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

[brackdan70]

Maybe Ainge will finally lower the asking Price for Kessler. Hauser, a 1st and 3 2nds .. Probably not,, but you never know.

Maybe…he is out for the season though, and RFA next year so super tricky situation.
If I was Ainge I’d do that deal if the 1st was 2026 ( given that there are some quality bigs that should be around in the 20s where the Celtics will pick.

[Celts17Pride]

Zubac is the homerun. If not Zubac then I think you will hear about guys like Kevon Looney, Goga Bitdaze, Day'Ron Sharpe, Rob Williams and yes Amari Williams.

[Larry_Russell]

Simons, Jonathan Kuminga and Boston 2nd to Clippers

Bogdanovic and GS 1st to Pelicans

Herb Jones, Brook Lopez, Chris Dunn to GSW

Zubac and Horford to Boston


White/Pritch
Brown/Hugo/Scheierman
Walsh/Hauser/
Tatum/Minot/Horford
Zubac/Queta/Garza

[Larry_Russell]

Zubac is the homerun. If not Zubac then I think you will hear about guys like Kevon Looney, Goga Bitdaze, Day'Ron Sharpe, Rob Williams and yes Amari Williams.

I really like Dayron, think he is about to break out.

He has been having some pretty good minutes in Brooklyn,. just doesnt get a lot of them.

[playa-hater]

Maybe Ainge will finally lower the asking Price for Kessler. Hauser, a 1st and 3 2nds .. Probably not,, but you never know.

Maybe…he is out for the season though, and RFA next year so super tricky situation.
If I was Ainge I’d do that deal if the 1st was 2026 ( given that there are some quality bigs that should be around in the 20s where the Celtics will pick.

whoa.. didn't know his injury was that bad. OK take him of the list then.

[brackdan70]

Maybe Ainge will finally lower the asking Price for Kessler. Hauser, a 1st and 3 2nds .. Probably not,, but you never know.

Maybe…he is out for the season though, and RFA next year so super tricky situation.
If I was Ainge I’d do that deal if the 1st was 2026 ( given that there are some quality bigs that should be around in the 20s where the Celtics will pick.

whoa.. didn't know his injury was that bad. OK take him of the list then.

That’s what it says on BBRef.
“ Out For Season (Shoulder) - Kessler will undergo left shoulder surgery to address a torn labrum and will miss the remainder of the 2025-26 season, as per Tony Jones of The Athletic. (Updated Nov.5, 2025)”

[jfs1000d]

Brad is an excellent GM.

Look at how bad Philly, Dallas, Charlotte are.

Celtics lose Holiday, Porzingis, and three centers in Horford, Porzingis and Kornet yet are still good.

It's amazing actually. Brad scouting and player development is too notch.

Walsh, Quetta, Hugo, Minott, all on short small contracts. All are good.


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[Celts17Pride]

Brad is an excellent GM.

Look at how bad Philly, Dallas, Charlotte are.

Celtics lose Holiday, Porzingis, and three centers in Horford, Porzingis and Kornet yet are still good.

It's amazing actually. Brad scouting and player development is too notch.

Walsh, Quetta, Hugo, Minott, all on short small contracts. All are good.


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I will say Mazzulla and his staff deserve credit also.

[hugepatsfan]

Simons (and picks) for Zubac with other LAC players need to make the math work rerouted to other teams

Dump Tillman/Boucher and replace with pro rated minimums. Amari Williams being one of them

White / Pritchard
Brown / Hugo
Walsh / Hauser / Scheierman
Tatum / Minott
Zubac / Queta / Williams / Garza

Plus one more pro rated minimum. That team is below the tax this year.

All 13 of those listed guys are here next year too. And they’d be in position to duck the tax again with some mid season dumps of third unit guys again to totally reset the repeater taxes.

Resetting the repeater rates would give them flexibility to re-sign Queta/Walsh/Minott the year after which pushes them up close to the 2nd apron. Then they can re-sign Pritchard the year after which pushes them back into the 2nd apron but they can stay in there for two seasons and then go back under before repeater penalties kick in like we just did.

Probably the best of all worlds scenario IMO. You have a great 10 man rotation that you can feasibly keep together for the rest of the Tatum/Brown/White/Zubac window.

Just to prove out my math on this... if we traded Simons for Zubac, dumped Tillman, dumped, Boucher, signed Amari Williams to a multi year minimum deal, signed a pro rated vet min (presumably a ball handler), this would be our 25-26 books:

Jayson Tatum $54,126,450
Jaylen Brown $53,142,264
Derrick White $28,100,000
Ivica Zubac $18,102,000
Sam Hauser $10,044,644
Payton Pritchard $7,232,143
Hugo Gonzalez $2,783,880
Baylor Scheierman $2,619,000
Luke Garza $2,461,463
Josh Minott $2,378,870
Neemias Queta $2,349,578
Jordan Walsh $2,221,677
Vet min ball handler $840,100
Amari Williams $465,684

This assumes deal is done on deadline day for the pro ration of Williams and the vet min ball handler. Total salary is $186,867,753 against tax line of $187,895,000 so we're under by about $1M.

