This is a continuation from part 1 which you can find here.
Simons and a smaller contract (like Chris Boucher) almost works with Daniel Gafford and Klay Thompson. Here again, in theory the money could work if you rerouted a small salary elsewhere.
The Celtics would get a quality big man and while Klay’s best years are behind him, he would be a welcome shooting threat. The Mavericks get off some longer term money as they look to reset around Cooper Flagg.
I don’t think any of the deals work for either team but in the spirit of the exercise, the following deal works (using one of the TPEs). Simons and Payton Pritchard for Cam Johnson and Zeke Nnaji.
Again, I don’t know why either team does this but if I were the Celtics I’d want draft compensation in return.
This isn’t legal, but Simons for Jonathan Kuminga and Al Horford comes close money-wise. Horford (sadly) can’t be re-acquired by the Celtics so he would need to be routed to a 3rd team. (Yes, I know that I keep breaking my “two teams only” rule, but this is hard!)
I don’t know if the Celtics would necessarily want to be the ones that sign Kuminga for the long term but he certainly has some talent.
Simons for Fred VanVleet and Jeff Green works.
FVV is out for the year but in theory he’ll be healthy next year (under contract for one more year) and Simons would help the Rockets with another scorer this year.
Simons for John Collins works straight up and actually seems pretty reasonable. Both are on expiring contracts and I could see both teams taking a flyer on finding a better fit.
Collins isn’t the player he once was, but he could be a useful rotation guy going forward.
Simons for Jarred Vanderbilt, Maxi Kleber, and Marcus Smart almost works. Only $26K off, so I think it could be handled.
I just couldn’t resist bringing back Marcus!
Simons for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope works and saves the Celtics $6.1M. The catch is that KCP has a player option for $21M next year and his game has fallen off a cliff in recent years.
I don’t think this is realistic but you can get close on salaries with Simons for Jaden McDaniels and one of their minimum contracts. I don’t think Minny considers this and if they did they’d probably want some kind of draft compensation. The Wolves are another team with big contracts and small contracts which makes it hard for the math to line up.
You can get close on salaries by doing Simons and Scheierman for Dejounte Murray. The timeline on Murray’s injury is similar to that of Jayson Tatum’s and he’s under contract for 2 more years. New Orleans would have to be shifting into full sunk-cost mode (remember they don’t own their own pick this year) and they would likely want draft compensation from Boston.
I’d prefer to target Trey Murphy III who’s making $25M but that would cost a number of picks and if he became available there would be a bit of a bidding war. But you never know.
I don’t see the Thunder doing anything to mess with this team, but if Presti wanted to get cute and dump Isaiah Hartenstein, then Simons’ expiring contract comes close. Not happening though, so I’m moving on.
Simons for Grayson Allen and Royce O’Neale works. Both have 2 years left on their deals.
Simons for Dillon Brooks and Nick Richards works as well.
You could even do Simons for Dillon Brooks straight up and save $6.6M this year (taking on his $19.9M deal for next year).
See, that’s 3 trade ideas for one team (to make up some for the teams I couldn’t figure something out for).
The Blazers are restricted from re-acquiring Simons, so this doesn’t work unless there’s a 3 team deal.
Simons for DeMar DeRozan works straight up, saves the Celtics $2.9M this year, but adds his $25.7M deal to next year’s payroll.
I don’t see the Celtics taking on that salary for next season without at least exploring their options this summer, but you never know. Note that I tried to do something with Malik Monk coming back but couldn’t figure anything out that was viable.
Simons for Harrison Barnes and Julian Champagnie works.
Simons for Keldon Johnson and Jeremy Sochan also works.
(Shrug) I’m losing steam here, need to kick things in for the final stretch.
Simons for Jusuf Nurkic works and saves the Celtics $8.3M this year (both on expiring contracts).
I’m sure Danny would want to squeeze a pick out of this somehow.
The Nets in general have a lot of easily movable, mid-range salaries and are clearly in a rebuild/tank mode. Because Michael Scotto brought up the Celtics interest in Day’Ron Sharpe, I’ll point out that Simons for Sharpe and Terance Mann works and saves the Celtics $5.9M this year (but adds 2 years for Mann and 1 for Sharpe).
The Bulls have a few mid-sized contracts as well you could mix and match. Kevin Huerter and Jalen Smith? Zach Collins and Tre Jones?
Ok, here’s a 3 team deal that might make sense if the Pistons are serious about landing Lauri Markkanen. The expiring contracts of Simons and Tobias Harris to the Jazz (with several picks coming from Detroit), Markkanen to the Pistons, and Isaiah (“Beef Stew”) Stewart to the Celtics.
The big takeaway from this exercise is the difficulty of finding trades where the financials actually work. Simons isn’t on a max contract, but he’s far from a bargain deal. My guess is that he’s a bit overpaid for his role (but not by much – scorers get paid), so that’s a negative effect on his trade value. The fact that he’s on an expiring deal is a positive effect. Several teams are top heavy with max contracts (or close) and a bunch of minimum type deals, which just doesn’t work without complex 3 team deals.
Note that I didn’t set out to make this a mean-natured attack on Simons. I just don’t think he’s the best long term fit for what we’re trying to do and he has a useful contract to bring in other players that could fit that vision better. Unless there are clear signals that he’s open to re-signing to a team friendly deal this summer (why should he?) then I think the chances of him being moved are pretty high.
Will any of these deals actually happen? Probably not, but perhaps some of the players mentioned above could be involved somehow. And if all my ideas are terrible, well, at least I tried. Rosebud.
