A reunion between Robert Williams III and the Boston Celtics is dead. For now, at least. Williams signed a three-year deal to return to the Portland Trail Blazers, metaphorically kicking Celtics fans while they're down. However, Timelord returning to the Trail Blazers could signal that another Celtics reunion is on the horizon: Anfernee Simons.
Before Timelord's return to Portland was confirmed, Marc Stein and Jake Fischer confirmed that the Celtics were among the teams interested in Simons this summer.
"Sources say Chicago is also giving consideration to bringing back scoring guard Anfernee Simons, who is expected to draw external interest from teams such as Golden State and Boston," they wrote.
Despite Simons having an uneventful stint with Chicago, he won't come cheap. Boston has the non-taxpayer's mid-level exception at their behest, which may be a sharp decline salary-wise knowing what Simons had been making for the last four years, but that's probably about as good of a price as he can anticipate.
Besides, Simons proves how much of a game-changer he was in Boston. Even though everyone understood why Brad Stevens traded him, no one was happy to see him go. Simons' worth proved itself gradually over time, as he put the Celtics on his back in multiple games when no one had it going.
That could have been useful in one particular playoff series, but that's neither here nor there. It's clear that Boston traded Simons not because they didn't like him, but because doing so gave them some key advantages.
And now they could use one of those advantages to get him back in a Celtics uniform.
Simons said he'd welcome a Celtics reunion
It appears Simons holds no ill will toward the Celtics, as he not only praised Boston but didn't rule out a possible return after the Celtics had traded him. If his asking price is the MLE in full, and Boston offers it to him (there's no reason why they shouldn't, pending any more guard additions), there's no reason not to make this happen.
Boston is dealing with some inner turmoil at the moment, but they still want to put out the best team possible this coming season. Whether Jaylen Brown is part of it or not, there are clearly more positives than negatives from having Simons back on the team.
Joe Mazzulla figured out how to turn Simons into a weapon in the Celtics' rotation. It's very possible Ant wouldn't have made a difference against Philadelphia or really in Boston's playoff hopes, but he played well enough for the Celtics to see if he would this coming season.
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