Nikola Vucevic
The Chicago Bulls aren’t expected to be finished at the NBA trade deadline after agreeing to a deal that sends Nikola Vučević to the Boston Celtics for Anfernee Simons, with second-round picks also changing hands,per ESPN’s reporting.
Shams Charania
BREAKING: The Chicago Bulls are trading center Nikola Vucevic and a second-round pick to the Boston Celtics for Anfernee Simons and a second-round pick, sources tell ESPN.
On ESPN’s*NBA Today*, Brian Windhorst strongly suggested Chicago’s front office is still active, essentially framing it as a near lock that the Bulls will keep working the phones over the final stretch before the deadline.
“I can’t wait for the how-many team trade the Bulls are going to make,” Windhorst said during toward the end of the broadcast. “This could end up being a four, five, six team trade. We’ll see more Bulls action. I will guarantee the Bulls are going to do more business,” Windhorst said. “That I will guarantee.”
That timing matters because the NBA trade deadline is Thursday, February 5, 2026, at 3 p.m. ET, leaving the Bulls a tight window to decide whether this is a quick retool or the start of a bigger teardown.
What the Bulls did in the Vucevic-Simons swap
From Chicago’s side, the immediate, obvious part is moving off a veteran center contract and bringing back a younger scoring guard on an expiring deal. ESPN reported the framework as Vučević to Boston, Simons to Chicago, with second-round picks exchanged.
For the Bulls, it’s a classic deadline posture shift: convert a big man into a perimeter creator, keep flexibility, and see what other teams will pay for the remaining pieces on the roster.
It also fits the broader leaguewide theme of this deadline: teams are either adding with urgency or clearing the decks , and Chicago looks like it’s trying to keep both options open until the last possible moment.
Why Windhorst’s “guarantee” vibe is a big deal for Chicago
The real news hook isn’t just the trade itself, it’s what the dealsignals about what’s next.
The Bulls have been sitting on multiple tradable contracts and are one of the teams that has been discussed in terms of potentially reshaping its roster in a hurry, with ESPN previously noting how many expiring deals Chicago has been managing.
So when Windhorst goes onNBA Today and basically frames more moves as a “guarantee,” it lines up with what the roster already suggests: the Bulls can still move more money, more rotation players, and potentially chase picks or younger pieces before Thursday afternoon.
What it means for the Bulls next
After sending out Vučević, Chicago’s rotation math changes immediately:
Frontcourt minutes open up (and the Bulls can now evaluate younger bigs or smaller lineups).
Simons becomes a key variable, either a scorer to feature, or another movable contract if a market forms quickly.
The Bulls can choose between two clean paths:
sell more for draft capital/young players, or
pivot into a retool using Simons plus remaining contracts to chase a different type of fit.
And there’s another important “why now”: Chicago already made another deal Tuesday in a separate multi-team trade, adding to the sense they’re actively reshaping the roster in real time.
What to watch over the final hours before the deadline
If Windhorst is right that Chicago isn’t done, here are the pressure points to monitor heading into February 5:
Do the Bulls prioritize picks or a player they can keep long-term?
Do they shop more veterans for deadline value?
Does Simons become a feature piece (to boost his value) or a building block?
Either way, the Vučević-for-Simons move looks less like an “end of story” trade and more like the first domino, especially with the deadline just days away.