Despite recent reports, the Chicago Bulls shouldn’t trade Nikola Mirotic
For the most part, Nikola Mirotic has never been given a fair shake.
However, since making his return from injury, Mirotic has looked like an offensive force that the Chicago Bulls have been missing for the better part of the first quarter of the season.
Since returning to the team, the Bulls are 3-0. During that span, Mirotic is averaging 16.3 points, and 4.7 rebounds on 55 percent shooting from the field and 50 percent from 3-point range.
He scored 19 points and three rebounds and kept the offense humming against New York long enough for his teammates to squeze out the win. Three days later, he scored a season-high 24 points against the shorthanded Boston Celtics.
The Bulls tend to sputter without someone like Niko pouring it on when the other players run out of gas.
Although there are reports that the Bulls are reportedly making preliminary inquiries shopping both Robin Lopez and Nikola Mirotic around according to Real GM, I don’t believe moving Mirotic is the best course of action right now.
Moving Mirotic would be losing a valuable young(ish) talent that could really help this team as they head into a long rebuild.
If the Bulls trade Nikola now, it would be a really bad move and a historical repeat of their habits of moving people away just when they can break out for the team – from Luol Deng to Tyrus Thomas, Doug McDermott and Kyle Korver.
We know Lauri Markannen is top priority for the team as development is concerned, but without Nikola’s veteran presence and anchor on offense, the team will be playing on spurts and sputters and be less consistent.
Markannen can be taken under Mirotic’s wing and have him mentor the young big as we’ve seen many other times around the league.
The future of the Bulls lies in the hands of the development of their young pieces. And the more young talent a team has, the better the potential for success. Nikola Mirotic can give the team high scoring, quality minutes and a veteran presence in the locker room. Losing that might be worse than any asset that his return my bring.
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The Chicago Bulls already made mistakes in the recent history by giving up on Doug McDermott too quickly and trading the rights of Jordan Bell. They can’t afford to throw the towel in on Nikola Mirotic too.