Celtics 2026 NBA trade deadline grade after 4 deals

ByNBAUSA



The the madness of the NBA trade deadline is officially overand the Boston Celtics were occupied by almost the entire chaos.

For starters, they pulled a bit of a surprise move on Tuesday afternoon deals guard Anfernee Simmons to the Chicago Bulls in exchange for center Nikola Vucevic. The deal also included a trade for a second-round pick, which Boston then used on Thursday.

The Celtics packed the second round they received in the Vucevic store in their Thursday afternoon appointment until send forward Chris Boucher to the Utah Jazzaccording to The Athletic’s Tony Jones.

Because Utah’s front office is run by two executives with ties to Boston, including a former Celtics general manager Danny Ainge and former Celtics director of personnel Austin Ainge, it’s no surprise that he’s the Celtics’ current president of basketball operations Brad Stevens approached them within the deadline.

Boston’s work isn’t over, though. Then the Celtics sent Josh Minott to the Brooklyn Nets in trade which did not represent any other player or draft pickaccording to Eric Slater of ClutchPoints.

Finally, after the deadline at 3:00 PM ET, it was revealed that the Celtics had made another change to their roster before the final buzzer. The green team traded big man Xavier Tillman Sr. to the Charlotte Hornetslosing another member of their 2024 title team.

So with the deadline officially over, let’s evaluate four Celtics trades and see why they were more active than usual this time of year.

Grading the entire 2026 Celtics trade deadline

The The Vučević-Simons exchange has already been discussedbut it was certainly the Celtics’ most notable move.

They dealt Simmons — who was creating offense while shooting nearly 40% from beyond the arc — to add more depth to the fifth spot, something the Celtics desperately needed early in the season.

In addition, the trade saved the C’s about $6 million and helped them get one step closer to avoiding the luxury tax. The rest of the Boston Term Agreements hit the mark and showed that Stevens and company are committed to regaining financial flexibility.

The Celtics almost paid the Jazz to get Boucher (who they ended up giving up) and a second-round pick so they could cut costs. And while such a maneuver would normally be seen as blatant salary dumping, Boucher didn’t bring much to the table — and it was later revealed that the C’s acquired a 2025 second-round pick John Tonye is in the deal as well, according to Adam Himmelsbach of the Boston Globe.

Boucher never carved out a role for himself in Boston and averaged just over 2 points per outing in nine games. The 33-year-old would much rather spend his playing days playing, making this a win-win trade.

As for Minott, it appears that his trade is also for tax purposes. Mladic was paid just north of $2.5 million per year and despite a good start to his tenure with the Celtics, he eventually fell out of the rotation.

The fact that the Celtics got nothing for trading a 23-year-old player with flashes of real progress shows that Boston’s front office prioritized savings over any real return.

Tillman Sr. was the best, as losing his contract finally allowed the Celtics to fall under the luxury tax. With this newfound flexibility, the C’s can now hit the buyout market, unfreeze their pick and try to avoid the repeat tax.

All this news about the Celtics avoiding a hefty tax bill isn’t terribly exciting for fans, of course. People would love to see big splashes and significant roster improvement, but that was difficult to manage in Boston’s previous financial situation due to the CBA’s punishing spending limits.

The C’s are clear of those restrictions (at least for now), which is pretty amazing considering how deep they were in the second apron over the summer. And, most impressive of all, the Celtics managed to shed all that salary without abandoning their formidable tandem Jayson Tatum and Jailen Brown.

Boston did put some money back on its books Thursday by handing out a two-year, $2.7 million standard deal to 2025 second-round pick Amari Williams. The UK big man jumped Tillman and Boucher on the depth chart and could serve as an important backup at times.

Did the Celtics really improve at the deadline?

When you add Williams, Vucevic and Tonje and take away Tillman, Boucher, Minot and Simons, did the Celtics get better? From a money standpoint, yes, but the city of Boston is more concerned with winning championships than anything else.

Because there are still more spots on the roster The Celtics need to fill in via the buyout market or internal promotion – maybe Fullback Ron Harper Jr. he earned a standard contract with his career-best performance on Wednesday night against the Houston Rockets — it’s not entirely fair to make a judgment call on whether or not they’ve improved.

However, they didn’t go all-in at the deadline, possibly indicating that the front office is looking to next year for a real contender, while they believe the current roster has an outside chance at a title.

The standards are set high in Boston, even during a season that many thought would be a void without a healthy Tatum. So it seems disingenuous to say that the 2026 trade deadline was an absolute home run for the Celtics. Instead, it seemed to set things in motion for C going forward.

Now, it’s worth noting Tatum could still suit up this seasonand that’s more valuable than any deadline the Celtics could realistically make. If he can bounce back and look close to himself, the Green team should be able to compete with the Eastern Conference’s elite.

But that’s a lot of pressure to put on someone recovering from a ruptured Achilles, so this tough stretch likely kept the Celtics in contention without elevating them to a true championship favorite.

Grade: B+





2026-02-05 23:56:00

Similar Posts