The Michael Siani offseason rollercoaster looped around to make a second stop in Los Angeles, as the center fielder was claimed by the Dodgers off waivers from the New York Yankees on Tuesday. This comes 11 days after the Yankees claimed him off waivers from the Dodgers.

It’s been a busy offseason for the defense-first center fielder, who ended 2025 with the St. Louis Cardinals. Since then:

• November 6: Claimed off waivers by Atlanta Braves from Cardinals
• December 12: Claimed off waivers by Dodgers from Braves
• January 23: Claimed off waivers by Yankees from Dodgers
• February 3: Claimed off waivers by Dodgers from Yankees

Siani was available this time around because the Yankees designated the outfielder for assignment last Wednesday when New York acquired pitcher Angel Chivilli from the Angels. He was previously designated for assignment by Los Angeles when the Dodgers finalized their four-year contract for outfielder Kyle Tucker.

In parts of four seasons with the Reds and Cardinals, Siani is a .221/.277/.270 hitter in 160 games and 383 plate appearances, and 17 Outs Above Average in the outfield.

Maybe the more interesting part of this transaction is the Dodgers, to make room for Siani, designated infielder Andy Ibáñez for assignment just three weeks after signing a one-year, $1.2 million contract.

Ibáñez was thought to provide depth to an infield that includes Tommy Edman coming off right ankle surgery. As a right-handed hitter, the 33-year-old Ibáñez has a 115 career wRC+ against left-handed pitching, and could have spelled Max Muncy at third base when needed.

Now, Ibáñez is in roster limbo, as the Dodgers have a week during which they will need to place him on waivers, trade, or release him. As someone who was previously sent outright to the minors in 2023 by the Detroit Tigers, Ibáñez if he clears waivers can refuse any outright assignment to the minors.

The Chicago Bulls have been busy this trade season and the latest pre-deadline casualty was big man Nikola Vučević, who was sent to the Boston Celtics in a deal for guard Anfernee Simons on Tuesday afternoon, per ESPN’s Shams Charania. The teams also swapped second-round picks in the trade, which was the second deal made by Chicago on Tuesday.

Vučević, 35, was in the final year of a contract worth around $21 million. Simons, 26, is also on an expiring deal worth $27.6 million. Chicago had previously dealt Kevin Huerter and Dario Sǎrić to the Pistons as part of a three-team deal with the Timberwolves earlier in the day. The Bulls picked up guards Mike Conley Jr. and Jaden Ivey in the process.

Below, Yahoo fantasy basketball analyst Dan Titus will provide his reaction to the trade with analysis for key players.

Fantasy basketball impact

Nikola Vučević – PF/C, Boston Celtics

Celtics shoring up their frontcourt with Vuče is a good real-life basketball move that will likely still translate well to fantasy. I don’t expect Vuče to play 30 minutes a night with a capable backup big like Neemias Queta present, but he’ll still be the preferred fantasy option of the two going forward. The Celtics land an efficient and consistent big man who can stretch the floor and still be a capable rebounder. I don’t anticipate too much of a drop off when it comes to his fantasy output in points or 9-cat leagues. Queta, on the other hand, becomes droppable in 10s, and a hold, wait-and-see in 12s.

Jalen Smith – PF/C, Chicago Bulls

One of the early winners at the trade deadline, those who stashed Smith are elated to hear Vuče is on his way to Beantown. Smith was already operating in a larger capacity, starting alongside Vuče in six of his last seven games before suffering a calf injury. With Zach Collins out, Smith now has a stronghold over the center minutes in Chicago. He’s been providing nearly top-100 value over the past couple of weeks, but if the Bulls don’t add any additional pieces to the frontcourt, I’d project he’d be at least a top-60 type of player across formats.

A long-awaited return. Not just Arsenal‘s first cup final in six years but – perhaps more importantly to the wider season – another comeback goal from Kai Havertz. Many at the club see him as the difference.

He made the difference in an otherwise poor match, ending any late tension as he rounded Robert Sanchez in stoppage time to secure a 1-0 victory that was a 4-2 on aggregate, to secure a place in the Carabao Cup final.

Mikel Arteta’s side are right to happily celebrate that, in a season that could yet break through all manner of barriers. A second trophy of the Basque’s time, and the first for this specific group of players, is now within sight. They finally have a return to Wembley.