Our books for 26-27 would be:

Jayson Tatum $58,456,566
Jaylen Brown $57,078,728
Derrick White $30,348,000
Ivica Zubac $19,550,160
Sam Hauser $10,848,214
Payton Pritchard $7,767,857
Hugo Gonzalez $2,923,560
Luke Garza $2,801,346
Baylor Scheierman $2,744,040
Neemias Queta $2,667,944
Josh Minott $2,584,539
Vet Min Signing $2,464,849
Jordan Walsh $2,406,205
Amari Williams $2,150,917

Again, I assume the vet min signing for the 14th spot would be a ball handler. Also assuming our 2026 1st round pick is gone in the Zubac deal so not accounting for that salary. Total salary there is $204,792,925. That is $3,743,925 above the projected tax line. So in order to duck under again, they'd have to do some midseason dumps. Presumably the two players we'd dump would be Garza and the random vet min player, but Scheierman or Amari Williams could be options if they just really don't show anything. At least one of the backfill players they sign would need to be a rookie minimum as opposed to a vet min. But that's all small minutia and easily doable.

Also, the structure of the Zubac deal would be to take his salary into the Porzingis TPE and then generate a new one for Simons' $27,678,571 that wouldn't expire until next year's deadline. Our future picks would be pretty cleaned out from the Zubac deal so we'd have limited ability to make a compelling trade offer for many players, but it does serve as something we could possibly use for the right opportunity. Staying under the tax has obvious benefits but wouldn't be something they absolutely must do at all costs. Going back to repeater rates could cause some issues as Queta/Walsh/Minott expire after next season and then Pritchard the year after. But maybe if the TPE was used on a good piece you could let one or two of those guys go and be ok (or maybe they're in the deal to capitalize on some value before they get to FA and you have to let them walk). Whatever the case may be, there's still some flexibility to tinker and go back over the tax for the right player(s).

[shi-woo]

I'd also keep an eye on MEM, as they have a lot of guys that i'm interested in, and their future is brackish given they are rebuilding but have a star player that is dysfunction.

They have a ridiculous amount of guards behind Ja, and all of them are worthy of rotation minutes. Something is going to have to give there eventually.

Ty Jerome, Scottie Pippen Jr, Vince Williams, my boy Cam Spencer who's broken out this year, and other young guards as well. So far Ja has been hurt, and Jerome and SPJ haven't even played yet this year, and are signed up long term.

I would be very interested in swapping Hauser for any of those guards, and would even throw in a 2nd to make it work. Cam is a smart player, elite shooter and solid passer. SPJ looked amazing last year filling in for ja. Ty was neck and neck with PP for 6moty, and Vince has been solid, and has impressed with a 15 and 17 assist game filling in for Ja. He's the one i'd be most interested in

[jmr07019]

Brad is an excellent GM.

Look at how bad Philly, Dallas, Charlotte are.

Celtics lose Holiday, Porzingis, and three centers in Horford, Porzingis and Kornet yet are still good.

It's amazing actually. Brad scouting and player development is too notch.

Walsh, Quetta, Hugo, Minott, all on short small contracts. All are good.


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I will say Mazzulla and his staff deserve credit also.

Agree 100%. I thought Joe was a little overhyped before this season but you have to give him a lot of credit for getting these kids to perform / develop.

[hugepatsfan]

I'd also keep an eye on MEM, as they have a lot of guys that i'm interested in, and their future is brackish given they are rebuilding but have a star player that is dysfunction.

They have a ridiculous amount of guards behind Ja, and all of them are worthy of rotation minutes. Something is going to have to give there eventually.

Ty Jerome, Scottie Pippen Jr, Vince Williams, my boy Cam Spencer who's broken out this year, and other young guards as well. So far Ja has been hurt, and Jerome and SPJ haven't even played yet this year, and are signed up long term.

I would be very interested in swapping Hauser for any of those guards, and would even throw in a 2nd to make it work. Cam is a smart player, elite shooter and solid passer. SPJ looked amazing last year filling in for ja. Ty was neck and neck with PP for 6moty, and Vince has been solid, and has impressed with a 15 and 17 assist game filling in for Ja. He's the one i'd be most interested in

Ty Jerome for Hauser might end up making a lot of sense. MEM has tons of guards, like you mention. They're roster is pretty guard/big heavy without a lot of forwards. They're also 28th in 3 point shooting so a specialist like Hauser could be a nice add on that front too. Jerome can shoot too based on last year with CLE, but from the guard spot vs. forward.

On our side, at 6'5" Jerome fits the mold of bigger guards we've liked under Brad as GM. With the emergence of Walsh and Minott and the seemingly long term viability of Hugo as a rotation player, swapping Hauser for a guy with more ball handling chops makes sense. Walsh and Minott in particular project as low usage guys and Hugo might not ever be a heavy ball handling option either. At 6'5" Jerome can play next to Pritchard or White to give you those dual PG looks we've employed a lot of in the back court. Both are in their age 28 season this year. Hauser's contract has 3 guaranteed years beyond this while Jerome's only has 2 (second year being a player option). MEM's books are in good shape with Konchar/Clarke/KCP all expiring after next year so I don't think they'd view the extra commitment as a negative.

