Anfernee Simons’ encouraging Celtics tenure lasted just half of one season.
Boston reached an agreement to trade Simons to the Chicago Bulls for 35-year-old center Nikola Vucevic, according to a report Tuesday from ESPN’s Shams Charania. The teams also will swap second-round draft picks in the deal, which comes two days before the NBA trade deadline.
Simons, acquired in the July trade that sent Jrue Holiday to Portland, was a productive and reliable sixth man during his brief stay in Boston. The 26-year-old guard appeared in all 49 of the Celtics’ games — the only player on the roster to do so — and averaged 20.8 points per 36 minutes while showing significant improvement on the defensive end.
Head coach Joe Mazzulla often praised Simons’ defensive effort, which was viewed as a weakness of his game when he was starting for the Trail Blazers. Simons also gave Boston timely jolts of off-the-bench scoring. He topped 20 points nine times this season, including a 39-point effort in a come-from-behind win over Miami on Jan. 15.
In his final game as a Celtic on Sunday, Simons scored 27 points on 10-of-18 shooting in a blowout victory over the Milwaukee Bucks.
Despite his quality play, Simons’ $27.7 million expiring contract made him an obvious trade candidate, and he’d been named in trade rumors since the summer.
Vucevic has started 48 games for Chicago this season, averaging 16.9 points and 9.0 rebounds per game. The 15th-year pro also is on an expiring deal with a salary cap hit of $21.5 million.
Developing…