Few will celebrate this individual game, though.

It used to be said in football that nobody remembers semi-finalists and, whatever the truth of that, few will remember this semi-final. Even one late moment of suspense, which was a Cole Palmer free-kick to feasibly equalise, was delayed and had the drama taken out of it by finicky technicalities.

Arsenal, for their part, had done the necessary work in the first leg. Arteta might reasonably claim they should have won that game by three goals, as he pretty much told his players after that match. Liam Rosenior might instead slightly rue the fact that match came so early in his tenure.

Now with a firmer grasp of the tactical shape of his Chelsea squad, his team gave the Premier League leaders a much more measured match. They still couldn’t overcome an initial 3-2 deficit, which Arsenal eventually turned into more.

If that first leg at Stamford Bridge was a much better match, this second leg was not really the advertisement for the Carabao Cup in the way the competition has enjoyed over the past decade.

There was until recently a real sense of fun bonus football about it, something that stood out all the more in relatively sparse Januarys.

The fact the Champions League expansion has made the first month of the year also the busiest of the year is probably a significant factor in that.

The major clubs now just have so much football that there are inevitably going to be drop-offs. You just can’t go full gun in everything, as these two did in the first leg.

This time, so many attacks ended in such tired ways, with players blazing over. Enzo Fernandez did that at least twice.

Above anything, this entire match was a visual testament to too much football. More is now very much less. But is there also something else?

This might have been the Carabao Cup, and a knock-out, but it felt like a fairly typical Premier League game right now. It was two very tactical coaches constantly looking to outmanoeuvre each other. This felt more relevant than the actual movement of players like Eberechi Eze or Joao Pedro.

In other words, a coach-led game, fully systemised pressing football. You could see some of that in Chelsea’s tepid late charge. It was like they were playing for a draw when they needed to win.

Hence the decisions that felt like they had the biggest effect on the first half were Rosenior initially going with a three-man defence that completely shut out Viktor Gyokeres, and then Arteta responding by bringing Gabriel Martinelli further inside.

Chelsea had been warned when the Brazilian broke though once in the first half, Malo Gusto getting back well to block the shot. The best that Rosenior’s side had in response was a Fernandez long-range effort that Kepa Arrizabalaga did well to thump away.

Otherwise, the main moment of intrigue was Chelsea opting to place three players as far back as the halfway line for an Arsenal corner, intentionally dragging away some of the bodies that cause opposition sides such chaos in these set-pieces. Jurrien Timber still went close.

While there has been a certain cynicism about how Rosenior can speak off the pitch, it’s been hard to criticise the action on the pitch – specifically how proactive he has been.

This is a coach who clearly enjoys solving tactical problems. That was seen away to Antonio Conte’s Napoli and in a home derby against West Ham United, where testing deficits were turned into convincing 3-2 victories.

Both came from changes of personnel and formation.

Rosenior here seemed intent on springing a trap on Arsenal, as Cole Palmer and Estevao were introduced in the second half to greatly change the emphasis of play. But was he just too clever? Was this a bit far, where they ended up playing for tactical security rather than the win they needed?

The gambit of Liam Delap on the right wing hadn’t worked, admittedly. He spent most of his time on the pitch running into a hard Arsenal defensive wall. Palmer still doesn’t look at his best, though, as emphasised with that late free-kick. Worse, there wasn’t exactly much energy to their late push, the one time the emotion of the game rose above the temperate.

Arteta had responded with his own major switch, as Viktor Gyokeres was brought off for Havertz, the German receiving loud cheers as he continues to return to full fitness.

There are many at Arsenal who believe he could be the real difference-maker not just in a title run-in, but potentially even winning multiple trophies.

They just have to go and win one first. Havertz has duly put them within sight.

This might be a sign of the apocalypse. For once, I’m really hoping that ESPN is right about something. Today, they have made the bold prediction that JJ Wetherholt will be the National League Rookie of the Year-sort of.

The 2026 season predictions for MLB’s top prospects on ESPN is a fun read for St. Louis Cardinals fans. They begin by saying they believe that the Philadelphia Phillies Aidan Miller will win the third base job by Memorial Day and win the NL Rookie of the Year, but they second-guessed themselves and said that the Pittsburgh Pirates Bubba Chandler would instead hoist that trophy. Finally, they decide on the St. Louis Cardinals JJ Wetherholt as the most likely to be the National League’s top rookie specifically because of the opportunity that Brendan Donovan’s trade provides him. Kiley McDaniel believes that JJ has the most opportunity to see full-time playing time compared to other top NL rookies which leaves a more likely path to NL Rookie of the Year.

