What Georges Niang trade, Chris Boucher signing means for Boston Celtics

While the Celtics have already had a busy offseason, the front office continued tweaking the roster Tuesday while shedding salary in the process. The first move was trading Georges Niang and two second-round picks to the Jazz, acquiring undrafted wing RJ Luis in return. Then the C’s signed Chris Boucher to a one-year contract.

Immediately — as has been the theme of Boston’s offseason — the organization saved money. Niang’s $8.2 million contract was shipped out without any return when it comes to the salary cap (two-way contracts don’t count against the cap). Then Boucher’s contract is set to be roughly $3.3 million, though his cap hit is only about $2.3 million.

Now, the Celtics are about $8 million under the second apron and roughly $4 million above the first apron. Looking further beyond that, the C’s are about $12 million away from getting completely below the luxury tax line, which would lead to not only significant savings but have basketball advantages to it, as well.

Here’s a look at the Celtics roster as it currently stands after the two moves:

Depth chart:

Guards (3): Derrick White, Payton Pritchard, Anfernee Simons

Forwards (8): Jaylen Brown, Sam Hauser, Chris Boucher, Baylor Scheierman, Jordan Walsh (non-guaranteed), Josh Minott, Hugo Gonzalez, Jayson Tatum (injured)

Bigs (3): Neemias Queta, Xavier Tillman, Luka Garza

Two-ways (3): Miles Norris, Max Shulga, RJ Luis

Boucher should push for rotation minutes as that’s likely why he partially chose to sign with the Celtics. Boston was thin at the front-court, so replacing Niang for Boucher also makes sense basketball-wise and adds depth. Boucher, 32, enters his ninth season in the NBA and averaged 10.0 points and 4.5 rebounds in 50 games for the Raptors. Notably, the 6-foot-9 forward/center also shot 36.3% on 3.9 3-pointers per game. He also won the 2019 NBA championship with the Raptors.

The Celtics offloading Niang to the Jazz opened up a roster spot, which is where Boucher slots in. The C’s are not expecting Al Horford to return to Boston as all indications are that he’ll sign with the Warriors. The Celtics will look significantly different next season as they’ll also be without Kristaps Porzingis, Jrue Holiday and Luke Kornet.

Boston still has an open roster spot after it waived guard JD Davison a few weeks ago. At this point, it appears the Celtics are going to roll with a 14-man roster. They do have some flexibility in that Jordan Walsh is on a non-guaranteed contract and could be cut, though he had a few nice moments in Summer League.

The Celtics are now full for their two-way slots after dealing for Luis, who started his career at UMass and played the past two seasons at St. John’s. Boston already signed rookie guard Max Shulga, picked 57th overall, to a two-way contract, and it still has Miles Norris after inking him to a deal last season. Where that puts big man Amari Williams, the 46th pick, is unclear as the Celtics since there are no available two-way slots. When it comes to the roster’s margins, that’s something to keep an eye on going forward.

While the Celtics enjoyed rare continuity coming off the 2024 NBA title, they’ve zagged the complete other direction this summer. C’s fans will have plenty of new faces to learn, whether that’s Simons, Boucher, Garza, Minott, Gonzalez or whoever.

Overall, the Celtics already made their big offseason swings when they traded Porzingis and Holiday. But the front office hasn’t been afraid to keep slimming down payroll in what C’s president Brad Stevens dubbed a retooling season. There are certainly basketball advantages to getting under each payroll threshold, whether that’s the first or second apron, along with the luxury tax line entirely. So, it remains to be seen what the Celtics could look like once training camp rolls around.