Life comes at you fast. One week, you're rooting for your team to make their fourth Eastern Conference Finals appearance in as many seasons, and the next, you're sifting through mock trades with the future in flux.
It's going to be a long summer for Boston Celtics fans. Not only will there be annoying mock trades all over the internet, but there are probably going to be a few real ones that are tough to stomach. It's no secret that the team will be looking to shed salary with the goal of getting under the NBA's second apron. That was always going to be the case, regardless of how the season ended.
With it ending in the way that it did, with an early playoff exit and catastrophic injury to Jayson Tatum, the door has been opened to possibilities beyond just offloading big money. Right or wrong, there is an argument to be made about the Celtics hitting the reset button and tanking while Tatum is sidelined in the upcoming campaign.
Podfather and noted Celtics fan, Bill Simmons, proposed a "reset button" trade on Monday's episode of his podcast.
Simmons' trade is as follows:
Celtics receive:
Fred VanVleet
Jabari Smith Jr.
Tari Eason
2025 10th overall pick
Rockets receive:
Jaylen Brown
Jrue Holiday
Does Simmons' Celtics/Rockets trade make sense?
Financially? Yes.
Keeping Boston's goal of avoiding the second apron in mind, this deal does the trick. In order to get below the dreaded threshold, the Celtics are going to have to find a way to shed roughly $20 million in salary. This swap nets them $22.9 million in savings.
Plus, there have been reports that Holiday is one of the team's top candidates to be traded this summer. On Sunday, "The Steinline's" Marc Stein pointed to the veteran guard as the more likely of Boston's starting backcourt to be made available. The three years and $104.4 million remaining on his deal help make that case stronger.
Logistically? Probably not.
This trade only makes sense if the Celtics want to tank
If the Celtics were to agree to this trade, they'd be going all in on the "tank in the gap year" strategy. Offloading both Holiday AND Brown would leave them pretty thin at the top of their rotation. Their fate would be in the hands of first-option Derrick White with Payton Pritchard and VanVleet in support.
I get it, if you're looking for a high-risk, high-reward play for when Tatum is back from his Achilles tear. This is a way to accumulate younger talent and assets, while also getting off of long-term money. Both Brown and Holiday are on lengthy and expensive contracts that could make team-building increasingly difficult as the years go on.
The 23-year-old Eason, the 22-year-old Smith Jr., and the 10th overall pick all make for cheaper rotation-filling options. There's also the hope that they further develop with age and become more valuable than their price tags.
With all of that being said, there are a lot of ifs in an equation that would be sending away one of the franchise's current building blocks in Brown. The 2024 NBA Finals MVP has played all eight of his NBA seasons with the Celtics and has been key to their sustained success. He, along with Tatum, has helped the team reach two NBA Finals, as well as several Conference Finals.
In fairness to Simmons, he said that he doesn't want to see the Cs move Brown during the podcast. He was happy to reiterate that when his proposed trade went viral online.
After Tatum's injury, it was JB who played an inspired Game 5 and propelled the team to a blowout win over the New York Knicks, while logging a career-high in assists. The leadership and determination that he showed that night served as a reminder to why he's so important to this team.
"We've always been a team," Brown said after the blowout win. "I've always preached team. I've done whatever to kind of push this team forward. So whatever is needed of me, I'm excited to be able to facilitate whatever role so it can change each game, each night, defensively, offensively, but the goal is to just lead and to be myself.”
Brown has spoken in the past about the amount of pride he takes in being one of the team's leaders. If there's anyone who can help steer the ship through what could be a rocky season, it's him. Plus, when Tatum comes back, there aren't any players in the proposed trade who are going to give Boston a better chance to win than Brown.