If you saw JJ Wetherholt’s interviews during the Winter Warmup a couple weeks ago, you know that he believes that this type of preseason hype is “poison”. He said that he began to deal with “bold predictions” about his future during his college time at West Virginia.

JJ Wetherholt – “Where there were articles about me…all the preseason stuff, that’s what we label it. It’s poison. It’s cool to have people talk about you, but at the end of the day, you’ve got to perform. Those guys who hiked you up will be the same ones that tear down as soon as it goes bad. You try to tune all that stuff out and just do the work you can and hopefully that comes true”.

As I shared earlier in the winter, I think there’s good reason to hop on board the JJ Wetherholt hype train, but the optimism should be measured. I have yet to see a player not have to overcome struggles when they first break into the big leagues. The only exception I can think of is Albert Pujols. Major league pitchers have a way to find holes in your swing. The good/great ones adjust and overcome and I’m hopeful that will be JJ Wetherholt’s story. If he even comes close to ESPN’s prediction, I’ll be thrilled.

It was never the headline item among Memphis Grizzlies trade chatter, not with the ongoing saga surrounding Ja Morant taking up the oxygen and airtime. But it was notable, if you were paying attention, that Jaren Jackson Jr.’s name would keep popping up here and there — that smart teams were “registering interest” in him; that smart analysts were noting that JJJ, rather than Ja, would be the Grizzly most likely to demand a haul that could kickstart a full-tilt rebuild on Beale Street; and that rival executives were curious whether Grizzlies general manager Zach Kleiman would find a package he liked enough to part ways with his longest-tenured player.

On Tuesday, Kleiman found one.

It’s notable that the list of first-round picks the Grizzlies will receive in exchange for their big man does not include Utah’s own 2026 first-rounder. The Jazz have already dealt the rights to that pick — all the way back in 2021, as part of a deal to dump the salary of Derrick Favors, to the Thunder. The defending NBA champs will get Utah’s first-round selection in this year’s draft … but only if it lands outside the top eight in the 2026 NBA Draft Lottery.

The Jazz enter Tuesday’s action at 15-35, the NBA’s sixth-worst record. Adding Jackson — a two-time All-Star and former Defensive Player of the Year, a very good player averaging 19.2 points per game — would in theory put Utah in position to win a few more games down the stretch, potentially putting the fate of that draft pick in jeopardy.

Y’know: in theory.

In the short term, it’ll be interesting to see how precisely the Jazz — who, lest we forget, said they were all done with tanking, sir, nothing to see here — navigate the league’s tighter injury reporting guidelines to avoid racking up even more six-figure fines for roster-management chicanery. In the bigger picture, though? The Jazz could wind up being pretty damn interesting, pretty damn soon.

Longtime NBA insider Marc Stein previously reported Utah was projecting confidence they’d be able to hold onto center Walker Kessler — currently rehabilitating following season-ending shoulder injury — when he hit restricted free agency this summer. According to Tony Jones of The Athletic, the Jazz still plan to retain him, and by effectively acting in “pre-agency” to use their cap space on Jackson, they put themselves in position to start a supersized front line next season: the 7-foot-2 Kessler at the 5, the 6-foot-10 Jackson at power forward and the 7-foot-1 Lauri Markkanen (reportedly quite pleased by the JJJ deal) at small forward, with the 6-foot-11 Kyle Filipowski checking in off the bench to fit in at any of the three spots.

Dating back to his partnerships with Jonas Valančiūnas, Steven Adams and Zach Edey, Jackson has tended to play his best ball alongside a proper big man, allowing him to kick out and wreak havoc as a weak-side rim protector. The Jazz have been terrible defensively for four years. With Kessler and JJJ roaming the back line, they immediately profile as something significantly better than that, even with young and poor point-of-attack defenders in front of them; the fit of JJJ operating as a stretch-4 attacking from the perimeter and Kessler working as a screen-and-dive lob finisher feels pretty clean, too.

