Former Celtics guard makes blunt admission after trade to new team

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Former Celtics guard makes blunt admission after trade to new team

Brian Robb · MassLive

Mon, Feb 9, 2026 ·

3 min read

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Anfernee Simons is getting plenty of opportunity so far in his new home with the Chicago Bulls . The former Celtics guard made his debut with Chicago on Thursday night after being dealt away for Nikola Vucevic and has started two straight games in the Windy City amid a host of new additions for a retooling Bulls squad.

Simons has made a strong impression in those games, averaging 18.5 points over 32 minutes per contest after coming off the bench in his first 49 games of the season for Boston . However, the Celtics elected to trade Simons at the deadline with a 2026 second-round pick in exchange for Vucevic and a 2027 second-round pick. The deal was partially motivated by financial reasons, as the Celtics cleared enough salary with some subsequent deals to drop below the luxury tax line. Boston initially acquired Simons last summer as a way of getting off Jrue Holiday 's bigger salary as well.

With Simons set to hit free agency this summer on a $27.7 million expiring contract, he will have to be competing with several other guards on the Bulls that are also in the midst of contract years. The veteran guard spoke bluntly to the Chicago Sun-Times about what this situation is for him now in Chicago.

"I think even before [the trade], it was always going to be a job interview with this being the last year of my contract," said Simons. "I've just got to make the most out of these last couple of months here, start building chemistry with the guys and see where that goes."

Simons played well in Boston during his half of the season, but the team opted to add some more depth to their frontcourt with Vucevic with the looming potential return of Jayson Tatum making Simons look more expendable.

"I think first and foremost, that was a move done in large part to balance out our positional needs, and it's a hard decision when you have to move a person like Ant who's been so good, such a great teammate," Stevens said last Friday. "I thought we had a little more depth and opportunity at the guard to cover that and if we were able to get a big that had a similar impact from the standpoint of I guess filling different statistical needs and gave us a little more insurance in case of any depth issues, I felt like that was the right thing to do. And Nikola is a good player. He's been a good player for a long time."

The Celtics will see Simons for the first time in a Bulls uniform on Wednesday night at TD Garden in their final game before the All-Star Break.

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