Basketball Wiretap

Anfernee Simons and the Philadelphia 76ers have agreed to a two-year, $12.3 million contract. Simons will hold a player option for Year 2 of the contract.

Simons received interest from the Golden State Warriors, Miami Heat, Dallas Mavericks, Boston Celtics and others.

The 76ers' signing of Simons follows their trade with the Boston Celtics for Jaylen Brown.

The Boston Celtics' trade of Jaylen Brown to the Philadelphia 76ers for Paul George and two future first round picks was one of the more stunning transactions for league insiders in recent memory despite the well-documented presence of Brown in trade rumors for several weeks.

The Celtics' front office from the Danny Ainge tenure to now with Brad Stevens and Mike Zarren have historically operated in a very measured way. 

While Boston received two first round picks back for Brown, the Sixers probably would have had to attach one future first round pick merely to trade away George due to the size of his contract relative to his productivity. The Celtics were previously seeking as many as four or five future first round picks for Brown after they had offered him to the Milwaukee Bucks for Giannis Antetokounmpo.

According to executives on rival teams that spoke with ESPN's Brian Windhorst, the conclusion currently being reached around the NBA is that the Celtics clearly felt they had to expedite a Brown trade even if the return is less than his widely perceived value.

"Other teams in the league felt like this looked like a trade that was made under duress," said Windhorst on Sports Center in the hours after the trade. "That you wouldn't make this trade if everything was equal. And I look forward to hearing an explanation from the Celtics' side because I cannot explain it on its face.

"Even if they wanted to move on from Jaylen Brown, and even if they didn't like the offers that they had today, it doesn't make sense why this trade would have to happen now. Even if you believe that Jaylen Brown had played his last game for you, there's just no reason to feel any pressure to make this move on July 1st. I promise you that there would have been other opportunities.

"And not only that, to make it to a team that is in your conference, in your division. A team that just vanquished you in the playoffs? The more you look at it, the more mystifying it gets.

"The Celtics are a team that is very studied, that doesn't make any move without thinking it through. I'm sure that they have their reasons for the exact way they went about this, but they're going to be reasons that are going to be very difficult to articulate and understand."

The Boston Celtics never seriously considered trading Jayson Tatum despite recent inquiries from rival teams, according to ESPN's Shams Charania. Boston instead determined weeks ago that it needed to move on from Jaylen Brown, ultimately sending him to the Philadelphia 76ers for Paul George and two future first round picks.

"Whether it was personal situations between the two players or whether it was just the on-court basketball fit, the Celtics had just made the determination that, moving forward, they can no longer win a championship, clearly, with Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum," said Charania on Thursday's episode of Get Up.

"The Celtics received calls on Jayson Tatum over the last couple of weeks. They shut those down completely, from my understanding. But when it came to Jaylen Brown, they were open to listening, and they have been for quite some time now."

The Celtics previously offered Brown in a trade package to the Brooklyn Nets during the 2022 offseason.

"Remember in 2022, they offered Jaylen Brown for Kevin Durant," added Charania. "This summer, they offered Jaylen Brown for Giannis Antetokounmpo. They missed out on both. And so, it became about what they can get for him once the toothpaste was out of the proverbial tube. But why now?

"There are three years left on Jaylen Brown's contract. They go out seeking four or five first-round picks in deals. It was very clear that Jaylen Brown felt a level of disrespect being thrown out there in trade talks. And well, listen, the only way to make him feel better is by showing him the money in late July. Two years, $145 million is what he was eligible for on an extension with the Celtics. All indications after this trade are that, clearly, that offer was never coming. That was never going to happen.

"And so, the Celtics aggressively shopped Jaylen Brown over the last few days, and the bar kept going down every single day. It was getting lower and lower, and I had GMs telling me, 'Eventually, Brad Stevens and the Celtics will have to trade him for 40 cents on the dollar.' Now, why was his value so low? You can figure it out depending on who you ask. But to trade him at 29 years old to a rival? It is stunning for everyone in the NBA."

Rival executives believe the Celtics traded Brown under duress.

The Boston Celtics were close enough to a trade for Giannis Antetokounmpo where they held discussions with his camp on what his extension with the franchise would look like. While Antetokounmpo is eligible for an extension worth up to $275 million over four years, the Celtics hoped to sign him to a two-year extension at 30 percent of the cap. Antetokounmpo was seeking a three-year extension at 35 percent of the cap.

Antetokounmpo was eventually traded by the Milwaukee Bucks to the Miami Heat instead of the Celtics. There have not been any indications on what type of contract extension he will ultimately sign with the Heat. Antetokounmpo will become eligible to officially sign an extension with the Heat in January.

"The Giannis to Boston thing was closer than I think people realize," said Bill Simmons. "I still don't think Hugo [Gonzalez] was ever in the trade.

"But I do think it got to the point that Bucks had an arrangement with Giannis that—they weren't going to trade him without him signing off on it. And he didn't sign off on the Miami trade for a couple days there. And they were talking about extensions with the Celtics. And it came down to two years and 30 percent of the cap, or three years for 35. The Celtics were pretty entrenched at two for 30. And Giannis wanted the three for 35 and they couldn't agree on it.

"And that was when he green-lit the Miami trade and Miami threw in [Kasparas] Jakucionis. And that's when it happened."

Jaylen Brown never requested a trade from the Boston Celtics and his departure this offseason appears to have been driven by the front office. The Celtics moved forward with their trade of Brown to the Philadelphia 76ers for Paul George and two first round picks.

