The Boston Celtics have had arguably the most eventful offseason of the summer, essentially throwing in the towel on the 2025-26 season by trading Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis, with Jayson Tatum recovering from a torn Achilles. The Celtics did get back an interesting piece from the Portland Trail Blazers in Anfernee Simons, albeit one that doesn't necessarily fit next to Jaylen Brown and Derrick White.
This being the case, many have wondered if the Celtics would also take calls on Simons ahead of next season, and Sam Amico of hoopswire.com recently reported that both the Philadelphia 76ers and Denver Nuggets have interest.
However, Brett Siegel of ClutchPoints has since broken down how the financial component may make that difficult for both teams.
“The 76ers are $9.8M from the first apron, have yet to sign Quentin Grimes, and have plenty of backcourt depth they’re high on,” reported Siegel on X, formerly Twitter. “The Nuggets just cleared money this offseason for a reason and would need to trade Cam Johnson or Aaron Gordon. That’s not happening.”
Indeed, it would appear highly unlikely that the 76ers or Nuggets would have the means or motivation to acquire Simons at his current price point.
A strange Celtics team
With Derrick White and Jaylen Brown still in uniform, there's a chance the Celtics could still backdoor their way into a playoff spot next year if things break right in the Eastern Conference.
However, the 2025-26 campaign is clearly being viewed as a transitional year for a Celtics team that saw its franchise player in Jayson Tatum go down with a devastating Achilles tear in their second round playoff loss vs the New York Knicks.
It will be interesting to see how much leash head coach Joe Mazzulla gives to younger players like Jordan Walsh and Baylor Scheierman this year, considering both have shown flashes in limited minutes up to this point.
Simons also still theoretically has some room to improve in a new system at the age of 26.
In any case, the Celtics will kick off their 2025-26 season at home against the Philadelphia 76ers on October 22.
