The Boston Celtics may not be done making trades this offseason and new acquisition Anfernee Simons has been a popular name in rumors lately.
Boston acquired Simons from the Portland Trail Blazers on July 7 in exchange for two-time All-Star Jrue Holiday. While saying goodbye to Holiday was painful for Celtics fans, the move helped the Celtics duck under the second apron.
Many NBA experts have predicted that Simons could follow fellow summer trade acquisition Georges Niang out the door in another cost-cutting move. Niang was initially traded to Boston in early July as part of a three-team deal that sent Kristaps Porzingis to the Atlanta Hawks. The forward was then shipped along with a pair of future draft picks to the Utah Jazz in early August for undrafted rookie RJ Luis Jr.
Bleacher Report’s Andy Bailey crafted a three-team trade proposal on Friday that would finish the group’s “offseason salary dump.” The idea sees the Celtics sending Simons and a 2031 second-round pick to the Toronto Raptors and Brooklyn Nets, respectively, while landing Ochai Agbaji and a 2030 second-round pick from Toronto and Terance Mann from Brooklyn.
“Letting Al Horford walk and trading Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porziņģis helped the Celtics get under the dreaded second apron, but there’s still some work to do to dodge the first or duck the luxury tax entirely,” Bailey wrote. “And again, for a team whose best player will be spending the year rehabbing a ruptured Achilles, avoiding the penalties that come with hefty payrolls makes a lot of sense. If Boston can somehow reset their ‘repeater tax’ by getting their roster under the $187.9 million luxury tax line this season, building in the future could be far less painful (and expensive).”
Story continues below advertisement
Simons enters the campaign on an expiring deal and carrying a $27.7 million cap hit for the 2025-26 season.
Bailey notes that the proposed deal wouldn’t completely “achieve the ultimate goal,” but it would “bring the Celtics below the first-apron line, while also giving them a flyer on a young(ish) wing in 25-year-old Ochai Agbaji and another potential trade chip in Terance Mann.”
“The latter could be seen as a relatively inexpensive, plug-and-play effort guy for a contender, and his $15.5 million salary in 2025-26 is movable,” he wrote. “Boston is also giving up a second-rounder to the team taking the biggest financial hit in this trade, just to sort of grease the wheels, but it’s getting one back for sending the best individual player (or at least the best offensive player) to the Toronto Raptors.”
Story continues below advertisement
Simons has a chance to challenge All-Star Jaylen Brown as the team’s high scorer this season, but it seems like the organization wouldn’t hesitate to save more money by trading the 26-year-old.
Agbaji was the final lottery pick during the 2022 NBA Draft, as the Cleveland Cavaliers chose the shooting guard with the 14th overall selection.
The Kansas product is coming off the best season of his young career, averaging high marks in points (10.4), rebounds (3.8), assists (1.5) and minutes per game (27.2) during his first full year with the Raptors. Agbaji also posted career highs in field goal percentage (.498) and three-point field goal percentage (.399) across 64 games (45 starts).
Story continues below advertisement
Mann spent the first five-plus seasons of his career with the Los Angeles Clippers, averaging 8.0 points, 3.6 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 22.0 minutes per game with a .498/.371/.789 shooting line. Mann was traded to the Atlanta Hawks in February and then sent to the Nets as part of the three-team move that saw Niang land in Boston and Porzingis go to Atlanta.