Report: Bulls Looking To Trade Nikola Vucevic

According to NBA insider Matt Moore of The Action Network, the Chicago Bulls are looking to trade Nikola Vucevic.

Vucevic will make $20 million in 2024-25. 

The Bulls are still looking to find a new home for Zach LaVine too. 

“The Bulls are known to be looking to move Nikola Vucevic, along with the never-ending Zach LaVine saga,” Moore wrote. 

Chicago missed the playoffs this year for the second consecutive season. The franchise has made the postseason once since trading Jimmy Butler to the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2017. 

The Bulls lost to the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round of the 2022 playoffs in five quick games. 

Vucevic averaged 18.0 points, 10.5 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 0.7 steals and 0.8 blocks in 2023-24 while shooting 48.4% from the field, 29.4% from beyond the arc and 82.2% from the free-throw line. He had 45 double-doubles in 76 games. 

The Bulls acquired Vucevic from the Orlando Magic in March 2021. The two-time All-Star has career averages of 17.1 points, 10.5 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 0.8 steals and 0.9 blocks with the Philadelphia 76ers, Magic and Bulls. He was the 16th overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft out of USC. 

Chicago traded Alex Caruso to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Josh Giddey. It appears the Bulls could enter rebuild mode. 

“I’m skeptical of this given the entire history of the franchise and their desire to constantly stay on a treadmill of mediocrity, but there has been whispers in recent days that the Bulls are really planning on moving younger, with the perplexing trade of Caruso for Giddey with no picks attached as part of that design,” Moore wrote. “As such, there’s thought that DeMar DeRozan might really hit the open market. DeRozan remains one of the Clippers’ backup plans in the event that Paul George departs, but with the likelihood of George opting in, the odds of the Compton native finally making it back to California diminish.”