Celtics’ biggest 2026 NBA trade deadline mistake

For years, Nikola Vucevic has been on the trade block amid the Chicago Bulls’ decline from being a playoff team in 2022 to struggling in the play-in picture for three consecutive seasons. Time has passed by rather quickly; Vucevic is already 35 years of age, and what struggles he had on the defensive end have only become more pronounced the more his athleticism has declined with age.

This did not prevent the Celtics, however, from going out of their way to acquire Vucevic in a trade with the Bulls, sending Anfernee Simons to the Windy City, along with the most favorable of the Minnesota Timberwolves, New Orleans Pelicans, New York Knicks, and Portland Trailblazers’ second-round pick in 2026, in exchange for the Montenegrin big man.

The Celtics also received a 2027 Denver Nuggets second-round pick from the Bulls in the process, so it’s not like anyone can fault Boston for making the trade due to how little this cost them. Now, the second-round pick they traded should fall in the early 30s considering how bad the Pelicans have been this season, but even then, that is not a steep price to pay whatsoever since they truly believe that Vucevic was a frontcourt upgrade they needed to bring in.

The merits of bringing Vucevic in are clear. He’s a well-rounded offense-oriented big man, and he’s a huge upgrade over their current options at the five, at least on the offensive end. He can pop out for threes (he’s shooting over 41 percent from deep in his few games thus far with Boston), and he can punish mismatches with his soft touch on the interior.

The Celtics, despite being without Tatum, somehow have the second-best offensive rating in the association, and adding Vucevic would further fuel this explosive offense of theirs that rarely turns the ball over and often creates plenty of shot attempts from beyond the arc.

Vucevic is a perennial double-double threat who’s become somewhat underrated over his time grinding away for a mediocre Bulls team. And it’s not like the Celtics are committed to him for the long haul. He is in the final year of his contract making a total of $21.5 million, and the Celtics can simply cut ties with him if things don’t work out.

The Celtics have brought Vucevic off the bench to start out his career in Beantown, and it looks as though this will be his role with the team moving forward. Some of their best heavy minute five-man lineups have Queta at the five (their lineup of Queta-Brown-Derrick White-Payton Pritchard-Sam Hauser has an incredible net rating of +17.2 in 186 minutes), and there’s no point in messing with what’s working.

But trading Simons away has forced the Celtics to bring Pritchard off the bench to try and balance the roster. Simons allowed the Celtics to be confident in staggering the minutes of their guards, but head coach Joe Mazzulla has to be more aggressive in making sure that one of Pritchard and White are on the court at all times with Simons gone.

That isn’t necessarily a bad thing. But the Celtics knew that this was going to be a gap year anyway, so perhaps trying to fix what wasn’t broken would not be for the team’s betterment.

And then there’s the matter of Vucevic running into some matchup problems come postseason time. He has struggles when it comes to defending in space, and he will be put to the test in the playoffs once every team decides to force him to defend every action.

Simons would have been in a similar predicament, so the Celtics chose to roll with the potential defensive liability who at least had size. This is why the Simons for Vucevic swap is so complicated, as there was a case to be made for the Celtics to either stick with Simons or roll the dice on Vucevic.

This is not a mistake per se for the Celtics. But among the moves they made, this was the one that invites the most criticism. There’s also the matter of them having to re-sign Vucevic next season, although given that he’ll be 36 years of age next season, this should not cause Boston to break the bank anyway.

Only time will tell if the Celtics’ decision to choose Vucevic over Simons is the right one. It’s hard to doubt the Celtics front office at this point as they’ve been masterful in their handling of their delicate cap situation over the summer. They’ve also drafted well in recent years.

This could easily work out for the Celtics, and to that end, the few hundred words written in this space will have to be served up on a platter for the author to eat.