The Boston Celtics are unlikely to be contenders for the NBA championship for the 2025-26 NBA season. Given that their best player, Jayson Tatum, will need time off due to his torn Achilles tendon. The star forward is expected to miss the entire campaign to rehab from his injury. This summer, the team has made preparations for the upcoming year, during which they are unlikely to be competitive.
The Celtics have traded key players like Jrue Holiday, Kristaps Porzingis and Luka Kornet. One of the deals they made was switching Holiday for a younger guard, Anfernee Simons. The starting guard is in the final year of his four-year, $100 million contract.
With that in mind, the Celtics aren’t planning on offering Simons a contract extension. NBA insider Jake Fischer hinted that there’s a chance Boston will move Simons.
The Boston Celtics are reportedly open to making changes this summer until the Feb. 3 trade deadline.
“The expectation persists, furthermore, that Boston will continue to invite trade discussion involving Anfernee Simons from now through next season’s trade deadline on Feb. 5 at 3 p.m. ET,” Fischer wrote.
Still, no trade talk has started about where Simons could potentially land. Even ESPN’s Brian Windhorst backed up the rumors about the Celtics’ plans to trade Simmons.
“I have talked to other teams who have said, ‘The Celtics are actively trying to trade Anfernee Simons,’” Windhorst said.
Windhorst’s co-host at “The Hoop Collective” podcast, Tim MacMahon, said that trading away Simons would allow them to dodge the luxury tax next season.
“It would behoove the Celtics for a variety of reasons to get out of the luxury tax this season to reset their repeater mover.”
NBA executive gets honest about the Boston Celtics’ roster
The Boston Celtics had one of the most active offseasons this summer. With the departures of Porzingis, Holiday and Kornet, there are questions about how competitive the Celtics will be next season. Furthermore, given that he has been connected to the Golden State Warriors, experienced big man Al Horford doesn’t appear to be staying with the organization.
The Celtics also added Josh Minott, Luka Garza and Chris Boucher to the squad. Given the moves they made, an anonymous Easten Conference executive gave their honest take on the team’s roster.
“(Boucher) is a really good, active player who you can use in stretches,” the executive said. “He’s always been someone we liked, but as a bench guy, an energy guy. But when you look at what they have right now, that roster is out of whack.”
“No one knows where they’re going with this, but the thing about Boucher is, he finally gives them an actual NBA player in the frontcourt. They do not have many of those right now.”
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Reign also writes NBA and WNBA news updates on Sportskeeda. He started as a feature writer for AirAlamo, an NBA website that covers the San Antonio Spurs. Some of his work can also be seen on Valley of the Suns, a Phoenix Suns-centric website, where he served as a contributing writer.
