The Chicago Bulls pulled off their second major three-team trade involving the Spurs and Kings in the span of eight months, a rare pair of blockbusters that has now sent DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine west to Sacramento as Chicago attempts to unravels its mess of a roster.
There is not much left in the Bulls’ cupboard, and the return they’ve gotten for their star players–including Alex Caruso, who was traded to Oklahoma City last summer–has been wildly underwhelming, resulting in no new first-rounders coming Chicago’s way.
But there will at least be one more chance to extract something, anything, of value, and it figures to come from center Nikola Vucevic, the lone remaining veteran pillar of the team the Bulls assembled to be a contender four years ago.
The Bulls have made a firm decision to trade Vucevic at just about any cost this week, with the NBA trade deadline coming on Thursday afternoon. As one Western Conference executive said this weekend, “They’re doing what they can to find a taker for him. I don’t know if it will get them a first-round pick, but that’s what they want. But like all of the trades they’ve been making, they just waited to long to push the market. But yeah, they are very actively shopping him.”
It’s been a good year for Vucevic. He has been healthy, playing in a league-high 49 games, and has averaged 19.9 points with 55.1% shooting from the field and 40.1% 3-point shooting. He is slow-footed, though, and not much of a rim protector, which is what has caused teams to shy away from making a deal for him, even as the Bulls actively push him on the trade block.
Vucevic is 34 years old and is signed for next season, at $21 million.