Any Trade Ideas For PF/C Involving Hauser, Simons And/Or Niang + Picks?

[Ilikesports17]

I don't think there is any way a team can contend without being above the tax threshold.  In particular, if the Celtics have Tatum and Brown on max contracts, plus White, it is going to be really hard to assemble a title contending team without paying the tax.  For the Celtics, this is not so much about 2025-26 as it is about 2026-27.

I agree, Vermont.  It is going to take spending money to contend.


That being said, we are not contending this year.   I am for getting under the first apron this year.  We are not going anywhere in the playoffs and I want a decent pick.  Hopefully, some of these signings work for us and we will have role players in place when Tatum comes back next year.

Counterpoint:  both OKC and Indy were below the luxury tax last year.  It's certainly possible. 

I think only 10 teams paid tax last year.  Of the nine teams that won 50 games, 4 paid tax, 5 didn't.

Its certainly possible to contend without paying the tax. The question is, can WE contend without paying the tax given how much of our salary cap is already committed to White-Brown-Tatum.

[Celtics4ever]

All it takes is some good tanking and nigh perfect drafting to do it.

[Vermont Green]

All it takes is some good tanking and nigh perfect drafting to do it.

Yeah, like 4 years of tanking on average, and even then, it does not always work.  OKC got lucky and won a title with key players on rookie contracts, but those days are over for them.  I guess they may have one more season.  That window does not exist for the Celtics or most teams.

I predict that BOS will a tax payer every year for the immediate future and that they will stay under the second apron.  Maybe not 2025-26, but I think even this season, they will end up above the tax.  Their sweet spot will be somewhere between the first and second apron, for as long as Tatum and Brown are the core.  I further predict that this is where most contending teams will be.  There will always be exceptions, but no team can continue to contend without having to pay eventually (like OKC).

Paying the tax does not deter teams from spending.  Look at GSW as the poster child of this.

[JBcat]

Right now, the Celtics are projected at $12,086,489 above the luxury tax.

There are two main routes to getting there:  dealing Sam Hauser + dumping minimum salary guys for cheaper minimum salary guys at the deadline, while hoping that Derrick White misses incentives in his contract; or trading Simons.

Simons salary is $27,678,571.  To get below the tax, we'd need to trade him and bring back no more than $15,592,081 in salary.

To "match" salaries, another team would need to send out $22,062,857 in salary.  So, the ideal trade is us taking back around $15.5 million, and another team absorbing around $6.6 million.

No idea what's out there.

I don't think the tax line is a relevant goal. Possibly getting out of the 1st apron, but any moves made from here won't be about alleviating the tax line.

I don't think that's right.  Who cares about the first apron?  We are paying giant penalties by being in the repeater tax.

Shedding $12 million in salary saves ownership roughly $51.5 million, plus gets them a distribution of luxury tax paid by other teams.

We'll see but I will say that I do not expect them to target getting under the tax.  I believe they would have to be under for 2 seasons to fully reset from the repeater status.  They would still save this season, of course, even if they don't fully reset.

It is also not out of the question in my mind that they do kind of surrender and get themselves under the tax.  Find a team who likes Simons and can send out a package of players with some of them redirected to other teams to limit what BOS has to take back.  That might result in a decent TPE that they could then use next season to build the team back up (albeit then hard-capped at the first apron for 2026-27).

At this point, I think it is more likely they either trade Simons this off season for actual players (with an eye towards 2026-27) or start the season with him and let him showcase himself for BOS and other teams.  Then either decide he has a role moving forward or trade him at the deadline, either for actual players or to reduce salary.

Is there a reason they *wouldn't* want to get out of the tax this season?  Teams only pay repeater tax if they've been above the tax for 4 out of 5 seasons, I believe.  Making this one of those seasons would seem to be a reasonable goal.

Also, is there a point in showcasing Simons?  Don't teams know who he is at this point?  A better version of him just got traded for Nurkic, and an older version of him just got traded for Jordan Poole.  That's a couple of data points to tell us that his value is a pure salary dump.

Calling Sexton a better version of Simons caught me off guard as I don?t believe that so I decided to do a little research. They are both combo offensive guards with defensive shortcomings with Simons a career -2.1 defensive box plus minus and Sexton a career -2.2 defensive box plus minus.

I then looked at player rankings from 4 sites where it was really only top 100 rankings.

Ringer?s top 100
Simons 87
Poole 99
Sexton not ranked

The Athletic list of 5 tiers player rankings
Poole and Simons tier 5C just outside top 100
Sexton not ranked

Hoopshype top 100
Sexton 98
Simons 87
Poole not ranked

ESPN top 100 (last preseason)
Simons 100
Sexton not ranked
Poole not ranked


In each case I didn?t see Sexton ranked ahead of Simons. Maybe some publication does but I stopped looking there.

I get it, Simons doesn?t seem like a Celtics type player, but there is a non zero chance many of us are eating our words down the line. He always striked me as someone who as he gained more man strength entering his late 20s would be a better overall player. Being so slight has held him back defensively, just needs to get a little stronger to help him out on that end of that floor. I also think he was miscast as a number 1 option in Portland. In catching and shoot 3s and relocation 3s he is 5th in percentage since entering the league in 2018. That is impressive considering his volume of attempts. I would think he gets cleaner looks in Boston in a different role hopefully.

We also just lost Horford, Porzingas, and Jrue?s offense. Even when Tatum comes back do we really feel comfortable the offensive output our team can have if Simons is also salary dumped off the team. What was striking in the Knicks series is even when Tatum was playing at a near Bird like level before getting injured our offense was really choppy. I think Pritchard can level up some more, though I really like him in his role now, and there is a chance White slowly takes a step back offensively now in his 30s.

My last worry with salary dumping Simons is our guard rotation. We would have White, Pritchard, and question marks unless if Brown plays much more SG but then that really thins out our already thin front court.

As much as I like Houser I could see him being the odd man out if the teams goal is to dip below tax, and he is valued around the league. Maybe someone like Minot steps up and limits the impact of losing Houser.

Stevens has mentioned a few times he thinks Simons is a good player that is only going to get better. I could be wrong and Simons is traded tomorrow. Ha

[Vermont Green]

I have not written off Simons. It happens a lot where I have an impression of a player on another team and then it is very different to see them every day on the Celtics. It can go either way, better or worse.

In the case of Simons, he has shown enough that he can easily be the 3rd or 4th scoring option, which would be the case when Tatum is back. If he can defend at say a Pritchard level, he could prove useful.  There is talent there, and also some shortcomings.  I am keeping an open mind. 

I am also very open to trading him if the deal is good. But I would rather play him and see what he can do than just dump him now. May as well give him a shot and then revisit dumping him at the trade deadline.

[Goldstar88]

Anyone else find it odd that Simons is yet to have a press conference/Interview for the Cs? Jrue and KP both did interviews for their new teams. It?s been a while now..