Who is the most likely Boston Celtics player to be traded next?
President of basketball operations Brad Stevens has already used a handful of trades to transform Boston’s roster this season, operating out of necessity to avoid tax penalties, and out of strategy to re-tool while Jayson Tatum spends the season rehabbing his Achilles.
One of Stevens’ biggest cost-cutting moves was trading Jrue Holiday to the Portland Trail Blazers on July 7, and while Celtics fans were sad to see Holiday leave, they were also surprised that Stevens got such a talented player back in the deal in Anfernee Simons.
Yet, since the day Simons became a Celtic, rumors have persisted that he’ll never step on the court wearing green and that the Celtics are likely to flip Simons in another move to save money. Simons, though on an expiring deal, is carrying $27.7 million cap hit for 2025-26. Turning that contract into a smaller one (or two) would align with Stevens’ recent slew of moves, and reports indicate that the Celtics have indeed been looking for suitors for Simons.
As such, it wasn’t a shocking experience for Celtics fans to read a recent report from Hoops Wire’s Sam Amico identifying each NBA team’s one trade chip.
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“Anfernee Simons, without a doubt,” Amico wrote. “Acquired as part of the deal with the Trail Blazers centered on Jrue Holiday, Simons could be dealt again by the time you read this. He could stick, too. There are worse young players to have around in the absence of Jayson Tatum.”
It was interesting to hear Amico speculate that Simons could be retained. That’s probably not going to happen unless Stevens and Boston’s front office can convince Simons to take significantly less money than he’s projected to demand on the market next offseason. However, unforeseen circumstances (such as injuries or poor production) can never be ruled out.
Simons was drafted out of high school by the Trail Blazers with the No. 24 overall pick in the 2018 NBA draft.
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The 26-year-old guard averaged 15.0 points and 3.3 assists on 38.1 percent 3-point shooting for Portland in 389 career regular-season games. Simons’ scoring average has hovered around 20 points per game over the last three seasons: 21.1 ppg (2022-23), 22.6 ppg (2023-24), and 19.3 ppg (2024-25).