It finally happened. After months of speculation, the Boston Celtics have reportedly agreed to send Anfernee Simons and what will likely be the New Orleans Pelicans’ 2026 second-round pick to the Chicago Bulls in exchange for Nikola Vucevic and the Denver Nuggets’ 2027 second-round pick.
Vucevic, just like Simons, is in the final year of his contract and could very easily walk away from the Celtics after the season wraps up. The 35-year-old big man, however, is reportedly excited to head to Boston and join what the Cs have been cooking, according to NBA Insider Marc Stein.
The Mavericks play host to Boston tonight after the Celtics -- whom Dallas previously hoped would be a Daniel Gafford trade suitor -- pivoted to Nikola Vučević and acquired the Chicago big man for Anfernee Simons.
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) February 3, 2026
Word is Vučević is excited about the opportunity to join the… https://t.co/LoEqGMOLsL
Though his initial reaction to the deal can’t serve as a complete indication that he’ll be around for the long term, it sounds like Vucevic is open to whatever his team needs from him in order to succeed. Before knowing he’d been traded to the Celtics, he shared his outlook moving forward into the later stages of his NBA career.
“I do understand that my role eventually could, maybe next season, change,” Vucevic explained to The Athletic’s Joel Lorenzi at Tuesday’s morning shootaround. “I might take on a smaller role on a team. Come off the bench, things like that. I’m fine with that.”
Vucevic will almost certainly be overjoyed to contribute to a winning team in Boston. He hasn’t been shy about how frustrating it can be ending up in the Play-In Tournament, where his Bulls had become regulars each spring.
“You know it’s not fun when you’re in the same position year after year, and especially when you can’t get out of that play-in, you get stuck behind Miami [Heat] every time, so we’ll see how it goes,” he told The Chicago Sun Times’ Joe Crowley on Monday.
Vucevic has the right mindset as he gets ready to join the Celtics
Again, there are still five months before his contract expires in July. Plenty could go wrong, or at least badly enough for him to sour on the Celtics or for them to sour on him. But it would make sense for Boston to try to retain the former All-Star center on a team-friendly contract going forward.
An underrated and encouraging aspect of what Vucevic brings to the table is his durability. The big man, in his 15th NBA season, has missed just two games through the first half of the campaign. In the previous five, he’d missed just 24 total matchups.
As Celtics fans have learned this season with the current core of players, availability goes a long way. There’s no way Boston would be sitting tied for second in the East if they couldn’t rely on Jaylen Brown, Payton Pritchard, Derrick White, and the rest of the team to stay healthy.
Hopefully, Vucevic’s string of good health continues in Boston. If so, the Cs will reap the rewards of his versatile offensive production and impact on the glass, not to mention his underrated passing vision.