Sliding down the positional spectrum shouldn’t be a problem for Markkanen, either. He has plenty of experience and comfort working as a big wing; there’s a world where this looks like the jumbo outfit that Markkanen briefly lined up with in Cleveland, only with more offensive firepower and shooting touch. (We know head coach Will Hardy digs his big-to-big passing.)

If Jackson returns to form after an occasionally sluggish 2025-26 season, if the bigs stay healthy, and you add in a dynamic downhill creator and pull-up shooter in Most Improved Player candidate Keyonte George alongside gifted offensive swingmen Ace Bailey — a 6-foot-9 starting two-guard seems to make perfect sense in this super-sized lineup structure — and Brice Sensabaugh, prospective growth from the likes of Cody Williams and Isaiah Collier, and a top-half-of-the-lottery pick in what’s profiling as one of the most talent-laden drafts in years … suddenly, the Jazz look less like a rebuilding also-ran, and more like a team that could harbor realistic optimism about pushing for a return to postseason play as soon as next season.

The Grizzlies, on the other hand, have opted to take the scenic route back to meaningful springtime basketball.

Kleiman told us exactly what he thought of his team last spring, after the eventual champion Thunder swept the Grizz in the first round: “There’s a level that I think everyone has to embrace and be willing to get to reach the ultimate goal here … I don’t think we can look back at this series and this season and say, ‘Oh, we’re close.’ No, we’re not. We’re not close. There’s a lot of work to be done. I need to be open-minded in multiple respects.”

On Tuesday, with the once-again-decimated Grizzlies — only Portland has lost more player games due to injury this season, according to Spotrac — sitting at 19-29, three games south of the final play-in spot in the West, that open-mindedness has brought about the end of an era. Just over nine months after that sweep at the hands of OKC, Kleiman has turned Jackson and Desmond Bane into Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (who holds a $21.6 million player option for next season), rookies Cedric Coward and Walter Clayton Jr., third-year forward Taylor Hendricks, five future first-round draft picks (plus a top-two-protected 2029 pick swap with Orlando), about $17.4 million in expiring contracts in the form of old pal Kyle Anderson (who played in Memphis from 2018 through 2022) and Georges Niang — and, through some creative deal-structuring, what is evidently the largest trade exception in NBA history.

All told, the Grizzlies now control 12 first-round picks in the next seven NBA drafts — more than any team outside of Oklahoma City and Brooklyn — including a top-four-protected Lakers pick in 2027, and unprotected firsts from Orlando in 2030 and Phoenix in 2031. With Jackson and Bane now elsewhere, the only guaranteed non-rookie-scale salary remaining on the balance sheet beyond the end of next season belongs to Morant; with Memphis reportedly “continuing to field offers and interest” on him, it’s possible that the books might wind up well and truly cleared by Thursday afternoon.

From a cold, sober, analytical perspective, this is what you do when you’ve decided you’re not holding a winning hand — especially if you’re a small-market team without much history of success in free agency. You fold it, shuffle up the deck and see what the next deal turns up.

You see what Coward, who’s averaging just under 19 points, 8.5 rebounds and four assists per-36 minutes on league-average shooting efficiency as a rookie, can do with the ball in his hands more often. (Provided the finally healthy and instantly balling Ty Jerome gives it up.) You give a roster now heavily tilted toward 25-and-under players — newcomers Clayton and Hendricks, holdovers Jaylen Wells, GG Jackson and Cam Spencer, and, if and when they can get healthy, Zach Edey and Scotty Pippen Jr. — chances to earn a spot in whatever comes next in Memphis.

You head into the next 48 hours about $34 million under the luxury tax line, with a ton of flexibility to act as a facilitator in other teams’ trades, renting out that cap space in exchange for even more draft picks and/or young players to test drive. You give yourself as many bites at the apple as possible, and you hope that the next pack of picks and prospects proves at least as successful as the dudes you just jettisoned.

It’s worth remembering that that’s a really high bar. Morant, Jackson and Bane were the linchpins of teams that produced two of the six 50-win seasons in franchise history, and one of just five Grizzlies playoff series victories. They never reached the heights for which they seemed destined back in the spring of 2022, and they didn’t get as far as the Z-Bo/Gasol/Conley/Allen Grit ’n’ Grind-era teams whose mantle they took up. But they won a lot of regular-season games, and they were fan favorites with whom the city fell in love — reasons to show up at FedEx Forum and tune in night after night.

