The Nikola Vucevic trade ultimately did nothing for the Boston Celtics. He was supposed to give them some frontcourt depth in their hopes of going on an extended playoff run, but their playoff hopes eroded quickly. The Chicago Bulls made the trade to kickstart their rebuild (finally), and now it's gotten them the No. 4 pick.
Boston made the trade for more reasons than to get frontcourt depth. They also did it to get under the cap and hence give them more options in the summer, but it was also a "have my cake and eat it" trade where they would do so while getting someone who could help, especially with Jayson Tatum well on his way to returning.
So if Boston plays their cards right - who says Vucevic coming back to Boston is out of the question? - this may not be so bad in the end, but it's clear that for the time being, the Bulls won this deal, given that they basically got what they wanted.
Granted, it took them what seemed like forever to make the realization that their best option was going young, but they finally did it, and now their future is on the up and up after years in NBA purgatory.
It also wasn't entirely the Vucevic trade that did it. Benching Anfernee Simons, who apparently had played hurt in Boston all along, trading Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu pretty much sealed their fate. Even so, trading Vucevic was them throwing away the rest of their season.
Vucevic never quite figured it out the same way Simons did
Celtics fans understood the reasoning behind the deal. On top of everything, it was not guaranteed that Simons would return. However, making it more painful was knowing that Simons had figured himself out under Joe Mazzulla's tutelage.
Vucevic had his flashes, but he never quite got it. Even worse is that Mazzulla lost faith in him by Game 7. The truth is, none of the Celtics bigs really did the team or themselves any favors in the playoffs, but Vucevic providing them nothing and at the cost of Disco Anferno made the pain even worse.
He has a reasonable defense: his late-season finger injury hurt his ability for develop any continuity with his Celtics teammates. If Vucevic is down for another chance at a discount, there are worse ideas out there.
But unfortunately times like these where the Bulls got exactly what they wanted should be a harsh reminder of why Boston got him next to nothing from an asset perspective.
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