The Chicago Bulls have made a concerted effort in the last year or so to get younger and not add much future salary to keep their books open. They let DeMar DeRozan walk in free agency, traded Zach LaVine midseason, and traded Lonzo Ball for Isaac Okoro to the Cleveland Cavaliers this offseason.
There are only two players remaining on the Bulls roster older than 28 years old: Jevon Carter and Nikola Vucevic. Carter doesn’t have much value around the NBA with his $6.8 million salary, while Vucevic is 35 years old with a $20 million salary, which makes him hard to move.
Apr 13, 2025; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Chicago Bulls center Nikola Vucevic (9) receives a pass against the Philadelphia 76ers in the first quarter at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Ross-Imagn Images / Kyle Ross-Imagn Images
NBA insider Jake Vischer revealed on a Bleacher Report stream that “There hasn’t been much of a market for Nikola Vucevic all along, dating back to last trade deadline. I think at this juncture, we’re probably more likely to see a Nikola Vucevic buyout midseason than we are to see a trade.”
If the Bulls are only able to buy Vucevic out, it would be yet another example of poor asset management from this front office. They had trade offers for Vucevic a few years ago and decided not to take them, and they may now have to pay him to go away.
It doesn’t help that the Bulls traded Wendell Carter Jr. and two first-round picks, one of them becoming Franz Wagner, in order to get him. All of that to make the playoffs just once since Vucevic has been in Chicago.
The Golden State Warriors were a team rumored to be interested in him at one point in time, but that interest has clearly cooled off.
