Free Agent/Trade Thread Offseason 2026, Part 8 (Those beaches will be open!)

[itrsteve]

Woke up and this is still real. Lesser so about JB being gone but the dogsh*t return. Maybe we valued him too high? But why Philly?

Glad the extension was avoided for the league leader in turnovers but tough to visualize Boston getting the best of head to head matchups with Philly next season. But I know this move was looking out further than this next season, still tough to process though.

[robbie84]

Shams on Get Up just a few minutes ago said teams called about trading for JT, but the Cs shut them down immediately.

Did he say anything they plan on with Paul George?

Pay him 55m to play 40 games. He's literally not tradable without giving up multiple draft picks.

And neither is JB tradeable with his contract and pending extension. That's the point of this trade. They get out from JB's contract earlier and don't have to worry about extending him.

[GreenBlooded]

The age factor makes it baffling for me. Is brad on something?

Ok so we don’t want a 31 yr old all time great because of injury concerns, and unwilling to include a 6th man at best in Hugo, but willing to take a 37 yr old with no leadership skills, much like Tatum, who is injured every year??? Make it make sense please Brad! **** you Brad!!!!

It's not about having Paul George instead of Brown. It's about clearing JB's salary to build around Tatum sooner. As we've seen through the offers that were rumored over the last few weeks, JB's contract is considered an albatross. You can't have JB+JT on max contracts making $70m+ each.
We didn't trade for Paul George the player,
Paul George is salary filler.

But they didn't clear his salary. They got one even less tradable.

[Wes-J]

They could of waited there was no rush to do it now for a nothing return. We essentially received 4 second round picks. Those FRP will be in the range of where there's very little separation late first and early to mid second round.

[KamikazeK]

That 1 player was elite at getting to the rim. JT is very good but not JB level at getting to the rim. More importantly the Celtics demise in the post season offensively was the reliance on the 3 ball. They are positioned much worse this season to make any real tactical changes.

JB is elite at getting to the rim, but that's all.

JT is elite at a number of things, including as a playmaker.

Don't be surprised if the Celtics surpass 56 wins this season with JT returning to MVP level and averaging 30 points per game.

While JT is not as good as JB getting to the rim, JT makes other players around him better.

JT will never hesitate to pass the ball if he sees multiple defenders around him.

Did you not see that Game 7 photo of JB at the top of the key and a WIDE OPEN Queta in the paint and JB never passed him the ball?

If this is the last move the Celtics make...they are not winning 56 games this season. JT and this roster is not championship caliber. JT and JB with a supporting cast absolutely was. It is not Brown's fault JT could not be on the floor the last 2 game 7s.

So you think JB can lead the team to win without JT but JT cannot do the same without JB. I don't buy it. I think you're just getting caught up in your emotions and not seeing thinks rationally.

[gammajamma]

Ok so we don’t want a 31 yr old all time great because of injury concerns, and unwilling to include a 6th man at best in Hugo, but willing to take a 37 yr old with no leadership skills, much like Tatum, who is injured every year??? Make it make sense please Brad! **** you Brad!!!!

It's not about having Paul George instead of Brown. It's about clearing JB's salary to build around Tatum sooner. As we've seen through the offers that were rumored over the last few weeks, JB's contract is considered an albatross. You can't have JB+JT on max contracts making $70m+ each.
We didn't trade for Paul George the player,
Paul George is salary filler.

But they didn't clear his salary. They got one even less tradable.

I feel like they’re gonna let him play this year and then next off-season It becomes a 54 mill expiring deal which is a lot easier to move especially in deal for a star with picks

[celticgreenie]

Why didn’t Brad do this last offseason? He could have properly tanked Tatum’s ACL gap year.

He made JB and White available last summer and the asking price for both was very high. Miscalculation on Brad's part? Would he have gotten more in a JB trade last summer or what happened yesterday? He's deeper in his contract now which means less years to pay.

[Larry_Russell]

Read on Twitter

There is indeed truth here.


And if this is indeed true, them Georges contract just may be more tradable right now with picks than Brown was.

Maybe Dejounte Murray and Herb Jones and a pick for George is feasible for example

Maybe George for Cam Johnson and Christian Braun?

Nah George is the salary fill for a big upgrade. They’ve got the template now, 3-4 firsts (one or two with good upside), good young players, salary filler.

They’ve need to swing for the deep bleachers with that package.

I do think Brad likes being in the drivers seat and in position to jump and take control when the opportunity presents itself. This gives him that flexibility which they obviously were not in that position of strength here lol

But who?

That is the question.

I woul like to see a trade NOW with George as opposed to next offseason, but who is even the guy.

Looking at "big" salaries out there you got guys like

Poole and Herb Jones (Ideally Murphy but would you trade Poole and Murphy for George and 2 picks?)
Davis - maybe
Butler - maybe
Jrue (They wouldnt trade him for Brown)
Fox (maybe an opportunity here?)
Durant


Zach LAvine?
Actually....Lavine could work....

