Well this is surprising. This deal saves the Celtics less than 5 million dollars, which means they are still significantly over the 2nd apron, probably by about 15-20 million over.
That said Simons is an expiring, so they get off roughly 2/70 remaining on Holiday's contract in 26/27 and 27/28. The Celtics may be deep in the 2nd apron but they'll have 58 million in expiring contracts coming off the books after next year.
Simons can also provide some much-needed scoring for the Celtics next year.
So not the deal we all thought, but interesting.