The Boston Celtics were prepared to defend their NBA Championship heading into the 2024-25 NBA Playoffs. Instead, their season came to a crushing end as First Team All-NBA forward Jayson Tatum went down with a ruptured Achilles, Boston lost in six games to the New York Knicks, and the franchise now faces an offseason with major uncertainty.
The Celtics are moving toward a 2025-26 campaign that will cost the organization more than $500 million if it chooses to run it back with the same roster. That's unlikely to happen. The more prudent move for Boston would be to offload some contracts and get under the luxury tax.
That has the NBA world buzzing about who could be on the trade block and what the franchise could get back for players like Jrue Holiday, Kristaps Porzingis, Derrick White or even Jaylen Brown. In one deal proposed by Bleacher Report's Grant Hughes, the Chicago Bulls provide Boston with some cap relief—but at a price that makes sense for Chicago.
Chicago Bulls swap Vucevic for Porzingis, add three valuable draft picks
Hughes' intriguing trade proposal looks like this:
Why the Celtics would make the trade
Porzingis is owed $30.7 million in 2025-26, while Vucevic is owed $21.5 million. That's a significant amount of financial savings for Boston, and as Vucevic is on an expiring contract, that $21.5 million will come off the books completely following next season.
The Celtics also land Chicago's late lottery pick. Given its financial situation, adding a potentially impactful player on a rookie-scale contract is ideal for Boston. Terry is a young guard who hasn't shown much in his first two seasons with the Bulls, but he's worth a flyer as a 6-foot-7 guard/wing.
Grading the trade for the Bulls
Losing a lottery pick would certainly sting. But turning that selection into three, including an additional first-round pick, would be a clever move for the Bulls' front office.
There will still be good value at No. 28, where Chicago could land a wing or big man who could help shore up the team's defense. The 32nd pick is arguably even more valuable, given the lower salaries of second-round picks and how close that selection is to being a first-rounder anyway.
The 2028 first is protected, and given the Spurs' promising future, will likely land in the 20s. But it's still an extra asset.
From a financial perspective, swapping out Vucevic for Porzingis will give the Bulls, who are already projected to have the most cap space in the league next summer, even more freedom.
On the court, Porzingis is a much better player than Vucevic when he's healthy. The problem is that he usually isn't, and this year's playoff series against the Knicks raised even more questions as the Latvian big man missed significant time with a mysterious illness.
He played a major role on Boston's title team in 2023-24, however, appearing in 57 regular-season games with averages of 19.5 points and 6.8 rebounds while shooting 41.2 percent from three on 6.0 attempts per game. He added 1.5 blocks a night for good measure.
Considering Bulls Vice President of Basketball Operations Arturas Karnisovas stubbornly refuses to enter a full-scale rebuild, Porzingis would give the team a much higher ceiling next year.