"I'm told Jaylen Brown has been disappointed and disrespected with the way the Celtics have handled this situation, particularly because he never requested a trade," said Shams Charania.

Brown is ready to move on to a new start with the Sixers.

"I'm told he's already spoken to the team's cornerstone guard, Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgcombe. They have had great early conversations during the first 24 hours after this trade."

Charania went on to explain how the Celtics arrived at this place and why they didn't try to wait out the current offers for them to improve in the future.

"Once the Celtics missed out on Giannis Antetokounmpo—for the fourth straight year Jaylen Brown was dangled in trade conversations," said Charania. "My understanding was Jaylen Brown felt disrespected and the only way to recoup the relationship at that point was to give Jaylen Brown that two-year, $145 million extension in July.

"But all indications now are that the Celtics were not going to offer that. It then became about seeing what you could get on the trade market. The Celtics set a very high bar. They asked for four or five first round picks. But that price just was not met in the marketplace. As time went on as they aggressively shopped him among eight to 10 different teams, the valuation plummeted across the NBA.

"When I talked to teams today, they have wondered why didn't the Celtics prolong this later into July? Later into the offseason. What made them pull the trigger now?

"My understanding in Boston is they felt this was the best it was going to get for Jaylen Brown."

The Celtics offered Brown in trade talks for Kevin Durant with the Brooklyn Nets in 2022 and again last offseason when they ended up trading away Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis.

Charania also reported that rival teams inquired with the Celtics on the potential of a trade for Jayson Tatum, but those calls were swiftly rebuffed.

The Boston Celtics' blockbuster trade sending Jaylen Brown to the Philadelphia 76ers was not a cost-cutting move and was not made with a follow-up deal in mind, according to a league source.

Boston sent the 2024 NBA Finals MVP to Philadelphia on Wednesday in exchange for Paul George, two future first-round picks and two second-round picks.

George has two years remaining on his four-year, $211 million contract, one fewer than Brown had remaining. The swap will save the Celtics roughly $2.9 million this season.

Despite that savings, a league source stressed the trade was not a financial decision. The source said there was no directive from ownership to move Brown.

The same source added that Wednesday's deal was not executed with an imminent secondary trade already planned. Boston's front office reportedly "agonized" over the decision for days before finalizing it.

LeBron James is taking his time in free agency and has no timetable for when he will make a decision. Because James is showing some level of flexibility for the type of contract he is prepared to sign, he can be patient without necessarily stopping other business around the league from getting done unlike the situations in 2010 and 2014.

"LeBron James is not in a rush right now to make a decision," said Shams Charania on Thursday. "He's evaluating everything. His biggest priority in all this is finding a team where he feels he's going to have a chance to play meaningful basketball and compete for a championship. My understanding is this will not be a financially driven, money decision.

"His agent, Rich Paul, has been getting about a dozen pitches ever since free agency opened."

The Golden State Warriors, Cleveland Cavaliers and Miami Heat are considered the three most probable teams for James. The Denver Nuggets and Philadelphia 76ers have also been identified as teams that have reached out to James.

"LeBron James will probably take the next few days to sift through all that and figure out exactly where he's at. There is no timetable," added Charania.

The Los Angeles Lakers do not currently have any remaining cap space to re-sign Rui Hachimura, with 13 roster spots filled and only veteran minimum contracts available for outside additions.

Hachimura earned $18.3 million last season and posted 17.5 points per game on 54.9% shooting, including 56.9% from three-point range, to go with 4.0 rebounds during the playoffs.

Hachimura's unsigned status has prompted speculation among league sources about a possible trade or use of the stretch provision that the Lakers could make to free up space involving Jarred Vanderbilt or Deandre Ayton.

Vanderbilt is on a $12.43 million expiring contract as he wraps his four-year, $48 million deal. Ayton picked up his $8.1 million option for the 2026-27 season.

The Lakers signed Sandro Mamukelashvili to a four-year, $52 million contract and shot 38.9% from three on a career-high 3.7 attempts per game last season, providing similar size and shooting to Hachimura.

The San Antonio Spurs had emerged as a possible destination for Hachimura in free agency, but went inandother direction on Wednesday by reaching agreement with Tobias Harris.

The Los Angeles Lakers have interest in signing Jonathan Kuminga in free agency, sources tell The Athletic. 

Kuminga is a free agent after the Atlanta Hawks declined their $24.3 million option. Kuminga signed a two-year, $48.5 million deal with the Golden State Warriors last September after a prolonged restricted free agency.

In 16 games with the Hawks, Kuminga averaged 12.2 points, 5.3 rebounds and 2.1 assists in 22.1 minutes.

Kuminga would fill a need for the Lakers for athleticism on the wing.

DeMar DeRozan wants to speed up his departure from the Sacramento Kings, either through a trade or by being waived.

DeRozan is owed $25 million for next season, but only $10 million of that is guaranteed. DeRozan expects Sacramento to waive and stretch his contract with rival executives around the league sharing that same expectation.

A stretch provision would allow the Kings to spread DeRozan's remaining guaranteed money over multiple seasons, reducing the annual cap hit. DeRozan would also be free to sign elsewhere as an unrestricted free agent.

Sacramento has not indicated a firm timeline for a decision on DeRozan's future. But the sides could still explore trade options before any waiver decision is finalized.

DeRozan has long been one of the NBA's most durable players. Last season, he averaged 18.4 points, 2.9 rebounds and 4.1 assists in 31.2 minutes across 77 games.

DeRozan is represtned by Aaron Goodwin.