That, as much as on-court production, is what Kleiman will have to replace. Overflowing pick coffers don’t put asses in seats or wins on the board. Players do. After the last era’s best-laid plans turned to ash, Kleiman and his front office had better go find some damn good ones if they want to still be presiding over the next competitive iteration of the Grizzlies whenever it’s ready to roll.

I believe Houston needs to move on from their CF.

Astros fans, here I am again, the voice of reason. A few weeks ago, I floated the idea that it might be time to trade Jeremy Peña. Now I’m back with another uncomfortable but necessary conversation: the Houston Astros should seriously consider trading Jake Meyers while his value still exists.

This isn’t about disliking Meyers or dismissing what he’s brought to the organization. It’s about timing, roster construction, and the reality of where this team stands as it tries to extend its championship window. If you don’t move him now, his value may plummet and you may never be able to sell at this rate again.

Why the Astros Should Explore a Jake Meyers Trade

The Astros desperately need left-handed pitching to complement a rotation overloaded with right-handers. That alone should push Dana Brown and the front office to explore every viable trade chip they have. Moving Meyers could help address that need while simultaneously opening playing time for younger talent—most notably Zach Cole.

Meyers has been an above-average defender for much of his Astros tenure, but injuries have been a recurring issue. When he’s had to return from those injuries, the defensive confidence hasn’t always followed. Fly balls become adventures, throws become liabilities, and the overall impact starts to wane.

The bigger question, however, is offensive sustainability.

Was 2025 Peak Jake Meyers?

Teams around the league still value defense, and that’s where Meyers maintains trade appeal. But can he replicate last season offensively? Was that production a stepping stone toward more growth—or a fool’s gold season that inflated expectations?

I lean toward the latter. When all is said and done, last year may very well represent the best offensive season of Jake Meyers’ career. That belief matters even more when you consider the Astros’ depleted farm system, which doesn’t provide the same luxury of trade capital that other contenders enjoy. If Houston wants to upgrade areas of need, they must be strategic with the few movable pieces they have.

If Meyers Is Gone, Who Plays Center Field?

This is the natural follow-up question, and it has a legitimate answer.

I believe the Astros traded Jacob Melton because they see a higher ceiling in Zach Cole. Cole’s first major league home run understandably grabbed headlines, but his real value lies in his complete skill set. He can play all three outfield positions, runs well, owns a solid arm, fields at a high level, and competes at the plate.

That combination makes him a legitimate candidate to take over in center field, as he can play all three outfield positions.

Cole is only going to improve, and going to spring training with the big league club for the first time represents a critical developmental step. The Astros need to start identifying long-term everyday players, and Cole has the tools to become a quality, if not cornerstone piece if given the opportunity.

An Outfield Full of Questions

While the infield is overloaded with talent, the outfield remains unsettled. It underperformed last season and enters spring training with far more uncertainty than answers. Injuries and the Kyle Tucker trade exposed just how thin this group can be when things go sideways.

Jesús Sánchez adds another layer of complexity. He has league-wide value and a team-friendly salary, but unless Houston gets a meaningful return, moving him doesn’t make much sense. He provides insurance, especially if Cam Smith continues to look more like the player we saw late last season rather than the cornerstone prospect expected in the Tucker deal. He has experience, some pop and can play everyday, so the value is there both here and possibly elsewhere.

Smith’s situation is delicate. Once a young player has tasted the major leagues, sending him back down can have developmental consequences. Dana Brown and the coaching staff will have to balance patience with production. If he starts the season on the big league roster and they plan on starting him in right field, then Sanchez is a much needed insurance policy for the team in case Smith fails.

Yordan Álvarez and the Position Shuffle

Then there’s Yordan Álvarez. The Astros must decide whether to honor his preference to play the field or keep him primarily at DH to reduce injury risk. Beyond Yordan, the remaining outfield options are largely converted infielders: Zach Dezenzo, Shay Whitcomb, Brice Matthews, and the ongoing experiment involving José Altuve.

At some point, experimentation has to give way to clarity.

The Bottom Line

The Astros need to clear the outfield logjam and define their core starting outfielders. Moving on from Jake Meyers now, while his value remains intact, makes sense to me. I believe we’ve already seen the best version of him, and if another team believes there’s more upside, Houston should capitalize.

