Earlier this week, the Boston Celtics finalized a direct one-for-one trade with the Portland Trail Blazers, sending out Jrue Holiday and bringing in Anfernee Simons.
While the team had initially explored possibilities to broaden the scope of the trade during the July moratorium, they ultimately proceeded with a simple player-for-player exchange.
Despite completing the deal, this doesn’t necessarily indicate that Boston intends to keep Simons on the roster when the new season begins.
“I have talked to other teams who have said the Celtics are actively trying to trade Anfernee Simons,” ESPN’s Brian Windhorst revealed during Wednesday’s episode of The Hoop Collective podcast. “Whether they can or not (remains to be seen).”
The move from Holiday’s $32.4 million salary to Simons’ more modest $27.7 million cap figure offers Boston some breathing room financially, allowing the team to stay beneath the second luxury tax apron heading into the 2025–26 season.
Still, as Windhorst and fellow ESPN analysts Tim MacMahon and Tim Bontemps discussed, the Celtics might be aiming for deeper financial cuts in what’s shaping up to be a transitional or “bridge” year.
Completely exiting the luxury tax would reset the team’s repeater tax status, offering long-term cap flexibility.
From a trade perspective, a franchise currently over the salary cap, but still under the tax apron thresholds, would only need to send out around $19.2 million in matching salaries to legally take on Simons and his expiring deal, making him a viable target for a range of teams.
Atlantic Notes: Simons, M. Brown, Knicks, Edgecombe https://t.co/l2LxMFy07m pic.twitter.com/I0UPFgiTpF
— Hoops Rumors (@HoopsRumors) July 11, 2025
