A week has passed since the NBA’s trade deadline, which was one of the stranger ones we’ve ever seen. The biggest buyers were teams that are tanking for ping pong balls, with the Jazz adding Jaren Jackson Jr., the Pacers landing Ivica Zubac, and the Wizards acquiring Trae Young and Anthony Davis.
Beyond that, teams were mostly maneuvering to save money and duck under aprons or the luxury tax, or making small upgrades on the margins. But somehow, against all odds, it looks like the Celtics managed to accomplish both of those goals at once.
Flipping Anfernee Simons for Nikola Vucevic saved Boston a good chunk of money, getting them under the first apron, which provided significant roster flexibility and tax savings. The move also balanced the roster as Vooch has taken over the backup center role and added a nice offensive element with his post scoring, spacing, and passing.
The Cs have missed Simons’ bench scoring, but moving Payton Pritchard back into the sixth man role has helped, and the move will look even better if Jayson Tatum is able to come back and take on some of the scoring and ball-handling burden.
Celtics upgraded the team while ducking the luxury tax
They did what teams seldom do: saved money and upgraded the team at the same time. They sacrificed a slightly better draft asset, and Simons is a much younger player, but still, both players are on expiring deals, and just a 2nd round pick swap to get a cheaper player who also fits the roster better is some impressive work.
As if that wasn’t enough, Brad Stevens and his staff were able to make three more deals in the hours before the deadline, going right down to the wire, and eventually moving Chris Boucher, Josh Minott, and Xavier Tillman Sr. in separate deals to get under the luxury tax line completely.
Not to celebrate owners saving money or anything, but that takes away any team-building restrictions for the roster, and allows the chance to get out of the repeater tax, which, like it or not, will impact the team’s spending in the coming seasons.
What really made this a win and a no-brainer for the Celtics is that they were able to make these moves without making the team worse. Simons for Vooch was a tough one, and perhaps the talent is fairly even, but Boston upgraded at a position of need. But Tillmans, Minott, and Boucher were completely out of the rotation and had no future with the team.
Ownership being cheap is one thing, but being strategic to game the system and set up the team to compete at the highest level for years to come is quite another. Boston did the latter, and with those corresponding moves and outcomes, as unlikely as it may have seemed, it’s safe to say they fared as well as any other team at the 2026 trade deadline.