Ex-Celtics Guard Played Through Fractured Wrist Before Trade

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Anfernee Simons #22 of the Chicago Bulls was traded from the Boston Celtics.

In what was partly a positional move and partly a move to shave off just enough salary to begin the process of getting the Boston Celtics below the NBA’s luxury tax threshold, the team traded away guard Anfernee Simons to the Bulls early this month, bringing back center Nikola Vucevic and saving a little more than $6 million off the Boston payroll.

The Celtics needed a center and had a glut of guards, so moving Simons made sense. Vucevic has been effective in five games off the bench, averaging 11.8 points and 8.4 rebounds in 25.2 minutes per game.

Still, there is little doubt that Simons was very good in his off-the-bench role for Boston, reshaping his image as a player who can put up numbers on bad teams (Simons had not been in the playoffs since the 2020-21 season, his third in Portland) to a player who can help a contender as a starter or off the bench. Simons improved noticeably on the defensive end during his three-plus months with the Celtics.

Anfernee Simons Was Injured in Boston

As it turns out, Simons was doing all that while dealing with a wrist injury he suffered in Celtics training camp, a fracture that he simply learned to play through. Simons is heading into free agency was was surely aware that missing time this winter could hurt his ability to land a new job next summer.

Bulls coach Billy Donovan said on Tuesday that Chicago knew about the injury to Simons when acquiring him before the February 5 trade deadline, and added that it would not be an injury that ends his season.

From Joel Lorenzi of The Athletic: “Billy Donovan says Anfernee Simons has a wrist fracture, which was determined after imaging. Says it’s a recurring injury from his time in Boston from training camp that didn’t properly heal. Sounds like he won’t get any procedure midseason, and that option hasn’t been discussed. Donovan doesn’t want to call it day-to-day, says it’s a matter of when the pain subsides.”

Celtics’ Jaylen Brown Remains a Fan

While Simons’ time with the Celtics was short, he did have an impact, and there has been speculation that when he lands in free agency this summer, he could re-sign in Boston. That’s probably a longshot, but it is an indication of the value he showed before the trade.

With the Celtics, in 49 games, Simons averaged 14.2 points on 44.0% shooting and 39.5% 3-point shooting. He also earned a fan in Celtics star Jaylen Brown, who certainly sounded willing to see his team bring back Simons when they can.

As Brown told reporters in the wake of the Simons-Bulls deal: “Anfernee has all the respect in the world from me — it’s a business, but there’s a human aspect to it. And since he’s been here, he’s contributed to winning. He’s won us some games.

“He’s just a great, great person, great kid on and off the floor, just humble like — I hope he gets everything that he’s looking for just because he just fit right in with his group of guys in our locker room. He could have had different thoughts and thought differently, and his energy could have been different. Man, he was a great teammate and did everything he needed to do that we asked him and more and contributed to winning.”

Sean Deveney is a veteran sports reporter covering the NBA, NFL and MLB for Heavy.com. He has written for Heavy since 2019 and has more than two decades of experience covering the NBA, including 17 years as the lead NBA reporter for the Sporting News. Deveney is the author of 7 nonfiction books, including “Fun City,” “Before Wrigley became Wrigley,” and “Facing Michael Jordan.” More about Sean Deveney