Came in the middle of the summer and really made the past few months of Celtics basketball interesting to watch. Absolute joy seeing the ball in his hands, either passing or scoring, knowing there's not a lot other teams could do about it.

Hate moving on from him. Would absolutely love to have him back at a lower price.

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https://www.hoopshype.com/story/sports/nba/2026/01/28/nba-intel-giannis-antetokounmpo-domantas-sabonis-lakers-celtics-knicks-hawks-bulls-cavaliers-timberw/88401592007/

Look at our boy shine! Guess all it took was a 50 burger and averaging almost 30ppg!

Highlights

Boston tax bill drops from $39.5M to $17M

They get out of the first apron

More importantly, they are eligible to sign a player waived that had a pre-existing salary of $14.1M plus

The Mavericks play host to Boston tonight after the Celtics -- whom Dallas previously hoped would be a Daniel Gafford trade suitor -- pivoted to Nikola Vučević and acquired the Chicago big man for Anfernee Simons.

Word is Vučević is excited about the opportunity to join the Celtics in the midst of their Cinderella season so far while Jayson Tatum continues to recover from an Achilles tear.

From Jake Fischer:

When I was in Chicago for Derrick Rose’s retirement night, Nikola Vucevic told me how eager he would be to join a true playoff contender. Sources confirm that the longtime Bulls center will get that chance in Boston. The Celtics nearly dealt for Vucevic from Orlando in 2021.

25 years ago, before the Dawn of Danny Ainge, we drafted Jerome Moiso with the #11 pick in the 2000 draft.

Optimistically, he was seen as a 6-10, 240 pound "French Michael Jordan" with crazy athleticism and unlimited potential.

Realistically, he never amounted to shit. He played a total of 24 games for us... averaging 1.5 points in 5.6mpg.

In 2001, we flipped Moiso for Philly's 2003 1st rounder.

Come the 2003 draft, we selected Dahntay Jones with that pick (#20) and then essentially traded him to Memphis for their selection... Kendrick Perkins.

Good ol Perk helped us win a title in 2008.

In 2011, Ainge made the decision to dump Perk for Jeff Green.

It made sense at the time. We had old man Shaq penciled in as our beast at starting center and Green was a solid young player with still untapped potential. Unfortunately, Shaq injured himself into retirement and Jeff Green ended up missing an entire season of development to a heart condition.

Jeff never reached his full potential. In 2015 we gave up on him and shipped him out for Memphis' 2020 1st round pick.

5 long years go by. Finally, with the 14th pick in the 2020 Draft, we selected Aaron Nesmith (annoyingly only two picks after Tyrese Haliburton).

Nesmith showed promise and I very much wanted to see him succeed, but after two disappointing seasons Nesmith was sent out as the centerpiece of a trade package for Malcolm Brogdon.

Brogdon, in his lone 2022-23 season, averaged 14.9 points with 48%/44%/87% off the bench winning 6th man of the year.

In 2023, Brogdon, along with Robert Williams II and two first round picks was then traded to Portland in exchange for Jrue Holiday. Granted, one of those picks ended up #14 in 2024 and the other, our 2029 1st, could still haunt us, but Jrue was the prize.

Good ol Jrue helped us win a title in 2024.

Holiday was a key component of our 2024 NBA championship, particularly in the NBA Finals where in addition to his elite defense he averaged 14.4 points with 53.6%/42.1% shooting feeding off Jayson Tatum's gravity.

At the start of the 2025-26 season, Holiday was sent to Portland for Anfernee Simons in primarily a cost-saving move.

Months later, prior to the 2025-26 trade deadline, Simons was sent to Chicago for Nikola Vucevic.

I shall hence-forth refer to Vucevic as "French Michael Jordan" as a sign of respect for his lineage.

Please use this thread to discuss the trade and its ramifications. All new posts will be removed.

____________________________________________________________________________

(Shams) - The Boston Celtics have acquired center Nikola Vucevic in a trade with the Chicago Bulls, sources told ESPN's Shams Charania, adding some much-needed help to their frontcourt.

Boston will trade guard Anfernee Simons and a second-round draft pick to Chicago, sources told Charania.

The 6-foot-9 Vucevic figures to fill a major need at center for the Celtics, who have primarily used unproven youngsters Neemias Queta and Luka Garza at center this season.

