Phoenix Suns center Jusuf Nurkic has not seen playing time since a Jan. 7 appearance against Charlotte. At the bottom of the center depth chart, Nurkic has shared his frustration about head coach Mike Budenholzer publicly, and it may leave Phoenix no choice but to move on.
The Athletic’s senior NBA writer Sam Vecenie gave his list of trades he’d like to see before the deadline and thinks a Nurkic deal to Chicago for wing Patrick Williams would make sense in terms of roster construction: one team is rebuilding and one team gets a depth piece.
This contract has gone about as badly for the Bulls in its first season as imaginable. He is playing like a minimum-contract-caliber player but is locked onto their books for the next four years after this one at $18 million per season. Yes, to get off the Williams deal, they need to take on Nurkic’s $19.4 million for next season. But they’d be removing $72 million in future salary from their books and get to start fresh in what is shaping up toward a desperate need to rebuild.
Chicago signed Williams to a five-year, $90 million contract this past offseason.
The Bulls hoped the forward could develop his offensive game to accompany his strong defense: Williams is the only player in Bulls history to have recorded 200 3-pointers made, 150 blocks and 150 steals before the age of 23.
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The Suns recently acquired center Nick Richards, who has averaged a double-double in his first five games: 11.8 points and 11.2 rebounds and 62.9% on field goals.
Phoenix could take a chance on a promising athletic forward who can come off the bench. It may look at the success of Lauri Markkanen and Wendell Carter leaving the Bulls and be optimistic that Williams might be limited by his environment.
Even though he hasn’t been good this season, he is still only 23 years old and has tools. The deal is nearly cash-neutral for this season, as Williams makes just about $125,000 less than Nurkic. Williams is on the books for three years longer than Nurkic, but Mat Ishbia has never shown a particular worry about cost in cash terms.
Would Phoenix take a chance on the potential of a player who has been compared to Kawhi Leonard in pre-draft scouting and by his former teammate DeMar DeRozan?
“I hate comparing guys to other guys, I seldom do it, but he reminds me of Kawhi,” DeRozan said in 2023, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. “I know that’s been thrown out there, but his build, the way he moves, everything. Kawhi’s one of the greatest players to play this game, and that’s high praise right there. That’s what I see Pat becoming.”
Williams is averaging a career low in multiple categories, including field goal percentage at 37.2%, two-point percentage at 39.5% and 3-point percentage at 35.1%.
Chicago would be giving up on another young player who could thrive elsewhere once again and that might make them more hesitant to trade Williams.
NBA executives are prideful people, and it’s hard for them to admit mistakes because they tend to believe more in the players they take than other executives. It’s especially hard to admit mistakes when you’ve doubled down on them like Bulls president of basketball operations Artūras Karnišovas has in both surprisingly drafting Williams at No. 4 in 2020 as well as choosing to give him that extension this past summer. The Bulls could just as easily choose to bet on Williams rehabbing his stock in Chicago as opposed to elsewhere. But to do that, they’re going to have to keep playing him, and the results to this point haven’t been positive.
Is Nurkic worth hanging onto for another season to have cap relief in 2026-27 versus Williams’ contract not being off the books until 2028-29 when he has a player option?
The Suns are already over the second apron this season and are projected to be over the second apron next season as well. Next season’s estimated salary is about $221 million, while the second apron threshold is about $207 million. That’s a big reason why the Suns might want to avoid this deal.
On the Phoenix side, maybe this is where Ishbia would decide to make his stand on not taking on future money and would instead just rather deal a first-round pick to move Nurkic.
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