Whether the future belongs to Zach Cole, Brice Matthews, or someone else entirely, the Astros can’t afford to stand still. The time to make a decisive, forward-thinking move is now.

So I’ll ask the question again:
Should the Astros trade Jake Myers? If the answer is yes, who would you want in center field?

The Nationals are going to have a number of position battles this spring. Not many spots on the pitching staff are secure, and it is anyone’s guess as to who the first baseman will be. However, the camp battle that intrigues me the most comes at the catching position. 

Keibert Ruiz has been the full time starter since 2022, and has a contract that runs through the 2030 season. However, the last two seasons have been disastrous for Ruiz. His combined OPS since the start of 2024 is only .610, which is an issue for a bat first catcher. With the trade for top catching prospect Harry Ford, Ruiz is fighting an uphill battle to be the starting catcher.

It is telling that the first major transaction Paul Toboni made in DC was trading for a catcher. When speaking to fans yesterday, Toboni said there are no limits on Ford. He said the trade was a unique opportunity for the Nats that was only possible due to the fact the Mariners have such an elite catcher.

While Toboni has said all the right things about Ruiz, his actions tell me that he is high on Ford and has questions about Keibert Ruiz. If the organization had things their way, I think they would want Ford to win the job. That does not mean the job will be handed to the youngster though.

Ford is going to have to earn the job. While he has made his MLB debut, he is not proven enough to have a job handed to him. The Nats are committed to both players, so this will be a real competition. Ownership is committed financially to Ruiz and the new front office is committed to Ford because they are the ones who traded for him.

One interesting twist in this competition is the World Baseball Classic. Harry Ford will be playing for Great Britain during the event. It is a great honor for Ford, who has British parents, but it also could cost him in this competition. This could be a major opportunity for Ruiz or even Drew Millas to impress the new staff while Ford is away.

Great Britain play their first exhibition on March 3rd, and their last group phase game is on March 9th.  That means Ford will be gone for at least a week of Spring Training. Britain is in a group with the US, Brazil, Italy and Mexico. The top two teams in the group will advance. America will be a shoe in, but the second spot will be up for grabs. With Ford and Jazz Chisholm on the team, Britain has a chance to advance. If they do, Ford will be out even longer.

Despite this, I still think Ford should be considered the favorite to be the starting catcher. He has already proven he can do it at AAA. Last season, Ford hit .283 with an .868 OPS at the highest level of the minors. If the Mariners did not have Cal Raleigh, Ford would probably have more MLB experience by now.

The Nats are a young team with low expectations. That is the perfect spot for a player like Harry Ford. He will get the chance to learn on the job and get MLB reps. Unless he struggles mightily this spring, I have a hard time believing he will not be on the roster.

Another thing to consider is how the playing time will be split. Davey Martinez really rode his starting catchers hard, especially Keibert Ruiz. The new regime is probably going to be more open to playing two catchers. It would not be surprising if we see Ford catch 60% of the games and Ruiz catch 40% of them. That timeshare will be important for Ruiz in particular, who has suffered the wear and tear of being an everyday catcher.

The Nats also have depth options behind these two. Drew Millas has never been given an extended run of playing time, but has always looked good in his chances. He is also the best defender of the group. Despite being DFA’d, Riley Adams remains in the organization and has plenty of big league experience. He also has some interesting power upside that has not quite been realized yet.

With the addition of Ford, the Nats catching situation should be much better than it was last year. To be blunt, the production the Nats got behind the plate was abysmal. Toboni saw those numbers and knew he could not roll with the status quo. He added a young hot shot in Ford, while keeping the door open for the catchers on the team last year. 

Developing catchers has become a real art, and it is something the Nats have not been good at in recent years. Hopefully the new regime can improve the Nats catchers, particularly on the defensive side of the ball. 

If I had to bet, I think Harry Ford will be the Nats starting catcher. However, he is not going to be playing every day like Keibert Ruiz was under Davey Martinez. That will keep him fresh and give Ruiz one last opportunity to try to live up to his contract and potential. This is the happiest I have been about the Nats catching situation in quite some time.

Every NBA team is looking for big men who can space the floor and protect the rim, and the Boston Celtics found someone who can at least do one of those things: Nikola Vučević.

The Celtics scored Vučević for Anfernee Simons and a second-round draft pick, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania.