Zach is a big expiring contract, attacks the rim, makes threes....Also I think you get another asset attached to him for George truthfully. Maybe another first.


Actually...Sacramento as a whole could work. George is the right type of PF to put beside Sabonis. And He gives them a clean salary book moving forwards as well. Lavine and Demar are both expiring this year, George would give them an expiring in 2027.

George and 2 picks for Deandre Hunter and Keegan Murray works. Boston drops another 5.1 million on top of the 2.9 million saved from Brown/George swap. Lineup is better balanced. Deandre hopefully recoups some value and can be flipped for a Point Guard? Maybe a young Isaiah Collier or similar type?

White/Pritchard/Conley
Hugo/Scheierman/HarperJr
Tatum/Hunter/Walsh
Murray/Hauser/CenacJr
Queta/MitchRob/Garza

I like that more than George honestly

Sacramento is left with
Acuff
Lavine
Demar
George
Sabonis

Or just a laving for George swap leaving both teams as

White/Pritchard/Conley
Lavine/Scheierman/HarperJr
Hugo/Hauser/Walsh
Tatum/Cenac
Queta/MitchRob/Garza

[Fierce1]

They could of waited there was no rush to do it now for a nothing return. We essentially received 4 second round picks. Those FRP will be in the range of where there's very little separation late first and early to mid second round.

I think you're not well informed about the FRPs the Cs got.

The 2028 1st round pick is a potential lottery pick because the Clips do not have Kawhi anymore.
Clips will be a lottery team for a while.

By 2031, Embiid will most likely be out of the league.
That pick is also unprotected, so there's a chance that's also a lottery pick.
JB will be 34 going 35 by then.

So those 2 FRPs are no way close to 2nd round picks.

[hugepatsfan]

The age factor makes it baffling for me. Is brad on something?

Ok so we don’t want a 31 yr old all time great because of injury concerns, and unwilling to include a 6th man at best in Hugo, but willing to take a 37 yr old with no leadership skills, much like Tatum, who is injured every year??? Make it make sense please Brad! **** you Brad!!!!

It's not about having Paul George instead of Brown. It's about clearing JB's salary to build around Tatum sooner. As we've seen through the offers that were rumored over the last few weeks, JB's contract is considered an albatross. You can't have JB+JT on max contracts making $70m+ each.
We didn't trade for Paul George the player,
Paul George is salary filler.

Paul George on the books is no different on the books for the next two years than Brown. This doesn't improve the Celtics cap sheet at all for this year or next.

[cloverleaf]

Woke up and this is still real. Lesser so about JB being gone but the dogsh*t return. Maybe we valued him too high? But why Philly?

Glad the extension was avoided for the league leader in turnovers but tough to visualize Boston getting the best of head to head matchups with Philly next season. But I know this move was looking out further than this next season, still tough to process though.

PG's on/off has been positive for 16 years straight. JB's, for just 3 of his 10 years. PG likely helps his team more.

[robbie84]

Ok so we don’t want a 31 yr old all time great because of injury concerns, and unwilling to include a 6th man at best in Hugo, but willing to take a 37 yr old with no leadership skills, much like Tatum, who is injured every year??? Make it make sense please Brad! **** you Brad!!!!

It's not about having Paul George instead of Brown. It's about clearing JB's salary to build around Tatum sooner. As we've seen through the offers that were rumored over the last few weeks, JB's contract is considered an albatross. You can't have JB+JT on max contracts making $70m+ each.
We didn't trade for Paul George the player,
Paul George is salary filler.

But they didn't clear his salary. They got one even less tradable.

They have gotten him off the books a year earlier and now don't have to worry about his pending $140m 2 year extension.
Have a look at the new tax apron punishments and the implications of having JB and JT both making $70m+ at the same time.
This is why the Giannis to Boston rumors were pretty unlikely in the end. The only benefit was we could have had Giannis for a year instead of JB, but ultimately it would have still been an exercise to keep the team competitive until clearing JB or Giannis' enormous salary off our books was unavoidable.
Giannis would have to be sign+traded or simply walked as a free agent. The Celtics front office probably felt Giannis contract was more tradeable than Brown's, but they didn't want to give up Hugo or any draft capital for the privilege of having Giannis for a year.

Yeah it hurts because we all love JB. But the unfortunate reality of the new hard salary cap makes keeping JB+JT literally impossible.

If you don't believe me, try and make up a roster around them making $70m each and see who you can put around them.

[Scarletfire81]

Kawhi is a superior player and the clippers just got a slightly better package. But yet the Clippers got an A grade. Can someone explain this?

