Bulls News: Chicago Finally Looking to Trade Multi-Time All-Star, Under One Condition
The lowly Chicago Bulls are apparently primed to move on from their middling core stars, but how many of them will net positive trade value?
On the heels of reports surfacing that team president Arturas Karnisovas was looking to offload Chicago's two most expensive players — injury-prone guards Zach LaVine and Lonzo Ball —new intel suggests that the team's third-priciest piece could be on the move, too.
Michael Scotto of HoopsHype reports the Bulls are open to flipping the contract of overpaid starting center Nikola Vucevic in a deal and emphasize younger pieces, assuming unrestricted free agent small forward DeMar DeRozan really does sign elsewhere this summer.
DeRozan, Vucevic's former USC teammate and the best player on the 39-43 Bulls last season, is reportedly being circled by his hometown Los Angeles Lakers, the Miami Heat, and the Sacramento Kings this summer.
Read more: DeMar DeRozan Reportedly Has Interest in Joining Eastern Conference Powerhouse
After spending two seasons as a key component of a Chicago core comprising of himself, DeRozan, All-Star shooting guard LaVine, point guard Ball, All-Defensive Team guard Alex Caruso , former 2020 lottery pick forward Patrick Williams, and guard Coby White, Vucevic had demonstrably proved that the team wasn't good enough to really compete in the Eastern Conference by the summer of 2023. The team had made the playoffs in just one of those seasons, 2022, when it got decimated by the Milwaukee Bucks.
In 2022-23, with Ball lost all year to a knee injury (he's been out since Jan. 2022), the team finished 40-42 and missed the playoffs. Vucevic, a good passer and average three point shooter, is a poor defender and clearly thrives when he's more featured in a team's (inefficient) offense. It was clear in 2023 that the Bulls should have let then-impending free agent Vucevic walk.
Instead, the team doubled down last summer, signing the 6-foot-10 big man, then already past his prime at age 32, to a three-year, $60 million contract extension days before he would have become an unrestricted free agent. Just one season later, after the Bulls finished 39-43 (again without Ball) and missed the playoffs for a second straight season, the team has seemingly finally realized that Vucevic is not a fit for the future.
Unfortunately, the former Trojan is still owed two seasons and $41.5 million, in seasons where he'll be 34 and 35 (his birthday is in October). Across 76 contests last year (74 starts), Vucevic averaged 18 points on .484/.294/.822 shooting splits, 10.5 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 0.8 blocks, and 0.7 steals a night. He offers zero lateral quickness, limited verticality, and absolutely no rim protection. During his two All-Star seasons on the Orlando Magic, he could at least nail a triple.
The issue, of course, becomes determining how to ship out Vucevic's contract for value. The now-rebuilding Bulls need young players and future draft equity. If it will cost Chicago draft picks to move off of Vucevic's deal, however, the team absolutely will need to keep the veteran five rostered. Without Caruso and presumably DeRozan, the Bulls will be plenty bad. Vucevic can help in that department.
