Boston Celtics Named Favorites to Land $177 Million Forward in Trade or Buyout

The Brooklyn Nets are expected to buy out the contract of injury-plagued $177.2 million forward Ben Simmons once the NBA buyout market opens in February, following the February 6, 2025 trade deadline. The 28-year-old Australia native has appeared in only 75 of a possible 270 games since the start of the 2021-2022 season. Playing in 18 of 24 games for the 10-14 Nets so far this season, Simmons is averaging just 5.2 points in 23.6 minutes per game.

But according to Ringer founder and podcast host Bill Simmons (no relation to Ben), the troubled Nets forward appears “healthy again” and would be an “asset” to any team that acquires him.

BetOnline Names Celtics Favorites For Simmons

And who would acquire him? According to odds set by the internet bookmaking site BetOnline, the most likely team to land Simmons is none other than the reigning NBA champions, the Boston Celtics. BetOnline gives the Celtics 3/2 odds of acquiring Simmons if the Nets let him go. The next most likely destination for Simmons, according to the online oddsmaker, is Cleveland, where the Cavaliers have 2/1 odds of getting the seventh-year player, followed by the New York Knicks at 7/2.

Bill Simmons speculated on a number of other landing spots for Ben Simmons, though none of them were the Celtics.

“Could they trade him? I went through every team, and I couldn’t see it,” Bill Simmons said on a recent podcast. “Here’s what I do see. I think he has a chance to become one of the most fascinating February buyout guys in a few years because he could be the center in New Orleans, he could be an absolutely crazy Draymond Green backup at Golden State, he could be a really fun Heat Culture reclamation project, and he’s kinda exactly what the Knicks need.”

At a salary of $40.3 million in 2024-2025, Ben Simmons is playing the final year of the five-season contract he signed prior to the 2020-2021 campaign, when he was still with the Philadelphia 76ers, the team that drafted him of of Louisiana State University with the Number One overall pick in 2016. Following this season, he becomes an unrestricted free agent.

But Celtics Are Banned From Acquiring Ben Simmons

But what makes the oddsmakers think that Celtics either would or could acquire Simmons? The fact is, as longtime Celtics beat reporter John Karalis explained on the Thursday edition of his Locked on Celtics podcast, the Celtics are effectively banned from adding Simmons to their roster during this season, either via the trade route or using a buyout.

The reason? The Celtics are a “second apron” team under the NBA Collective Bargaining Agreement. With a 2024-2025 payroll a shade over $197 million, the Celtics are already $7.6 million over the second apron figure, according to SpoTrac. That level of payroll comes with significant penalties, one of which is that adding a player making Simmons’ paycheck becomes impossible.

“No chance,” said Karalis on the podcast. “The Celtics are a second apron team so they can do neither of these two things that are being proposed. They cannot trade for Ben Simmons because they cannot aggregate players. They cannot take three or four players and say here you go Nets and take Ben Simmons if they wanted to. They could not do that. They are not allowed to it.”

Nor could the Celtics pick Simmons up on the buyout market because second apron teams may not sign players who are paid more than what the CBA defines as the “mid-level exception.” This year, that figure is about $5.2 million.

0 Comments