Chicago Bulls' best trade assets: 4. Nikola Vucevic
Nikola Vucevic is a two-time NBA All-Star who is one of the league’s better rebounders. He’s capable of getting you 20 and 10 every night. Vucevic has a solid-post game and can hit an outside shot. That’s a skill set that most teams would love to acquire to play today’s brand of NBA basketball.
Vucevic can be a decent defender when he wants to be. To be fair, he has often been left needing to switch on a player that perimeter teammates like LaVine, DeRozan, and White let blow past them.
He’s not a shot-blocking threat either. Instead of being referred to as a rim protector, he’s been called a “rim presenter.” Despite this, Vucevic owns the 147th-highest career Defensive Win Shares in NBA history. That provides some value, right?
The Bulls re-signed Vucevic to a 3-year, $60 million dollar deal this offseason. Who they were bidding against was anyone’s guess. Still, it’s not a terrible deal in today’s NBA. Vucevic is now 33 years old and isn’t showing signs of slowing down. He could provide a lift to a team needing a skilled big.
There should be a few teams eager to acquire Vucevic’s services, especially in the West.
The Grizzlies have a hole at center with the injury to Steven Adams. Vucevic could possibly fit in with the Lakers since Anthony Davis prefers to play as a 4 anyway. The Mavericks could pair Vucevic as a pick-and-pop partner to Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving. The Warriors are always a threat to do a deal as well.
Karnišovas and Eversley likely won’t get a first-round pick back in any Vucevic trade which is ironic since they sent two first-rounders to Orlando to get him. Orlando took Jett Howard and Franz Wagner with said picks. Still, the Bulls should be able to get something of value in return for Vucevic.