have waited for a different deal to come along.

There was rumors that a lot of other teams (SAC, DAL, Clippers, etc) were interested in trading for Jrue. But Brad chose the Simons offer.

Sure, maybe because Simons is expiring but we don't know that for sure..that's just a guess. Brad probably could have got expiring contracts from other teams too. And even if he traded for a non-expiring contract, that player could be flipped later in a separate deal.

Or he jumped the gun in his evaluation of what he could get from Simons while potentially undervaluing a return for Jrue.

[Fierce1]

What happened to in Brad we trust?

I truly believe Brad knows what he's doing with Simons.

Worst case scenario is Simons stays the whole season and Cs get cap relief once Simons' contract expires.

[greenbeans]

Simons is this rebuild's Sebastian Telfair. Maybe he's good for us this year, maybe he's bad, either way though his future lies elsewhere

[jmr07019]

Brett Siegel is clearly stating the Celtics have been trying like crazy to move Simons and nobody wants him. Not sure why any Celtics fan would be happy with that news. Simons has no value in the NBA and people in this forum are screaming Hooray! Pretty strange. The Celtics don't want to keep Simons, they can't move him.

He's a media member fishing for clicks. You can post a different version the same article another million times it changes nothing.

[bucknersrevenge]

People have said Brad woudn't have acquired Simons if he wasn't comfortable with him as a player... But I think it's possible that Brad just wanted to take back an expiring contract for cap reasons.

The only 1:1 trade possibilities given Jrue's salary (outside of dealing Jrue into Brooklyn's cap space) whose contracts were under $30 million were Anfernee Simons, Terry Rozier or John Collins. Those were the only eligible expirings...

Anfernee Simons conceivably was the only expiring contract offered for Jrue, and that the trade didn't hinge on Simons game at all

Eh..the Thunder were crowned NBA champions on June 22.

News broke of the Jrue/Simons trade on June 23.

Brad pulled the trigger literally one day after the season ended. That makes me think there's a somewhat decent chance he does like Simons as a player and likes his potential fit here.

There was no rush. Brad had all offseason to try and move Jrue. Hell, the tax bill isn't calculated until the end of the season so he had until the trade deadline in mid-February to move Jrue.

Yet Brad made the trade for Simons literally the day after the season ended.

He could have waited to try and get a better offer, a better player, a better deal. If he had literally no interest at all in seeing Simons play a game as a Celtic, he could have waited for a different deal to come along.

There was rumors that a lot of other teams (SAC, DAL, Clippers, etc) were interested in trading for Jrue. But Brad chose the Simons offer.

Sure, maybe because Simons is expiring but we don't know that for sure..that's just a guess. Brad probably could have got expiring contracts from other teams too. And even if he traded for a non-expiring contract, that player could be flipped later in a separate deal.

Or he jumped the gun in his evaluation of what he could get from Simons while potentially undervaluing a return for Jrue.

Has Brad ever struck anyone as the kind of guy that only sees "5 minutes in front of his face"? Like just only sees the immediate thing but can't see from the "300 ft high view of everything"? People question his drafting chops for whatever reason but in trades all I hear is that Brad is playing 4D chess when he makes a deal that works out. Are we saying that it's not possible that Brad Stevens is smart enough to see a 26-year old de-valued asset in Portland who also happens to be on an expiring deal and think at the very least this guy solves one problem, but could potentially solve TWO?

All we need do is look at Brad's history here. Brad spent this ENTIRE offseason acquiring castoffs who were devalued at their last stop. So Brad acquires a guard who has played moderately well in his role on one team. In doing so he gave up also a somewhat popular defensive guard who was also a devalued asset of his own with the idea of putting him in a system that better fit his skillset as a roll of the dice



...and now we couldn't imagine this team without Derrick White.

At one point he signed a wing forward off the bench with one really good skillset and let the culture we've built through Maine and Boston aid in his development as a player and a professional and now some people are hellbent on keeping Sam Hauser here.

This **** is not new Brad. He's been doing this since he got here. We could've gotten under the 2nd apron while keeping Jrue. We all know this. Sure this was about getting off his deal but Brad also saw an opportunity to possibly bring in more offensive firepower. I refuse to believe that Brad is so dumb to think he just miscalculated here. Not after seeing what he's done his entire time in Boston.

[Dogen]

Simons is this rebuild's Sebastian Telfair. Maybe he's good for us this year, maybe he's bad, either way though his future lies elsewhere

Sebastian Telfair? A blast from the past!

Interesting comparison though, as far as the general vibe around Simons. Simons is a more proven player though. Telfair was a hyped smoke and mirrors playground legend that really was never quality NBA material.

[Dogen]

The Celtic can aggregate now, but many trade restrictions expire on 12/15. I think Simons is here until at least then.

And that is perfectly fine. I'd rather wait and get the right player back, while showcasing Simons and also seeing how his defense is in Boston. This would give Brad more leverage instead of what is happening now with very few teams that can make moves with players that Boston wants.