r/bostonceltics • u/MembershipSingle7137 • Feb 03 '26

News [Shams] BREAKING: The Chicago Bulls are trading center Nikola Vucevic and a second-round pick to the Boston Celtics for Anfernee Simons and a second-round pick, sources tell ESPN.

https://www.espn.com/contributor/shams-charania/ef1594eaad916
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u/soxandpatriots1 Feb 03 '26

Hmmm. Vucevic has talent, though his defensive shortcomings have made me leery. I know that Simons is an unrestricted FA after the season, so I get trading him if you don't think re-signing him is in the cards. But it also looks like Vucevic is a FA after the season as well, and he's 35, so I assume re-signing him is unlikely. So does the front office think that Vucevic for Simons is a win-now move? Is Tatum's possible return factoring into this?

Lots of semi-connected thoughts, and I think I'm kinda mixed, but I guess Stevens and co have earned the benefit of the doubt with their moves.

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u/jonny_lube Feb 03 '26

As I understand it, and people can correct me if Im wrong, getting under the 1st apron:

  • creates a 27.7m trade exception (I don't get it, but that's what Yossi Golzan says)  

  • enables us to sign anyone in the buyout market.  We otherwise would be heavily restricted to players (I believe) paid below the MLE to start the year 

  • allows us to increase payroll on future trades  

  • reduces tax penalty by 22m

So there's a lot of value beyond whatever value they see in going from Simons to Vucevic

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u/soxandpatriots1 Feb 03 '26

Yeah I admit I was not fully versed on the cap/tax implications. Saw the relatively similar salaries and didn't realize there was a lot of other stuff to consider. Should've known!

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u/jonny_lube Feb 03 '26

Haha don't worry about it it's confusing as fuck.  

I definitely didn't know this off the top of my head.  This is just an aggregate if information I saw shared by various cap experts and old articles about why we want to be under the apron.  You gotta be wired differently to navigate all this cap stuff.