{"id":175878,"date":"2026-02-04T13:19:56","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T18:19:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=175878"},"modified":"2026-02-04T13:19:56","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T18:19:56","slug":"celtics-nikola-vucevic-trade-another-mastermind-move","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2026\/02\/04\/celtics-nikola-vucevic-trade-another-mastermind-move\/","title":{"rendered":"Celtics Make Mastermind Move With Nikola Vucevic Trade"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brad Stevens<\/a> has done it again! The Boston Celtics have traded<\/a> Anfernee Simons<\/a> to the Chicago Bulls for big man Nikola Vucevic<\/a>, with each team also swapping second-round picks.<\/span><\/p>\n

Celtics Make Mastermind Move With Nikola Vucevic Trade<\/h2>\n

The Celtics moved on from Simons in a stellar move for more depth. Simons has an expiring contract and is likely to hit free agency as an unrestricted free agent. So, this trade<\/a> is an ideal arrangement for Boston, considering that Vucevic is also on an expiring<\/a> contract. Depending on how the 35-year-old performs in a new city, Boston could see a revival of its interior play on offense.<\/span><\/p>\n

Simons was showing great promise as a spark plug powering Boston’s secondary squad. However, his positive play for the team was not going to earn him the starting spot over Payton Pritchard<\/a> or Derrick White<\/a>. Additionally, Simons’ youth is a likely indicator of his talents being worth a sizable contract on the open market, which Boston would not be able to contend with. After acquiring him for Jrue Holiday<\/a> last summer<\/a>, trading Simons now is clearly the smart move to make.<\/p>\n

Vucevic is a veteran big man and a journeyman at this point, playing for the fourth team in his 15-year career. Though he’s never been in true free agency, he’s a coveted talent for his size, rebounding, and skills at center. He will most certainly be a productive rebounder and likely find himself in the starting lineup almost immediately. After all, he has started in nearly every game of his professional career. His career averages of 17.2 points and 10.4 rebounds are surely going to make a difference with the Boston Celtics.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Dec
Dec 21, 2024; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Chicago Bulls center Nikola Vucevic (9) warms up before a basketball game against the Boston Celtics at United Center. Mandatory Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

How Vucevic Can Make an Immediate Impact<\/b><\/h3>\n

Another benefit of bringing in Vucevic is his availability. The 6-foot-9-inch center has remained incredibly durable throughout his career. His presence as a rebounder and ability to space the floor will make him a nice pairing with Neemias Queta<\/a>, assuming they both remain starters. If Jayson Tatum<\/a> decides to be cautious in his return from an Achilles injury, then he may not play at all in the 2025-26 NBA season. However, the addition of Vucevic proves that Boston isn’t favoring a gap year in their chase for banner nineteen.<\/span><\/p>\n

Vucevic should turn out to be a great fit slotted into Joe Mazzulla’s offense. He has always been a stellar rebounder on both ends of the floor. Now, he has added perimeter shooting to his repertoire at nearly a forty percent rate. Vucevic is primed to stand out as a premier offensive performer with this skillset.<\/p>\n

Throughout his career, he has been either a primary or secondary scoring option and has succeeded in this role as an individual performer. Fortunately, Boston has the depth so that Vucevic could be the third or even fourth scoring option behind Tatum, Jaylen Brown<\/a>, and Derrick White. The two-time All-Star may have seen his best days behind him; however, the supporting cast around him could prolong the twilight years of his career, possibly even resulting in another championship for the Celtics.<\/p>\n

\u00a9 Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brad Stevens has done it again! The Boston Celtics have traded Anfernee Simons to the Chicago Bulls for big man Nikola Vucevic, with each team also swapping second-round picks. Celtics Make Mastermind Move With Nikola Vucevic Trade The Celtics moved on from Simons in a stellar move for more depth. Simons has an expiring contract […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5681,"featured_media":176036,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,5,62],"tags":[1559,300,1090,450,4108,474,2614],"class_list":["post-175878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-celtics","category-nba","tag-anfernee-simons","tag-brad-stevens","tag-derrick-white","tag-jaylen-brown","tag-neemias-queta","tag-nikola-vucevic","tag-payton-pritchard"],"modified_by":"Jordan Pagkalinawan","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5681"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175878"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175878\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":176044,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175878\/revisions\/176044"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/176036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}