When news broke that the Boston Celtics were trading recently acquired combo forward Georges Niang and two future second-round picks to the Utah Jazz for RJ Luis Jr., it left fans wondering how Brad Stevens would further address his frontcourt heading into a forthcoming season without Jayson Tatum.

Well, as it turns out, that wonder lasted all of a few minutes, as the C's rapidly turned around and added a familiar face from the Eastern Conference to their bench, signing long-time Toronto Raptors forward Chris Boucher to a one-year, $3.3 million deal, according to ESPN's Shams Charania.

“Free agent forward Chris Boucher has agreed to a one-year, $3.3 million contract with the Boston Celtics, agent Sam Permut of Roc Nation tells ESPN. Boucher lands a guaranteed deal with the Celtics and is expected to have a significant role in the frontcourt,” Charania wrote.

“Boucher departs Toronto, where he has the all-time franchise record in points, rebounds, blocks, minutes, and games played off the bench. He also was the Raptors' last remaining member of the 2019 NBA championship team.”

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Originally acquired in a three-team deal with the Atlanta Hawks and the Brooklyn Nets that also included Kristaps Porzingis and Terance Mann, Niang looked like the sort of connecting 3-and-D forward who could play alongside Jaylen Brown now and Tatum in the future as a viable top-8 player on a very good team.

While Boucher isn't as good of an outside shooter as the player he's replacing, he's a bit more athletic, a better rebounder, and the kind of player who can contribute this fall, when the Celtics will be in full-on talent evaluation mode as they hope to reload for the return of Tatum in the future.

Even if Boucher is only on a one-year deal, he should more or less be an even Niang replacement, which at this point in the summer, is all Stevens can really ask for.

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