The Boston Celtics, who have regularly been a thorn in the Cleveland Cavaliers' side, just made a trade that would suggest they are fully invested in this season again. That should sound the alarm right away in Northeast Ohio.
Shams Charania reported: "BREAKING: The Chicago Bulls are trading center Nikola Vucevic and a second-round pick to the Boston Celtics for Anfernee Simons and a second-round pick, sources tell ESPN."
Thus far, Boston has outperformed Cleveland this season without a viable starting center or their best player. The concern here for the Cavaliers would be that after the Vucevic trade, the Celtics may just have both by the time these two teams are directly pitted against each other in a race for Eastern Conference supremacy.
Celtics being buyers signals renewed commitment to winning the East
No one would have blamed the Celtics for just punting on this season after losing Jayson Tatum to an Achilles injury in last year's NBA Playoffs. Instead, they are 31-18 after a Jaylen Brown breakout campaign and a Joe Mazzulla coaching masterclass.
That currently puts them two spots ahead of the Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference standings. Cleveland's dreams of representing the conference in the NBA Finals are quietly facing a future in which they could easily be crushed by the revamped threat.
In a vacuum, Vucevic is a good addition. While no longer being an All-Star, the former Bulls big man is still an upgrade over what the Celtics were dealing with before the trade with Chicago.
The real concern here lies in what this means for the bigger picture. Do the Celtics make this deal without full confidence that Tatum returns this season? Probably not.
Vucevic is a $21.5 million expiring contract. That does help the Celtics' financial flexibility in general. Moving off Simons' $27.7 million deal decreases their salary bill.
However, this feels like a short-term win-now move. That should suggest Tatum will be on the court for the Celtics before year's end.
Just to make that clear: a top-three seed in the Eastern Conference is about to get their best player back. With how wide open things are right now in the East, that could tilt the balance of power very quickly.
With the Cavs' best window to win another title being now, having to clear an annoying Celtics hurdle will not excite anyone. It should immediately incentivize an aggressive approach before time runs out on them.