The Boston Celtics used the closing hours of Thursday’s NBA trade deadline to finalize a trade sending center Chris Boucher to the Utah Jazz, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania.
Update: Reports indicate that the Jazz are also getting a Denver 2027 2nd round pick for taking on Boucher’s salary.
Boston’s decision to cut ties with Boucher comes as no surprise, bringing the organization to just $3.6 million above the luxury tax threshold. It also opens a roster spot for Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla to explore expanded minutes for role players such as Luka Garza and Josh Minnott, as the team awaits the arrival of newly acquired center Nikola Vučević.
Boucher initially joined the Celtics as a solution to the team’s need for frontcourt depth. He signed a one-year, $2.3 million deal with Boston in the offseason, but as the season progressed, he gradually fell out of the rotation. Boucher failed to match the 16 minutes he logged on Opening Night in any of his next eight appearances, which were scattered over more than three months. He averaged 2.3 points, 2.0 rebounds, and 0.3 assists, serving more as a veteran presence than an on-court contributor with a defined role in his brief stint with the team.
During Boucher’s final appearance in a Celtics uniform, the 33-year-old played the final four minutes of a 112-93 blowout win over the Sacramento Kings last Friday. As the clock wound down, Boucher broke one of basketball’s unwritten rules by calling for a pass from Minnott and knocking down a buzzer-beating 3-pointer with the game already decided, scoring his first points in more than two months. Sacramento’s Russell Westbrook made a beeline toward Boucher, while Mazzulla, visibly frustrated, walked off the floor midway through a brief postgame scuffle between the two teams.
He was subsequently listed as out due to personal reasons for the team’s two most recent games against Dallas and Houston.
The trade marks the first transaction between Boston and Utah since former Celtics executive Austin Ainge reunited with his father, Danny Ainge, now the Jazz’s team president.
This story will be updated as additional details emerge.