Robbie Gower

All moves by this Bulls front office in a perpetual tie for last place

bsky.app/profile/rogo...

They will most likely dump Anfernee Simons this offseason

Simons to Brooklyn for Dariq Whitehead if Brooklyn wants Simons basically for free gets Boston all the way below the luxury tax line

I expect Chris Boucher to be the starting C barring an amazing training camp performance by Neemias Queta

Jamal Murray was really good last year after a rough start, how much better can he get? Don’t see how a good 2025-26 season can be characterized as a “bounce-back” season

bsky.app/profile/rogo...

SF Jaylen Brown
“PF” Sam Hauser
C Chris Boucher

key reserves

Payton Pritchard
Baylor Scheierman
Jordan Walsh
Neemias Queta
Josh Minott
Hugo Gonzalez

remaining players

1 minimum salary free agent
Luke Garza
Dariq Whitehead
Xavier Tillman

out for the season

Jayson Tatum

Boston can then trade some draft picks for a player with a 2025-26 salary of up to $10,033,247 and sign one free agent to a minimum salary contract and they’ll still be below the tax line completely in 2025-26

potential 2025-26 active roster

starting lineup

PG Derrick White
SG trade acquisition

The Boston Celtics can get very safely below the luxury tax line completely by making this trade:

Anfernee Simons to Brooklyn; Dariq Whitehead + maybe one or two 2nd round picks to Boston

Boston was never going to keep Simons

Boston would presumably decline Whitehead’s 2026-27 team option

I believe if Brooklyn declines team options on Keon Johnson, Jalen Wilson, Tyrese Martin, + Drew Timme, + releases all cap holds except Cameron Thomas’ cap hold, this trade works:

Anfernee Simons to Brooklyn; Dariq Whitehead + maybe one or two 2nd round picks to Boston

Gets Boston below tax line

Seems to me that if Boston was able to completely dump Anfernee Simons then it would have happened already

One way to get below the tax line would be a) Sam Hauser into some team’s MLE or TPE or cap space for 2nds + b) a Simons trade for ~$20M in salaries (e.g., Zach Collins + Julian Phillips)

sample active roster

starters

PG Andrew Nembhard
SG Bennedict Mathurin
SF Aaron Nesmith
PF Pascal Siakam
C Isaiah Jackson

key reserves

T.J. McConnell
Obi Toppin
Ben Sheppard
Ochai Agbaji
Jarace Walker
Jay Huff
Johnny Furphy

etc.

Dalano Banton
James Wiseman
Kam Jones

out

Tyrese Haliburton

9 IND very open to trading Bennedict Mathurin who is going to be a restricted free agent next offseason, will get at least one pretty big offer from somebody, doesn’t seem like a good fit for IND… note that his minutes upon getting traded can be absorbed by guys like Sheppard, Agbaji, Furphy, Banton

8 IND can use part of MLE to absorb a player (e.g., Agbaji) via trade + a portion of the remainder to sign a free agent; for example, can trade 2nd for Agbaji THEN sign either Russell Westbrook, Malcolm Brogdon, Alec Burks, or Dalano Banton to 1 year, minimum salary contract + stay below tax line

6 IND applies for 16th active roster spot due to Tyrese Haliburton injury receives it

7 IND may not fill this 16th active roster until sometime during the regular season, may not fill it at all

5 for example, TOR is a bit over the tax line, can avoid the luxury tax in 2025-26 by trading Ochai Agbaji ($6,383,525 2025-26 salary) into IND’s MLE for a 2nd round pick; TOR not the only team needing to make a trade like this in order to get their financial affairs in order

3 IND will not go above the tax line this season

4 IND hasn’t used its non-taxpayer mid-level exception yet but probably will… not by signing a free agent but by using it to absorb a player (via trade) from a team looking to reduce team salaries

Indiana Pacers - my assumptions + expectations for the remaining offseason + trade deadline

1 IND currently at $178,892,609 in team salaries (assumes James Wiseman makes active roster + Tony Bradley doesn’t)

2 therefore IND has 14 active roster players and are $9,002,391 below the luxury tax line

I mean, if one of the immediate arguments in defense of the massive contract extension a player has just signed is “this is a tradable salary slot,” is this not a bad sign?

Did anyone after Luka Doncic’s extension was announced say “this is a tradable salary slot”?

No, he would be an expiring contract, would stay on the active roster until at least after the trade deadline

Golden State would if they made this deal involving Love and Mykhailiuk be in a position at the trade deadline to offer some 1sts with ~$17M in expiring contracts (Buddy Hield, Love, Mykhailiuk) for a good rotation player who fits much better on this roster than Kuminga ever will

Utah can offer a couple of 1st round picks + the expiring contracts of Kevin Love and Svi Mykhailiuk for a signed-and-traded Kuminga, with a first year salary of $26,586,249

Utah has other assets that might interest Golden State more, e.g., Taylor Hendricks, Cody Williams, Bruce Sensabaugh

I am still thinking Utah is eventually going to go after one of these four unsigned restricted free agents (Jonathan Kuminga, Josh Giddey, Cam Thomas, Quentin Grimes)

Utah can by declining Kenyon Martin Jr’s team option and renouncing its cap holds create $18,761,249 in cap space

9 CHA needs to waive three players, probably Pat Connaughton, Nick Smith Jr, and DaQuan Jeffries, in order to get the active roster down to 15; will try to trade them first, ideally for some draft pick compensation

10 Russell Westbrook needs a home; how about Indiana?

8 MIA needs to get below the luxury tax line by trading either Andrew Wiggins for a player who makes several million dollars/year less (DeMar DeRozan? Kyle Kuzma?) (MIA probably gets back some draft pick compensation in this trade as well), then filling out the active roster with Dru Smith

7 OKC needs to prepare for the huge increase in 2026-27 team salaries by trading one (Isaiah Joe?), maybe two (Ousmane Dieng?) unnecessary players for draft pick compensation, replace them by signing guys like Branden Carlson and Brooks Barnhizer to “Presti Specials” (very team-friendly contracts)

6 LAL needs to see if there’s a LeBron trade that makes sense for both themselves and for LeBron; a trade to the Clippers or Warriors seems to make the most sense

5 TOR needs to get below the tax line by trading Ochai Agbaji into another team’s mid-level exception, traded player exception, or cap space for some (not much) draft pick compensation

4 DEN needs to get below the luxury tax line by auctioning Peyton Watson off to the highest bidder, replacing him with a guy who makes somewhat less $ (which gets them below the tax line); for example, Watson to WAS for draft pick compensation + Justin Champagnie

2 GSW needs to sign Al Horford using most if not all of its mid-level exception

3 BOS needs to finish making trades that get them all the way below the luxury tax line in preparation for this year’s tank; look for an Anfernee Simons trade, a Sam Hauser trade, and a Georges Niang trade

The main unfinished business for NBA teams this offseason:

1 The four remaining unsigned restricted free agents (J. Giddey, C. Thomas, J. Kuminga, Q. Grimes) need to either be signed to extensions, signed-and-traded, or accept their qualifying offer