Celtics Considered Trading Key Guard to Nets Last Summer

The Boston Celtics nearly traded a crucial guard to the Brooklyn Nets during the offseason.

Well, maybe "rerouted" is the more appropriate word.

Boston acquired combo guard Anfernee Simons and stretch power forward Georges Niang in separate cost-cutting deals over the summer.

The Celtics flipped Niang and a pair of second-round draft picks to the Utah Jazz for an $8 million trade exception and a two-way player they later cut, RJ Luis Jr. The 6-foot-7 St. John's product remains an unsigned free agent.

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Simons, a 26-year-old scoring guard on an expiring $27.7 million contract, seemed like he'd have a robust trade market, if Boston wanted to move off his money and dip under the league's first luxury tax apron. Instead, the 10-8 Celtics retained him, and he's currently averaging 14.4 points on .448/.411/.862 shooting splits, 2.6 assists, and 2.4 rebounds off the bench.

Per Michael Scotto of HoopsHype, the Celtics did come close to parting ways with Simons before he even played a second for them.

Boston may still be open to ditching Simons before the end of the year, with head coach Joe Mazzulla seemingly being a bit uncertain of how much he wants to play the all-offense, no-defense guard.

Sources inform Scotto that the team is drawing the line at surrendering a first-round pick to offload Simons' money, an indicator that his stock has dropped precipitously since the summer.

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Scotto reports that the Celtics "discussed several trade scenarios involving Simons" with the Brooklyn Nets, although ultimately no deal materialized.

Brooklyn is in the midst of yet another rudderless, lottery-bound drag of a season. At 3-14, the young Nets are the No. 13 seed in the Eastern Conference, and could be hard-pressed to win more than 20 games this year.

Simons' Nets Fit

Adding Simons' scoring punch would create some major positional/role overlap with shooting guard Cam Thomas, who picked up his player option and will likely also leave in free agency over the summer. Still, Brooklyn clearly doesn't care about its oncourt product, and thus should be focused on draft asset-accrual mode.

Simons certainly could still be had, but at this point it sounds like the Celtics may have to attach a second-rounder to get off his money.

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