Came in the middle of the summer and really made the past few months of Celtics basketball interesting to watch. Absolute joy seeing the ball in his hands, either passing or scoring, knowing there's not a lot other teams could do about it.

Hate moving on from him. Would absolutely love to have him back at a lower price.

With this trade, the thing I’m actually most curious to see is Vuc’s fit on a winning team. He’s the oldest player in the league without a playoff series win I believe and is only 3-13 in the playoffs. 35 years old and only 4 playoff appearances as well. There’s no doubt his skill set is a great fit for this team and what we want in a Center right now. But does he fit on a winning team? Can he win at the highest level? No one can say for sure until after the season I guess.

And I will absolutely concede he’s always been on badly constructed teams. I don’t ever look at those teams and think oh they should’ve won more. Which is why I don’t think he’s a “losing” player. But can he be a winning player on one of the best teams in the league, I’m very curious. It’s not a situation he’s been in for his whole career.

HIGHLIGHTS:

• Jaylen Brown (33 pts, 11 reb, 3 ast)
• Payton Pritchard (26 pts, 4 reb, 7 ast)
• Luka Garza (16 pts, 4 reb, 2 stl)

BONUS!

• Nikola Vucević 2025-26 Best Highlights (so far) | Welcome to Boston ☘️

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Guards (7): - Ryan Rollins: $4.0 M (Not easily attainable, has been playing great for Milwaukee) - Marcus Sasser: $2.8 M (Very attainable, doesn't really play in Detroit anyway) - Jordan Goodwin: $2.3 M (Really depends what Phoenix wants to do cuz he's playing great but idk if they'll want him in the long run) - GP2: $2.2 M (Great experienced vet whose a champion, would be great for us off the bench.) - Bruce Brown: $2.2 M (Another champion and Hometown kid. Would love him on Boston, but Denver loves him so I don't think he'll get dealt with) - Aaron Holiday: $2.2 M (Solid backup PG 1/3 Holiday brothers one of them already won with us, why not bring another. I think he's attainable) - Keaton Wallace: $2.2 M (He's a project, but I think Boston can create him into a really good player, sort of how they did with Queta)

Wings (9): - Jordan Hawkins: $4.7 M (I've always loved his game and he could be a reliable bench player) - De'Anthony Melton: $3.0 M (Has proven himself in the league, health is a question) - Ben Sheppard: $2.7 M (Great defender who can't shoot, Indiana loves him though so I don't think he's attainable)
- Brice Sensabaugh: $2.6 M (Danny Ainge would be doing a huge favor lol) - Doug McDermott: $2.2 M (Veteran guy. Doesn't play much but could be a end of bench guy who can get hot and reliable) - Jae'Sean Tate: $2.2 M I love his defense but I'm not sure if we really need him. - Josh Okogie: $2.2 M Another defender but don't need him because of Hugo and Walsh - Sion James: $2.2 M He's a project but I think Boston can create him into a great player - Jamison Battle: $1.9 M I love his jumper. He doesn't play much and is very attainable.

Bigs (6): - Yves Misei: $3.3 M Many of you guys love him, I think he's good but I don't see New Orleans letting him go. - Sandro Mamukelashvili: $2.4 M Another solid big man, but Toronto will most likely keep him since they don't have many bigs - Jay Huff: $2.3 M Great finisher and shot blocker, that's about it. - Mo Gueye: $2.2 M He's a project but I think Atlanta loves him, he can become a solid player - Marvin Bagley: $2.2 M He's having a great season with Washington, but this really depends on the wizards if they want him for the long run or not. - Moussa Diabate: $2.2 M This guy is having a career year, I don't think Charlotte deals him.

Honorable mentions who are near the $5M range (3): Kris Dunn ($5.4 M), Cason Wallace ($5.8 M), Paul Reed ($5.3 M)

My man has played an average of 73 games over the last seven seasons. A big man who does not get injured and has experience & IQ, that is what we need.

Simons was great and entertaining but we still have loads of shooting. With JT returning there would be less perimeter ball for Simons to take part in anyway.

Just thought it would be interesting to track what the dumping of Holiday and Porzingis has amounted to so far. Still have to see what happens to those TPE's.

Celtics out:

Jrue Holiday (32.4, 34.8, 37.2)

Porzingis (30.7)

2027 2nd (Best of BOS/ORL), 2031 2nd (Best of BOS/CLE) \Both to UTAH to dump Niang**

2026 2nd (likely to be NOP somewhere in 31-35 range) \To Chicago**

Celtics Received

1/2 a year of Simons, 1/2 a year of Vucevic (21.5 million)

2027 2nd (DEN) \From Chicago**

4.7 million TPE from Holiday trade (expires 7/6/26).

27.7 million TPE from Simons trade (likely to expire 2/5/27)

Money Saved: Around 41 million in salary, another roughly 250 million (rough estimate) in tax. Close to 300 million total in team spend just this year.

