Anfernee Simons’ encouraging Celtics tenure lasted simply half of 1 season.
Boston reached an settlement to commerce Simons to the Chicago Bulls for 35-year-old middle Nikola Vucevic, in line with a report Tuesday from ESPN’s Shams Charania. The groups additionally will swap second-round draft picks within the deal, which comes two days earlier than the NBA commerce deadline.
Simons, acquired within the July commerce that despatched Jrue Vacation to Portland, was a productive and dependable sixth man throughout his transient keep in Boston. The 26-year-old guard appeared in all 49 of the Celtics’ video games — the one participant on the roster to take action — and averaged 20.8 factors per 36 minutes whereas displaying vital enchancment as a defender.
Head coach Joe Mazzulla usually praised Simons’ defensive effort, which was considered as a weak spot of his recreation when he was beginning for the Path Blazers. Simons additionally gave Boston well timed jolts of off-the-bench scoring. He topped 20 factors 9 instances this season, together with a 39-point effort in a come-from-behind win over Miami on Jan. 15.
In his closing recreation as a Celtic on Sunday, Simons scored 27 factors on 10-of-18 capturing in a blowout victory over the Milwaukee Bucks.
“He’s performed his position for us tremendously,” Mazzulla mentioned after that recreation. “He’s simply one other man that makes us higher
Regardless of his high quality play, Simons’ $27.7 million expiring contract made him an obvious trade candidate, and he’d been talked about in commerce rumors because the summer time.
“Once you’ve been within the league eight years, the commerce rumors turn out to be fixed,” Simons mentioned final week. “Lots of them could possibly be true. Lots of them, more often than not, aren’t true. So that you’ve simply obtained to manage what you’ll be able to management and go on the market and play — play for the group and proceed to attempt to go on the market and get a win.”
It’s unclear how Boston will look to copy Simons’ offensive manufacturing within the brief time period — Sam Hauser is their solely different confirmed bench scorer — however his position was more likely to diminish considerably if and when famous person wing Jayson Tatum returns from Achilles surgical procedure.
Frontcourt assist was the Celtics’ prime roster want, they usually’ll get it within the well-traveled Vucevic, who will be part of starter Neemias Queta and backup Luka Garza — each of whom have exceeded expectations this season — on Boston’s middle depth chart.
Vucevic has began 48 video games for Chicago this season, averaging 16.9 factors and 9.0 rebounds per recreation whereas capturing 50.5% from the sector and 37.6% from 3-point vary. He’s a floor-stretching massive and an efficient rebounder, however he’s by no means been thought of a top quality defender, and at 6-foot-9, he lacks the prototypical middle measurement.
The Fifteenth-year professional is also on an expiring deal, with a wage cap hit of $21.5 million. Swapping Simons for Vucevic will drop the Celtics beneath the primary apron of the NBA’s luxurious tax, pending any further strikes made earlier than Thursday’s deadline.
Reserve massive males Chris Boucher and Xavier Tillman each have been out of Mazzulla’s rotation for months, making them potential commerce candidates. Boucher, who’s logged simply 4 minutes since Nov. 23, was dominated out for Tuesday’s recreation towards the Dallas Mavericks for private causes.
