{"id":580412,"date":"2026-02-03T21:41:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T21:41:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/580412\/"},"modified":"2026-02-03T21:41:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T21:41:16","slug":"shams-celtics-trade-anfernee-simons-for-bulls-big-man-nikola-vucevic-2nd-round-pick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/580412\/","title":{"rendered":"Shams: Celtics trade Anfernee Simons for Bulls big man Nikola Vucevic, 2nd round pick"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Boston Celtics have reportedly agreed to trade former Portland Trail Blazers<\/a> guard Anfernee Simons to the Chicago Bulls<\/a> for big man Nikola Vucevic and a second-round draft pick, per <\/a>ESPN’s Shams Charania. The move addresses the Celtics’ thin frontcourt rotation in the present, and perhaps longer term if Vucevic and Boston can agree to a new, cheaper deal.<\/p>\n

The trade has left the Celtics under the first apron and about $6 million from getting out of the luxury tax, widely seen as a desired if not critical goal to accomplish in the short term if not this season. Earning $21.4 million in the final year of his current contract, the Chicago center will fit into the $22.5 million traded player exception (TPE) created by the trade of Kristaps Porzingis last offseason. It could create another TPE for Boston for the remainder of Simons’ $27,6 million salary the Celtics would then have a year to use to absorb the salary of one or more players able to fit into it.<\/p>\n

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Vucevic has averaged 16.9 points, 9.0 rebounds, and 3.8 assists per game while shooting 50.5% overall and 37.6% from beyond the arc. His rebounding and passing will help Boston on the offensive side of the court, but could be targeted on defense.<\/p>\n

\"Jan<\/p>\n

Jan 5, 2026; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Chicago Bulls center Nikola Vucevic (9) shoots the ball over Boston Celtics center Neemias Queta (88) during the second half at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Not the big splash that Boston fans were likely hoping for, he will be able to help the team in the present.<\/p>\n

The trade might also make the team able to re-sign the Bulls big man to a more affordable deal that could get the Celtics under the luxury tax next season while preserving a TPE and draft assets to use to sign a longer-term solution wherever the team feels it needs it in the future as well.<\/p>\n

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This article originally appeared on Celtics Wire: Shams: Celtics deal Anfernee Simons for Nikola Vucevic, 2nd round pick<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Boston Celtics have reportedly agreed to trade former Portland Trail Blazers guard Anfernee Simons to the Chicago…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":580413,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[4329,7,75,329,871,6,3853,471,567,78329],"class_list":{"0":"post-580412","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-anfernee-simons","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-boston-celtics","11":"tag-chicago-bulls","12":"tag-kristaps-porzingis","13":"tag-nba","14":"tag-nikola-vucevic","15":"tag-portland-trail-blazers","16":"tag-shams-charania","17":"tag-tpe"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116008879351027363","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580412","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=580412"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580412\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/580413"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=580412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=580412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=580412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}