Think Brad Stevens has settled on the Boston Celtics’ roster? Not so fast.
According to Jake Fischer’s latest at the “Stein Line” Substack, the Celtics are still open to trading guard Anfernee Simons. The 26-year-old Simons is on the books for just one season and about $27.7 million (via Spotrac). So, he remains a strong candidate for the Celtics to spin off in another trade, likely for the purposes of getting as far as they can under the aprons and the luxury tax.
Based on Spotrac data, the Celtics are already $10.1 million under the second apron, but still over the first apron by $1.7M. Additionally, they are over the luxury tax by $9.7 million, giving them a tax bill of more than $30M.
Stevens could accomplish everything the Celtics want in terms of luxury tax savings if he can shed just $10 million more off the payroll. So, he could find a trade partner for Simons while bringing back about $17 million.
The Celtics have already shed money for both the present and future by trading off the contracts of Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porziņģis. They later spun off Georges Niang, whom they acquired in the Porzingis trade. The latest insider reporting suggests that Simons could still be next in line, despite the offseason getting into mid-August.
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Anfernee Simons #1 of the Portland Trail Blazers plays against the Detroit Pistons.
If the C’s are stuck with Simons, and a relatively big tax bill compared to what they’d get out of him, they’d still have a piece who likely fits what they want to do as a 3-point specialist. The Celtics are going to have to get scoring somewhere with Jayson Tatum out and Holiday/Porzingis both gone.
But it sounds like they could ultimately get that from someone other than Simons himself.
Matt, a North Andover, Massachusetts native, has been with The Sports Hub since 2010. Growing up the son of Boston University All-American and Melrose High School hall-of-fame hockey player Steve Dolloff, sports was always a part of his life. After attending Northeastern University, Matt focused his love of sports on writing, extensively writing about all four major Boston teams. He also is a co-host of the Sports Hub Underground podcast and is a regular on-air contributor on the Sports Hub. Matt writes about all New England sports from Patriots football to Boston Celtics and Boston Bruins.