The Boston Celtics are sending recently acquired forward Georges Niang and two future second-round picks to the Utah Jazz for rookie wing RJ Luis Jr., according to ESPN’s Shams Charania.
Niang, who previously played in Utah from 2017-2021, returns to the Jazz, and his more than $8 million salary goes into the Jazz’s massive trade exception from the John Collins deal, giving the Celtics more financial breathing room under the second apron, Charania reported Tuesday.
Collins was part of a three-team trade between the Jazz, Miami Heat and Los Angeles Clippers earlier this summer that sent the veteran forward from Utah to L.A., where Norman Powell left for Miami in the same transaction. In return, the Jazz received Kevin Love, Kyle Anderson, a 2027 second-round Clippers draft pick and a trade exception that paved the way for Utah to create a lucrative bargaining chip.
In other words, the Jazz had financial flexibility to take on a traded player and their salary, granting another team cap relief — in this case, the Celtics — in exchange for future draft assets as well.
In addition to dumping Niang’s salary, the Celtics received an intriguing prospect in Luis. The 6-foot-7, 215-pound wing is the reigning Big East Player of the Year and went undrafted despite an impressive final season at St. John’s, where he averaged 18.2 points and 7.2 rebounds per game for a Red Storm team that won 31 games and was a No. 2 seed in this year’s NCAA tournament.
Luis signed a two-way deal with the Jazz but now will try to carve out a role in Boston. The Celtics are also signing free agent forward Chris Boucher to a one-year, $3.3 million guaranteed contract, Charania reported Tuesday.
Boucher was the Raptors’ last remaining member of their 2019 NBA title team. While never averaging more than 13.6 points and 6.7 rebounds per game in a single season of his seven-season Raptors career, he leaves Toronto as the franchise’s all-time leader in points, rebounds, blocks, minutes and games played off the bench.
Boston’s moves Tuesday continue the franchise’s offseason of payroll shedding. Last month, Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens explained that his team needed to get out of the second apron, a financial threshold for front offices that limits how much a team can spend above the NBA’s soft salary cap and luxury tax line without facing the highest level of penalties.
The Celtics had been dealing with those financial and basketball-related penalties the past two seasons while going all in on their championship pursuit, which delivered the franchise’s 18th NBA title in 2024.
Getting under the second apron was the Celtics’ motive behind trading guard Jrue Holiday and center Kristaps Porziņģis. Niang ended up in Boston because of the Porziņģis deal with the Atlanta Hawks. Now he’s gone before he played a single game with the Celtics.
Boston is $7.8 million below the second apron after trading Niang and bringing aboard Boucher, per ESPN, which also reported the Celtics saved $34 million in luxury tax penalties with those transactions.
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