The Boston Celtics have had an eye on their financial books since this past offseason, and they might have new motivation to cut costs given the latest ominous update on Jayson Tatum's Achilles recovery. For as good as they've looked during the 2025-26 NBA season, they're only heavyweight NBA title contenders with Tatum back in the fold.
So, should their deadline approach go back to being more about shedding dollars than upgrading talent? Nope. Or not as things pertain to Anfernee Simons, at least. While the quick-strike scorer seems like a logical candidate—Boston is $12.1 million above the tax line, and Simons is on an expiring $27.7 million deal—the Celtics are "unwilling to part with a future first-round pick to simply shed Simons' salary and avoid the luxury tax," per HoopsHype's Michael Scotto.
That's bad news for any team hoping to find bargain-priced bench buckets, but it's absolutely (and easily) the right call for Boston, which has helped Simons become a more complete player this season.
If the Celtics are going to trade Anfernee Simons, they need to get actual value in return.
While Simons will never be a lockdown defender, he has made big strides on the game's less glamorous end. He'll always be targeted to a certain extent as a 6'3" off-guard, but he has enough quickness and tools to be a pesky presence on the ball. Couple that with a clear desire to up his involvement, and it's obvious he's been a different defender in Boston than he was in Portland.
Granted, that's a bit of a backhanded compliment since he was a defensive disaster for the Blazers, but it's a compliment nonetheless.
Because if he isn't a traffic cone on defense, then he's a legitimately valuable player. Even with undersized scoring guards falling out of favor in the modern NBA, bucket-getters with a bag this deep will always have merit.
Maybe it's not enough to justify the size of his salary, but his contract is what it is. It's also expiring, too, so Boston doesn't need to adjust its payroll around it. Getting under the tax line could be interesting, but it pales in comparison to having a sixth man capable of changing (or maintaining) momentum on one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference.
Simons is a major reason why Boston's bench, which is comprised largely of unproven players and cast-offs from other clubs, is an actual asset. In fact, only the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder have a better bench net rating than Boston's plus-3.6, per NBA.com.
In terms of natural scoring ability, Simons is one of the most gifted players on this roster. Only Jaylen Brown, a first-time All-Star starter and MVP candidate, has supplied the Shamrocks with more points per 36 minutes than Simons' 20.4, per Basketball-Reference.com.
Simons has real, tangible on-court value, and Boston is right for recognizing that's worth more to this team than getting his expiring contract off the books. Coughing up an actual draft asset to salary-dump him elsewhere would be nonsensical.