The Boston Celtics are listening to trade offers for recent acquisition Anfernee Simons, who was part of the Jrue Holiday trade to the Portland Trail Blazers last month in a cost-cutting move. Simons averaged 19.3 points and 4.8 assists last season and is on an expiring deal worth $27.7 million.
Shopping Simons to another team would be a financial play for the Celtics, who are $20 million over the salary cap ahead of the 2025-26 season.
“I have talked to other teams who have said they are actively trying to trade Anfernee Simons,” ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said on Wednesday’s Hoop Collective Podcast. “Whether they can or not is another (thing).”
Dallas, Golden State and New Orleans were previously linked as interested teams in Simons before Portland finalized the deal with Boston. Simons dealt with injuries during the 2023-24 campaign and only played in 46 games before showing durability this season. He’s not known for his defensive prowess, but as a scorer, the former first-round selection has shown promise over the last few years with more playing time.
Boston is not using the term “rebuild,” according to president of operations Brad Stevens, but this offseason is almost certainly a retooling of sorts following the season-ending injury to Jayson Tatum and absorbing his max contract along with Jaylen Brown’s expansive deal.
“The reality is that we knew going into this year, regardless of how it ended, we would have hard decisions to make because of the penalties, where this apron is and where we’ve been the last two years,” Stevens said this week. “We were in it the last two years, and now that it’s kicked in three years after the CBA started, that was part of our reason to push the chips into the middle the last few seasons.”
It would behoove the Celtics for a variety of reasons to unloads Simons, among others, to get out of the luxury tax and under the second apron. Hours after Boston moved Holiday to the Blazers, the Celtics sent Kristaps Porziņģis and his contract to the Atlanta Hawks as part of a three-team deal.
Kristaps Porziņģis trade grades: Celtics get ‘B+’ for avoiding second apron, Hawks take win-now swing
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The Celtics saved an estimated $260 million in luxury tax with the Holiday and Porziņģis moves and could pinch pennies further by another deal involving Simons.
With the expectation Boston chooses not to re-sign Al Horford and if Stevens successfully find a trade partner for Simons, next season’s lineup without Tatum presumably would look like this:
Boston won the NBA title two seasons ago before falling to the New York Knicks early in the playoffs in May, extending the league’s streak of no repeat champions moving on to the second round since 2019.
“My expectations are always the same: Compete like hell to win the next game,” Stevens said this week. “That will always be the way we try to put our best foot forward. We have new guys and some guys who will have to take on extra in their roles. But we believe in the guys who have been in the building and are looking forward getting the guys who haven’t, and all of them working together to try to create a team that functions well together and plays hard as hell.”