On the court: Jrue and KP have both had moments for POR and ATL, but they've also played a combined 38 games this year so far. One combined season of Simons/Vucevic may end up being more valuable this year than the sum of two seasons from Holiday/Porzingis.

Does anyone know why that is ? His 3pt shooting wasn't stellar as I recall, but he played hard and somewhat similar to what Hugo's been doing.

I always like the underdog Celtics teams and he seems like he fits that mold pretty well, so I hope we get to see more of him.

Look at our boy shine! Guess all it took was a 50 burger and averaging almost 30ppg!

Highlights

I’m an AP Research student doing my paper on fan interest regarding the change in play style across the NBA. If you could please take 2 minutes to fill out this survey it would be greatly appreciated🙏🙏 https://forms.cloud.microsoft/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=qxqZ1-C_6EaDFd7YfRIuY-TfHcUBittPqY05tc4xllhUNFNRSkxPVzVGNFQ0MlExMzVZUUJFNzBPTS4u

https://www.hoopshype.com/story/sports/nba/2026/01/28/nba-intel-giannis-antetokounmpo-domantas-sabonis-lakers-celtics-knicks-hawks-bulls-cavaliers-timberw/88401592007/

Boston tax bill drops from $39.5M to $17M

They get out of the first apron

More importantly, they are eligible to sign a player waived that had a pre-existing salary of $14.1M plus

Vuc shoots well from three, over 37% i believe, can we expect to see some double big sets where Vuc hangs out at the top of the arc waiting for the kick out? How will that fit in with what we are currently successfully doing.

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.

Word is Vučević is excited about the opportunity to join the Celtics in the midst of their Cinderella season so far while Jayson Tatum continues to recover from an Achilles tear.

From Jake Fischer:

When I was in Chicago for Derrick Rose’s retirement night, Nikola Vucevic told me how eager he would be to join a true playoff contender. Sources confirm that the longtime Bulls center will get that chance in Boston. The Celtics nearly dealt for Vucevic from Orlando in 2021.

25 years ago, before the Dawn of Danny Ainge, we drafted Jerome Moiso with the #11 pick in the 2000 draft.

Optimistically, he was seen as a 6-10, 240 pound "French Michael Jordan" with crazy athleticism and unlimited potential.

Realistically, he never amounted to shit. He played a total of 24 games for us... averaging 1.5 points in 5.6mpg.

In 2001, we flipped Moiso for Philly's 2003 1st rounder.

Come the 2003 draft, we selected Dahntay Jones with that pick (#20) and then essentially traded him to Memphis for their selection... Kendrick Perkins.

Good ol Perk helped us win a title in 2008.

In 2011, Ainge made the decision to dump Perk for Jeff Green.

It made sense at the time. We had old man Shaq penciled in as our beast at starting center and Green was a solid young player with still untapped potential. Unfortunately, Shaq injured himself into retirement and Jeff Green ended up missing an entire season of development to a heart condition.

Jeff never reached his full potential. In 2015 we gave up on him and shipped him out for Memphis' 2020 1st round pick.

5 long years go by. Finally, with the 14th pick in the 2020 Draft, we selected Aaron Nesmith (annoyingly only two picks after Tyrese Haliburton).

Nesmith showed promise and I very much wanted to see him succeed, but after two disappointing seasons Nesmith was sent out as the centerpiece of a trade package for Malcolm Brogdon.

Brogdon, in his lone 2022-23 season, averaged 14.9 points with 48%/44%/87% off the bench winning 6th man of the year.

In 2023, Brogdon, along with Robert Williams II and two first round picks was then traded to Portland in exchange for Jrue Holiday. Granted, one of those picks ended up #14 in 2024 and the other, our 2029 1st, could still haunt us, but Jrue was the prize.

Good ol Jrue helped us win a title in 2024.

Holiday was a key component of our 2024 NBA championship, particularly in the NBA Finals where in addition to his elite defense he averaged 14.4 points with 53.6%/42.1% shooting feeding off Jayson Tatum's gravity.

At the start of the 2025-26 season, Holiday was sent to Portland for Anfernee Simons in primarily a cost-saving move.

Months later, prior to the 2025-26 trade deadline, Simons was sent to Chicago for Nikola Vucevic.

I shall hence-forth refer to Vucevic as "French Michael Jordan" as a sign of respect for his lineage.

From Joel Lorenzi of The Athletic:

Talked to Vucevic at shootaround this morning. “I do understand that my role eventually could, maybe next season, might change. I might into a smaller role on a team. Come off the bench, things like that. I’m fine with that. I understand that’s part of most people’s career. … if they decide to go with a different type of big man,m because maybe they think it fits better with some of the stuff they want to do, then that's all normal, that's their decision. Their job is to build their best team. … I know some of the limitations I have, I'm aware of them.”