Why Anfernee Simons Isn’t A Realistic Trade Target For The Sixers

PORTLAND, OREGON – JANUARY 29: Anfernee Simons #1 of the Portland Trail Blazers dribbles against Danuel House Jr. #25 of the Philadelphia 76ers during the second quarter at the Moda Center on January 29, 2024 in Portland, Oregon. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Alika Jenner/Getty Images)

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The Philadelphia 76ers remain in limbo thanks to restricted free agent Quentin Grimes, who has yet to re-sign with them or sign an offer sheet with another team. As a result, the Sixers still haven’t spent their $5.7 million taxpayer mid-level exception on another free agent, as doing so would hard-cap them at the $207.8 million second apron and set a hard ceiling on how much they could spend to retain Grimes.

That hasn’t stopped the NBA rumor mill from churning, though. On Monday, Sam Amico of HoopsWire reported that the Sixers and Denver Nuggets “are among the teams that have expressed interest in a possible trade” for Boston Celtics guard Anfernee Simons.

The Celtics have been conducting a financial teardown all offseason and now find themselves only $12.1 million above the $187.9 million luxury-tax line. With Jayson Tatum sidelined for the 2025-26 season due to a torn Achilles tendon, they figure to continue exploring ways to sneak under the tax threshold and move one step closer to getting out of the repeater tax, which became even more punitive beginning this season.

Trading Simons, who’s earning $27.7 million this year, would be the Celtics’ easiest way out of the tax. Otherwise, they’d either have to flip one of Tatum, Jaylen Brown or Derrick White while taking far less salary back, or they’d have to salary-dump Sam Hauser and one other player. So, they figure to be aiming to shed at least $12.1 million in any Simons deal.

That’s among the reasons why the Sixers’ reported interest in Simons doesn’t pass the smell test upon closer scrutiny.

Sixers Lack The Matching Salaries For Simons

The bigger issue from the Sixers’ perspective is their lack of salary-matching contracts. They’re extremely top-heavy with Joel Embiid ($55.2 million), Paul George ($51.6 million) and Tyrese Maxey ($38.0 million). They don’t have any other player earning more than $11.1 million.

If either the Sixers or Celtics took back more salary than they sent out in a deal involving Simons, they’d become hard-capped at the $195.9 million first apron. That wouldn’t be a huge deal for the Celtics, particularly if they are intent on sneaking under the tax line this year, but it would be a major issue for the Sixers. They’re only $10.05 million under the first apron right now, and that’s before re-signing Grimes.

Since the Celtics would presumably be looking to shed at least $12.1 million in salary and the Sixers wouldn’t want to take back more salary than they’d send out, they’d need to loop in at least a third team in any trade. That might not be a deal-breaker, as the Brooklyn Nets are still sitting on upward of $20 million in cap space. However, even a three- or four-team framework would be difficult to hash out.

The cleanest path to a potential deal might involve a Grimes sign-and-trade, but the NBA’s base-year compensation rules complicate that as well. In short, Grimes would only count as 50% of his new salary in terms of outgoing salary. So, if the Nets wanted to sign him to a $20 million starting salary, he’d count as $20 million in incoming salary for them but only $10 million in outgoing salary for the Sixers. His next contract would have to begin at $55.4 million—which is above a 35% max deal this year—for the Sixers to be able to sign-and-trade him in a Simons deal without getting hard-capped.

The Sixers could bring that figure down by including Kelly Oubre Jr. ($8.4 million) or Andre Drummond ($5.0 million) in the deal, but that means they’d be losing multiple rotation pieces just to add Simons. That brings us to the other significant roadblock: He doesn’t fill a clear need from an on-court perspective, either.

Simons’ On-Court Fit Doesn’t Make Sense

If anything, the Sixers’ backcourt is their greatest reason for hope moving forward. Maxey was an All-Star in 2023-24 and likely would have been last year as well had the Sixers’ season not gone totally off the rails. Jared McCain emerged as the early front-runner for Rookie of the Year before tearing his meniscus in mid-December. And the Sixers just spent the No. 3 overall pick in this year’s NBA draft on VJ Edgecombe, an athletic marvel who showed promising flashes in summer league before suffering a thumb injury.

Simons is an efficient, high-volume three-point shooter who would add even more scoring punch to the Sixers’ backcourt, but that’d be more of a luxury than a need. Besides, he’s also been one of the NBA’s biggest defensive sieves since making his professional debut in 2018, and he’s small for a shooting guard at 6’3″ and 181 points.

Maxey and McCain’s long-term fit is already in question because both are undersized for a 2-guard. Why would the Sixers bring in another player of that archetype, particularly one who’s on an expiring contract? The Sixers would either have to re-sign him next summer or risk losing him for nothing in free agency.

The Sixers would be far better off re-signing Grimes, who likely won’t come close to sniffing Simons’ $27.7 million salary this year and is more of a two-way player. Grimes might not have the shooting upside that Simons does, but he’s a better overall fit alongside Maxey and McCain. Simons would be largely duplicative, which would not make him a great allocation of resources for the Sixers.

In a world where contracts and aprons doesn’t exist, it would make sense for the Sixers to be interested in Simons. Every team should want to add promising talent whenever it can. However, the NBA doesn’t exist in that world.

The financial roadblocks alone might be insurmountable for the Sixers in any Simons deal. Even if the Sixers found a way around that, they’d have to ask themselves whether further loading up in the backcourt—particularly if it costs them assets to do so—is the wisest path forward. The answer should be fairly obvious.

Unless otherwise noted, all stats via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball Reference. All salary information via Spotrac and salary-cap information via RealGM. All odds via FanDuel Sportsbook.

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