[Wes-J]

They could of waited there was no rush to do it now for a nothing return. We essentially received 4 second round picks. Those FRP will be in the range of where there's very little separation late first and early to mid second round.

I think you're not well informed about the FRPs the Cs got.

The 2028 1st round pick is a potential lottery pick because the Clips do not have Kawhi anymore.
Clips will be a lottery team for a while.

By 2031, Embiid will most likely be out of the league.
That pick is also unprotected, so there's a chance that's also a lottery pick.
JB will be 34 going 35 by then.

So those 2 FRPs are no way close to 2nd round picks.

I think you're overly optimistic. This could of waited.

[Larry_Russell]

I just remembered.

Duren wants Boston still.
Detroit needs to not kill their salary for the forseeable future but make it look like they still want to win to Keep Cade happy.

George (54 million)
Queta (2.6 million)
Total = 64.3 million

for
Duren Sign and Trade (42.5 million)
Caris LEvert (14.8 million)


Celtics
White/Pritchard/Conley
Hugo/Scheierman/HarperJr
Hauser/LeVert/Mitchell
Tatum/CenacJr/Walsh
Duren/MitchRob/Garza

I would even include Pritchard for Sasser in that deal

[cloverleaf]

Ok so we don’t want a 31 yr old all time great because of injury concerns, and unwilling to include a 6th man at best in Hugo, but willing to take a 37 yr old with no leadership skills, much like Tatum, who is injured every year??? Make it make sense please Brad! **** you Brad!!!!

It's not about having Paul George instead of Brown. It's about clearing JB's salary to build around Tatum sooner. As we've seen through the offers that were rumored over the last few weeks, JB's contract is considered an albatross. You can't have JB+JT on max contracts making $70m+ each.
We didn't trade for Paul George the player,
Paul George is salary filler.

Paul George on the books is no different on the books for the next two years than Brown. This doesn't improve the Celtics cap sheet at all for this year or next.

It's a little less this year and then becomes an expiring contract next year. Plus, it gets them off a perpetually aggrieved player who likely wants a $142M extension later this month for a player with no such expectation.

[itrsteve]

Woke up and this is still real. Lesser so about JB being gone but the dogsh*t return. Maybe we valued him too high? But why Philly?

Glad the extension was avoided for the league leader in turnovers but tough to visualize Boston getting the best of head to head matchups with Philly next season. But I know this move was looking out further than this next season, still tough to process though.

PG's on/off has been positive for 16 years straight. JB's, for just 3 of his 10 years. PG likely helps his team more.

There’s no arguing, we know JB was empty calories but the initial reaction is on the return. I’m confident that PG will be solid and I look forward to what the team will look like

It’s just all very strange.

[chrisab123]

It's not about having Paul George instead of Brown. It's about clearing JB's salary to build around Tatum sooner. As we've seen through the offers that were rumored over the last few weeks, JB's contract is considered an albatross. You can't have JB+JT on max contracts making $70m+ each.
We didn't trade for Paul George the player,
Paul George is salary filler.

But they didn't clear his salary. They got one even less tradable.

I feel like they’re gonna let him play this year and then next off-season It becomes a 54 mill expiring deal which is a lot easier to move especially in deal for a star with picks

That’s the only legitimate play they can make. They’ll probably trade all of those picks and get a star. Maybe they saw what Miami gave up to Milwaukee and said to themselves this is the way to get stars now? Im just speculating what possibly happened. But like what was the rush if this was the best you could get?

[hugepatsfan]

It's not about having Paul George instead of Brown. It's about clearing JB's salary to build around Tatum sooner. As we've seen through the offers that were rumored over the last few weeks, JB's contract is considered an albatross. You can't have JB+JT on max contracts making $70m+ each.
We didn't trade for Paul George the player,
Paul George is salary filler.

Paul George on the books is no different on the books for the next two years than Brown. This doesn't improve the Celtics cap sheet at all for this year or next.

It's a little less this year and then becomes an expiring contract next year. Plus, it gets them off a perpetually aggrieved player who likely wants a $142M extension later this month for a player with no such expectation.

People keep saying it's a little less but until a report comes in that Paul George waived his trade kicker, he will actually be on the books for a little MORE this year. Not less, more. His trade kicker entitles him to have his salary bumped up to the 35% max this year. PHI pays it, but he will count on our books for tax purposes at the max. Unless he waives it.

[Scarletfire81]

But they didn't clear his salary. They got one even less tradable.

I feel like they’re gonna let him play this year and then next off-season It becomes a 54 mill expiring deal which is a lot easier to move especially in deal for a star with picks

That’s the only legitimate play they can make. They’ll probably trade all of those picks and get a star. Maybe they saw what Miami gave up to Milwaukee and said to themselves this is the way to get stars now? Im just speculating what possibly happened. But like what was the rush if this was the best you could get?

I would keep that clippers pick at all costs.