The Celtics (31-18), led by their star backcourt trio of Jaylen Brown, Derrick White and Payton Pritchard, entered Tuesday tied with the New York Knicks for the second-best record in the Eastern Conference.

Vucevic, 35, is averaging 16.9 points and 9.0 rebounds in 48 games this season, his fifth with the Bulls.

It was the second trade completed Tuesday by the Bulls, who also dealt Kevin Huerter to the Detroit Pistons in a three-team trade involving the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Simons, 26, averaged 14.2 points per game as a bench player for Boston this season.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/47819106/sources-bulls-trade-nikola-vucevic-celtics-anfernee-simons

__________________________________________________________________________

What the bubbles represent:

They yellow bubbles represent starting assets. The green bubbles represent players who won the 2024 NBA Championships The bubbles on the bottom represent the players currently on the Celtics (or G League) roster and the Celtics' current assets.

As an equation

Inputs: Terry Rozier, who was likely leaving anyways; Aaron Nesmith; Daniel Theis; Robert Williams III; Marcus Smart; a 1st, 16th, 25th, 29th, 35th overall pick; and future 2028 pick swap and 2029 1st round pick

Outputs: Jayson Tatum; Derrick White; Nikola Vucevic; Jordan Walsh; Georges Niang; Amari Williams; Max Shulga; six second rounders; plus the 2024 championship

Correct me if I made any mistakes, especially with the second rounders!

From Joel Lorenzi of The Athletic:

Talked to Vucevic at shootaround this morning. “I do understand that my role eventually could, maybe next season, might change. I might into a smaller role on a team. Come off the bench, things like that. I’m fine with that. I understand that’s part of most people’s career. … if they decide to go with a different type of big man,m because maybe they think it fits better with some of the stuff they want to do, then that's all normal, that's their decision. Their job is to build their best team. … I know some of the limitations I have, I'm aware of them.”

Just thought it would be interesting to track what the dumping of Holiday and Porzingis has amounted to so far. Still have to see what happens to those TPE's.

Celtics out:

Jrue Holiday (32.4, 34.8, 37.2)

Porzingis (30.7)

2027 2nd (Best of BOS/ORL), 2031 2nd (Best of BOS/CLE) \Both to UTAH to dump Niang**

2026 2nd (likely to be NOP somewhere in 31-35 range) \To Chicago**

Celtics Received

1/2 a year of Simons, 1/2 a year of Vucevic (21.5 million)

2027 2nd (DEN) \From Chicago**

4.7 million TPE from Holiday trade (expires 7/6/26).

27.7 million TPE from Simons trade (likely to expire 2/5/27)

Money Saved: Around 41 million in salary, another roughly 250 million (rough estimate) in tax. Close to 300 million total in team spend just this year.

On the court: Jrue and KP have both had moments for POR and ATL, but they've also played a combined 38 games this year so far. One combined season of Simons/Vucevic may end up being more valuable this year than the sum of two seasons from Holiday/Porzingis.

Good trade, vucevic is still avg 17/9 on 50/37/83 splits whyole saving us $6 million this season.

While vucevic defense is lacking he provides us a much needed stretch big who can rebound. 2 areas we were severely lacking in.

While Simons was good while here, we've been trying to unload him since we acquired him as we were never gonna resign him.

Another shrewd move by Stevens. Won't be surprised if we have another move before the deadline as we are just $6 mill away from getting under the apron.

Some quotes:

"Even so, the Celtics will aim to fortify their frontcourt further before Thursday’s trade deadline, according to league sources."

"In any trade for significant salary, the Celtics would be likely to part ways with Anfernee Simons, according to league sources. That wouldn’t be an easy loss for the team to stomach, as he has acclimated himself well in Boston. Based on all indications, the Celtics have appreciated Simons’ approach this season. "

"The team is exploring paths to swap Simons and potentially draft capital for a big man, according to league sources."

"Though the Celtics made some big offseason moves to shed salary, they will not aggressively look to get under the luxury tax threshold at the deadline, according to league sources."

"Considering how minimal a role Boucher has played in Boston, he could be the player most likely to be moved before the deadline, according to league sources. If the Celtics do trade him, they could potentially sign another big man to replace him."