Could The Celtics Make Another Move? Peculiar Benching Hints At Trade

The Boston Celtics just made the move everyone was waiting for by sending away Anfernee Simons and his lofty contract for forward Nikola Vucevic. But this roster move could mean the team still has one more trick up its sleeve before the Feb. 5 deadline.

Veteran forward Chris Boucher was signed this summer after the team traded for and subsequently traded away Georges Niang.

Boucher, 33, is playing in his eighth NBA season. In 2020, he averaged a career-high 13.6 points per game, but has not surpassed a double-digit point average in the years since.

Boucher has now been downgraded to “out” for “personal reasons” ahead of Tuesday night’s road trip to Dallas to take on the Mavericks.

Now, of course, Boucher could simply be out for personal reasons.

But at the NBA trade deadline, “out for personal reasons” is often code for “we are working on a trade involving this player.”

Boucher is playing on a veteran minimum contract, but somehow even $3.3 million feels like overpaying for the results the team has been receiving. Daniel Donabedian of the Celtics Wire pointed out just how seldom Boucher has seen the court.

“While Boucher’s fate is still unknown, the first-year Celtic has logged just 4 minutes of play in 2026. He’s only entered nine games more than halfway through the 2025-26 regular season,” Donabedian wrote.

“Even Celtics rookie center Amari Williams has seen the floor more than Boucher. With this limited run in mind, it makes some sense for the Celtics to trade Boucher.”

The Celtics have roughly 48 more hours to put the final touches on a roster poised to make another championship run.