The Chicago Bulls have reportedly set a price for one of their main trade chips.
According to The Stein Line, Arturas Karnisovas and Co. are hoping to add draft compensation in a deal for Nikola Vucevic. The big man is putting together one of the best seasons of his career, and he remains readily available ahead of the 2024-25 trade deadline.
“After failing to extract any draft compensation from Oklahoma City in its Alex Caruso-for-Josh Giddey swap in June,??Chicago is said to be seeking a first-round pick to part with center Nikola Vucevic,??who has had a tremendous season offensively. The two-time NBA All-Star is averaging 21.0 points and 9.8 rebounds per game while shooting a sizzling 58.7% from the field and 47.4% on 3-pointers,” Marc Stein and Jake Fischer wrote.
When we consider Vucevic’s All-Star-level production, this feels like a reasonable request. Rarely do you get a big man putting up those numbers for anything less than a first-rounder. Nevertheless, we already have reason to believe that the Bulls have been met with laughs.
via Petre Thomas-Imagn ImagesWhat Can the Bulls Get for Nikola Vucevic?
Only six players this season are averaging at least 21.0 points and 9.0 rebounds on 50.0 percent shooting from the field. Nikola Vucevic is one of those players, joining superstar names like Nikola Jokic, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Karl-Anthony Towns, Domantas Sabonis, and Anthony Davis, per NBA Stats.
While there is a lot of basketball left this season, that stat underscores the elite class Vucevic has found himself a part of this season. Add in the fact that’s also shooting 47.4 percent from three (only Jokic is shooting better among that group), and the veteran undoubtedly feels like the kind of contributor who could help a contender.
The Bulls shouldn’t be scoffed at for a requesting a first-round pick in exchange for those level of production. I’m also assuming we’re talking about something like a Top 10 protected first-round as opposed to a completely unprotected pick. Now, does his $21.0 million owed next season hurt his trade value slightly? Sure. Many winning teams would prefer to add an expiring contract. But that’s also isn’t a ridiculous amount of money in today’s NBA, especially for someone doing what Vucevic is currently doing. Not to mention, a team could always look to use his mid-size expiring deal in a trade of their own next season.
Still, we haven’t been given any reason to believe that someone will meet this first-round asking price yet. A previous report from this month had one executive putting Vucevic’s value at a pair of second-round picks. We’ve also heard recently that there remains little interest in Vucevic and Zach LaVine and that Chicago’s price for both is too high. So while the Bulls may covet a first-round selection ??? and that may sound reasonable ??? this might not matter if the market stays the way it is.
The hope for Chicago is that teams begin to change their minds as more players come off the board and the reality of the trade deadline sets in. We certainly can’t rule this out, especially if Vucevic shows little signs of slowing down. However, the fact that center is one of the deeper positions in the league and teams don’t like to spend heavily on big men, there is a world where teams stick together and keep Vucevic’s value rather low.
If your the Bulls, though, you aren’t necessarily in a rush. While you want to stay in the mix for a potential Top 10 draft pick, you also want to maximize the value of your players. They still have a little under two months before the trade deadline arrives, so playing hardball is something they can afford.
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