The now-former Chicago Bulls center has shot 39.1% on 4.5 3-point attempts per game over the past two seasons. He is also, ugh, the anchor of the NBA’s 24th-rated defense.

How that helps the Celtics remains to be seen. They will add him to a big-man rotation that includes Neemias Queta, Luka Garza and Amari Williams — hardly a powerhouse rotation. It was seen at season’s start as worse than it is has been. Vučević is, at the very least, an upgrade over Garza as a reserve center on the Eastern Conference’s third-place roster.

Whether Vučević should be taking minutes from Queta is another matter. Queta, who is averaging 10.1 points and 8.1 rebounds per game, has been the starter for the NBA’s 11th-rated defense, and there are few more valuable contracts than his minimum deal.

Vučević makes more than $6 million fewer than Simons this season, which makes for considerable luxury-tax savings for the Celtics.

Whether it helps Boston on the basketball court, again, remains to be seen. Simons was a helpful player for the Celtics, averaging an efficient 14.2 points per game off the bench, and at 26 years old he is an intriguing investment for a Bulls team in need of youth.

Still, Vučević is a different kind of weapon for the league’s second-rated offense, providing depth to a frontcourt that needed it. He can score inside and out, averaging an efficient double-double (17.2 points and 10.4 rebounds per game) across a two-time All-Star career.

The savings alone is probably worth the swap, and if Vučević gives the Celtics anything of value for the remainder of this season, when Jayson Tatum could return to the fold, forming a could-be contender in the Eastern Conference, Boston will be the better for it.

It probably does not come as a coincidence that Boston made its move for Vučević in the hours after the Memphis Grizzlies traded Jaren Jackson Jr. to the Utah Jazz. A 26-year-old Defensive Player of the Year, now that may have moved the needle toward more serious championship contention for the Celtics. But they have old friend Danny Ainge, now Utah’s top executive, to thank for missing out on a real difference-maker in their frontcourt.

With less than 48 hours to go before the NBA trade deadline, teams are going WILD today, as the Chicago Bulls, Detroit Pistons and Minnesota Timberwolves have connected on a three-way deal. 

The details:

Chicago receives: Jaden Ivey and Mike Conley Jr. 

Detroit receives: Kevin Huerter, Dario Šarić and a 2026 protected first-round pick swap courtesy of the Wolves.

Minnesota receives: Well, essentially nothing. And that’s the point. 

Let’s get into some grades. 

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Chicago Bulls: A

Look, when I wrote about the Bulls recently, I basically called them incompetent. At the time that was both fair and indeed accurate. 

Now? Not so much. 

(Although, I have questions about the Nikola Vučević trade, but we’ll discuss that in another piece.) 

Ivey is a good, young player who has routinely been underutilized in Detroit and he is just begging for a fresh start. He’s also a restricted free agent, meaning the Bulls have the right of first refusal if he pops for them. 

They get Mike Conley Jr., who I assume will get bought out. He is an expiring, so no harm done there, as the Bulls won’t have more money tied up in the future on his behalf. 

All they gave up were two expirings in Huerter and Šarić (the latter of which was taken into a traded player exception, as he wasn’t allowed to get aggregated), only adding the yet unknown future salary compensation of Ivey. 

This is just good business by the Bulls. 

Detroit Pistons: B+

The Wolves’ pick swap is nice, and the Pistons add more shooting via the acquisition of Huerter, but I still think they sold low on Ivey. 

Perhaps it was just time for the sides to move on, which is fair enough, but the guard does have a level of potential that’s significant, and moving him for that package seems … well, not all that spectacular. 

However, I shall judge the Pistons through the lens of how this helps them now, and Huerter, in theory, gives them a player who will help optimize the floor for Cade Cunningham and Jalen Duren, taking and making shots without utilizing a lot of touches. 

That’s a win, especially for a team hoping to make a deep run in the postseason. 

So while I would have liked to see the Pistons get more for Ivey, I get their approach. 

Minnesota Timberwolves: Incomplete

Look, the Wolves just saved a ton of money on their tax bill, but unless they use that flexibility to make a big move, this was just that, a financially driven move in which they relinquished a point guard, a position that is currently their absolute weakest. 

Surely, they have another move up their sleeve, otherwise this makes no sense. And so, before we know what that move is, it’d be irresponsible to grade them.