Thoughts on Celtics Signing Chris Boucher After Georges Niang Trade

The Celtics signed former Raptors big Chris Boucher to a one-year, $3.3 million contract on Tuesday after salary dumping and reuniting Georges Niang with the Utah Jazz. The first trade between Jazz president Austin Ainge and his former Celtics front office absorbed Niang’s $8.2 million expiring contract in full.

• Boston sent two second-rounders as a sweetener, the better of their 2031 pick and Cleveland’s, which they received in the Kristaps Porziņģis trade with Atlanta nearly two months ago. The Celtics also sent the better of its 2027 pick and Orlando’s, which Boston received back alongside three other seconds that became Max Shulga and Amari Williams in Boston’s trade back from No. 32 overall in June’s NBA Draft. The Celtics originally traded that second for Evan Fournier in 2021.
• The roster shuffling saved the Celtics roughly $40 million in luxury tax since they traded Niang outright into the John Collins trade exception Utah received from its deal with the Clippers. The Jazz sent two-way forward RJ Luis Jr. back to Boston, an undrafted free agent wing from St. John’s that Utah signed to a two-way contract. It’s unclear what plans the Celtics have for Luis, considering Miles Norris, Shulga and presumably Williams will eventually fill the team’s three two-way roster spots unless one of them is converted into a standard contract or waived.
• Note that Boucher’s one-year minimum contract actually counts as a $2.3 million cap hit due to a rule designed to incentivize signing veterans despite carrying higher minimum salaries than younger players. Teams also receive a cash refund for the difference.

It’s more possible that Boston carries 15 players into the season than in most years with the Celtics expected to pursue further salary-shedding because one of them, Jayson Tatum, will likely miss most of the season. Tuesday’s trade also created nearly $8-million in room beneath the second apron, and the Celtics remained $12-million over the luxury tax line, $4 million over the second apron, after signing Boucher. Niang’s departure could make it more likely Anfernee Simons reaches training camp.

Regardless, Boucher solved some uncertainty in a front court that only included Neemias Queta, Luke Garza and Xavier Tillman Sr. at center. The Celtics reportedly had interest in Ben Simmons while Charles Bassey maintained intrigued with filling that role. There’s still a chance either could join the training camp mix, though Boston has now filled all 21 offseason roster spots between adding Luis and Boucher, and three reported camp signings Hayden Grey, Aaron Scott and Jalen Bridges. The straightest path to freeing one of those is waiving an Exhibit 10/camp player and routing them to Maine’s roster, as is expected with the latter three.

For Boucher, the question will become whether he starts and mostly logs minutes on the perimeter or comes off the bench as a reserve big. That could depend on the night and how reliably Queta and Garza fill minutes at center. Boucher moved to the perimeter for Toronto in recent years after playing more than 80% of his minutes as a big man between 2020-21. His positional versatility gave the Celtics the biggest skill set they lacked after the team conceded Al Horford’s departure: a large four who can space the floor. Boucher shot 39% on corner threes last year and 36.3% on 3.9 overall attempts per game — the second-best mark from three of his career.

Toronto moved on to provide minutes to its younger front court players. Still, Boucher proved a savvy cutter, strong per-minute rebounder (10.4 career reb. per 36) and ran the floor well on offense while patrolling the back line defensively. Those are all areas where Boston will need him to produce in a far greater role than he played in recent seasons. It’s easy to imagine him playing more than 25 minutes per game for the Celtics, something he only approached doing in 2021, when he finished eighth in Sixth Man of the Year voting. He’ll score, he won’t switch as often as his frame suggests he could and he rarely fouls. After several seasons of reliable health, he logged only 50 games in each of the last two years.

For Utah, Niang returned after playing there from 2018-21 and reportedly intends to play for the Jazz this season, who valued his veteran presence. The Celtics could not aggregate his salary until September, leaving only this one-for-one swap as an option for moving off Niang, who was expensive from a tax standpoint and overlapped positionally with Sam Hauser and Boston’s younger wings. The trade ended a awkward two-month saga where Celtics fans didn’t exactly welcome the Lawrence native with open arms after his 2023 playoff spat with Jaylen Brown. Brown and Niang reconciled at a Connecticut Sun game last month.

Luis, an undrafted free agent who played college basketball at UMass and St. John’s, averaged 18.2 points, 7.2 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.4 steals per game last season in 35 St. John’s games. He shot 43.9% from the field and 31.4% from three across his three seasons, generating 4.1 free throw attempts per game (75.9% FT).