If we just roll with the prevailing hope here of trading Simons for a center and then Tatum returning, our 10-man playoff rotation on paper would be...

Pritchard / Jerome
White / Hugo
Brown / Walsh
Tatum / Minott
(center we trade for) / Queta

or if you want to keep Walsh as a starter over Pritchard...

White / Pritchard
Brown / Jerome / Hugo
Walsh / (Brown)
Tatum / Minott
(center we trade for) / Queta

I tend to think if they want move Pritchard back to the bench (second option), keeping Hauser might make more sense. But if they want to continue to start Pritchard (first option) that makes staggering his minutes with White harder so you might need another guard over Hauser to round things out.

[jmr07019]

Hauser and Garza for Rob Williams

Portland is 4th in 3PA, 11th in 3PM and 29th in 3 pt %. Hence why Portland would trade for Sam.

Boston clears up the log jam at the wing and gets a back up center. Rolls with Queta as starter. Not only does this sure up the back up center spot it opens more minutes for Minott and Hugo with Sam gone.

Pritchard / Simons
White / Hugo
Brown / Baylor
Walsh / Minott
Queta / Rob

trade works in espn trade machine

[celticgreenie]

I like these trade ideas today as they deal with teams we have traded before with - grizzlies and blazers. Seems like a good possibility we can trade with them again.

[hugepatsfan]

Many have pointed out that LAC wouldn't move Zubac because they're win now. What if MIL blows it up with Giannis and wants out of the Turner deal that many view negatively...

LAC gives: Zubac, filler salary
LAC gets: Turner, BOS picks

MIL gives: Turner
MIL gets: Simons, LAC filler salary

BOS gives: Simons, picks
BOS gets: Zubac

Now LAC get back a very viable replacement with the picks so they maybe are more willing to play ball with us. We could of course just do the deal for Turner and keep our picks, but with his larger salary (especially after the trade kicker) now we'd be in a scenario where we either have to dump Hauser to reset the repeater tax or we have to just keep paying it and that might make the roster not too feasible beyond next year (26-27) because after it all of Queta/Walsh/Minott are due for raises if they keep their play up. As I outlined above, Zubac makes for such a clean long term sustainable team that I think it's worth the extra picks.

[celtxman]

Maybe Ainge will finally lower the asking Price for Kessler. Hauser, a 1st and 3 2nds .. Probably not,, but you never know.

I'd rather have Zubac as a player. The probability that Zubac's contract is likely better is icing on the cake

[playa-hater]

Hauser and Garza for Rob Williams

Portland is 4th in 3PA, 11th in 3PM and 29th in 3 pt %. Hence why Portland would trade for Sam.

Boston clears up the log jam at the wing and gets a back up center. Rolls with Queta as starter. Not only does this sure up the back up center spot it opens more minutes for Minott and Hugo with Sam gone.

Pritchard / Simons
White / Hugo
Brown / Baylor
Walsh / Minott
Queta / Rob

trade works in espn trade machine

I would certainly consider that. As much as I have always like Sam. Hauser, if he is gone, it'll open app plain time for our younger players. Even more and getting rob Williams as a part-time. Backup is certainly also better than Garza

[jfs1000d]

I'd also keep an eye on MEM, as they have a lot of guys that i'm interested in, and their future is brackish given they are rebuilding but have a star player that is dysfunction.

They have a ridiculous amount of guards behind Ja, and all of them are worthy of rotation minutes. Something is going to have to give there eventually.

Ty Jerome, Scottie Pippen Jr, Vince Williams, my boy Cam Spencer who's broken out this year, and other young guards as well. So far Ja has been hurt, and Jerome and SPJ haven't even played yet this year, and are signed up long term.

I would be very interested in swapping Hauser for any of those guards, and would even throw in a 2nd to make it work. Cam is a smart player, elite shooter and solid passer. SPJ looked amazing last year filling in for ja. Ty was neck and neck with PP for 6moty, and Vince has been solid, and has impressed with a 15 and 17 assist game filling in for Ja. He's the one i'd be most interested in

As a UConn guy, cam is perfect for Boston. Wish we drafted him. I don't think Celtics can get him. Effective and cost controlled is the mother load of players.


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[jfs1000d]

I am not sure they are going to have to trade Simons. If he isnolaying well, and the deal doesn't make sense, what's the point?

Really depends on JT health and boston record. If there is no shot at JT returning, I might trade Simons in a salary dump to get under first apron, or into an exception to get under the lux tax.

I'd they are doing well, then a trade for a big like Zubac is all I would consider.


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[jfs1000d]

Hauser and Garza for Rob Williams

Portland is 4th in 3PA, 11th in 3PM and 29th in 3 pt %. Hence why Portland would trade for Sam.

Boston clears up the log jam at the wing and gets a back up center. Rolls with Queta as starter. Not only does this sure up the back up center spot it opens more minutes for Minott and Hugo with Sam gone.

Pritchard / Simons
White / Hugo
Brown / Baylor
Walsh / Minott
Queta / Rob

trade works in espn trade machine

No thanks. Not trading cheap 3-point shooting like Hauser.


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