The roller coaster is over.
For the first time in years, the Boston Celtics entered the season with major trade questions swirling through the air. Would they trade Anfernee Simons? Would they trade Sam Hauser? Would they get under the first apron? Would they duck the tax? Would they target a big man?
Now, 3 p.m. on February 5 has passed. No more trades will be made. And the Celtics were active.
First, they did, in fact, trade Simons. He was moved to the Chicago Bulls for Nikola Vucevic. Then, on the day of the deadline, they dealt Chris Boucher to the Utah Jazz, Josh Minott to the Brooklyn Nets, and Xavier Tillman to the Charlotte Hornets. All four moves were straight salary dumps.
Boston and Chicago traded second-rounders in the Simons swap, too. The Bulls got a very valuable 2026 second, which is likely to become the New Orleans Pelicans’ selection (probably around No. 30 to No. 35), and Boston received the Denver Nuggets’ 2027 second.
However, the Celtics then flipped that Nuggets second to the Jazz in order to dump Boucher’s contract.
Four trades in three days. All with three very specific purposes in mind.
1. Get under the tax line
Finances have been at the top of mind for Boston’s braintrust for months. Over the summer, they made it a priority to duck the second apron. They traded Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis and let both Al Horford and Luke Kornet walk in free agency.
Boston succeeded. They got under the second apron, avoiding serious penalties (and taxes) that come with being a second-apron team. But was that enough?
By flipping Simons for Vucevic, the Celtics got under the first apron at the deadline. What exactly does that mean? Here’s a list (via Spotrac) of things that first-apron teams cannot do:
- Using more than Tax MLE out of NTMLE (non-tax-payer mid-level exception)
- Using BAE (bi-annual exception)
- Acquiring player via Sign-and-Trade
- Signing a buyout player who made more than NTMLE on previous contract
- Using more than 100% in salary matching in a trade
- Using a TPE that was created in prior season
By trading Simons, the Celtics opened up all of these possibilities for themselves. They can sign a wider array of players, bring in more buyout candidates, acquire players via sign-and-trades, use their TPEs from any season, and more. They gained a ton of flexibility.
But again, that wasn’t the end of the line for the Celtics.
The news of Tillman’s trade to the Hornets came over an hour after the deadline had passed. Boston likely submitted the trade to the league office in time, but it just took a while to process.
On a human level, this deal was brutal. Tillman was a huge part of Boston’s locker room. Everyone loved him. But getting below the luxury tax could be huge for Boston.
Celtics should be able to time things out enough to stay under the luxury tax. It’ll be tight, but they should be able to make it work. https://t.co/FANY2chPW9
— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) February 5, 2026
If they can stay under that line next season as well, they will reset the repeater tax. (You have to be under the line in two years out of a three-year span to accomplish this.) And though that may not sound enticing to fans yelling ‘Cheap!’ from the crowd, it could allow the Celtics to seriously beef up their roster moving forward.
The benefits of getting under the first apron are great, and now, if Boston wants to add big-time pieces to their roster in the next few years, it won’t cost them nearly as much in taxes (again, if they also duck the luxury tax next season).
Right now, it’s a tough sell. But in the long run, these small moves could make a major impact. And the Celtics managed to complete the tax-line avoidance without moving any of their rotation guys, which is a win.
But still, losing Tillman is a tough blow to the locker room.
Celtics fans quickly fell in love with Simons. His rapid defensive improvements and elite three-point shot were enough to capture the heart of Boston. But the Celtics have perimeter depth.
Derrick White, Payton Pritchard, and Jaylen Brown are all going to have the ball in their hands. Jayson Tatum will, too, when he returns from his Achilles rupture. Even Baylor Scheierman can handle the ball and make plays off the dribble.
They have guys who can shoot the ball, too. All of the players mentioned above are capable three-point shooters. Jordan Walsh and Hugo Gonzalez have looked better than expected from beyond the arc, and two-way rookie Ron Harper Jr. showed an impressive flash of shooting in Boston’s win over the Houston Rockets on Wednesday night (the day before the deadline).
The reality is that Simons was a luxury. When he was red-hot, he could win the Celtics games, but they were capable of winning without him getting heavy minutes.
Neemias Queta and Luka Garza have been great this season. Not good. Great. But they are the only reliable big men on the Celtics’ roster. At least, they were before the Vucevic trade.
On any given night, Queta could get into foul trouble, Garza could be ice-cold, or vice versa. Either one of them could be hurt. And if any of those situations unfolded, Joe Mazzulla would be forced to either play rookie center Amari Williams (who just had his two-way contract converted to a standard deal) or roll out Scheierman or Gonzalez at the five.
Those games were significantly harder to win than games when Simons was cold. Now, Mazzulla will have another center option to play with.
Vucevic is on the older side. He’s 35. His defense isn’t amazing, and he’s never made it past the first round of the playoffs. But it’s hard to judge his talent because of the Celtics tax.
The Celtics tax is the inherent bump in or subtraction from a player’s value. It’s the Mazzulla effect. The DJ MacLeay effect. The Ross McMains effect. The effect of Boston’s entire coaching staff and culture.
They helped Simons turn into an impactful defender. Luka Garza is holding his own on defense and draining threes on a nightly basis. Queta went from fringe NBAer to one of the best interior defenders in the league. Hauser, Kornet, Scheierman, and now Harper have all progressed beautifully through Maine and into Boston.
Boston is not only one of the best teams in the NBA at developing talent, but also one of the best at getting the most out of every guy who steps foot in their facility.
If Mazzulla and company can help put Garza and Simons in the best positions to succeed on defense, they can absolutely do the same for Vucevic.
Plus, despite being in the latter years of his career, Vucevic is still an amazing offensive player. He can score, he can shoot, he can screen, and he can pass. Plus, he should provide an infusion of defensive rebounding that this Boston team can really use.
The Celtics needed another center. They got one.
This is the angle of the deadline that flew under the radar.
The Simons for Vucevic swap was one thing, but
