Will Trading Nikola Vučević Kickstart the Chicago Bulls' Tank? 3 Semi-Plausible Deals
Much to the pleasure of a frustrated Chicago fan base, it feels like Bulls are ready to torpedo their 2024-25 season. And what better way to win via losing than by offloading their All-Star center?
LISTEN, I like Nikola Vučević.
You probably like Nikola Vučević, too.
After all, what’s not to like? The Chicago Bulls center is a good community guy, he’s a double-double machine, and he has a healthy disdain for the deservedly maligned Chicago Sports Network:
Unfortunately, the man we all call Vooch gotsta go.
Despite career averages of 17.1 points and 10.5 boards, Vučević’s win/loss record as an NBA player is 369-530, and in his 13-year career, he’s appeared in a grand total of 16 postseason games.
This, kids, is tangible proof that despite elite his offensive numbers, his solid work ethic, and a couple of All-Star nods, Vooch doesn’t impact regular season winning.
Newsflash, Vooch and his Bulls aren’t winning (they’re 8-13, seventh from the bottom of the league), and the center is owed $21 million next season (the final year of his contract) and the 2025 NBA Draft class is shaping up to be a good one (Cooper Flagg, anyone?), all of which means it’s time for the Bulls FO to put together a Vucci Mane tribute video and get what they can for the guy.
Unfortunately, Chicago’s return likely won’t be great.
Fair enough, but the team can’t simply ship the former UCLA Bruin to, say, OKC for a couple of second rounders because, y’know, salary cap. So let’s see what kind of contracts and/or underperformers the Bulls could absorb in a Vučević move.
(Editor’s note #1: All deals are approved by ESPN’s NBA Trade Machine.)
(Editor’s note #2: The proposed deals more-or-less ignore the above anonymous GM’s second-round-picks prognostication, but rather focus on deals that kinda-sorta favor Chicago. My Substack, my rules.)
GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS RECEIVE
Nikola Vučević
CHICAGO BULLS RECEIVE
De’Anthony Melton
Kevon Looney
2026 second round Draft pick (via Atlanta)
At 36, Steph Curry wants to add a fifth ring to his awards case before he calls it a career, and it’s become apparent during Golden State’s current four-game losing streak that this Dubs’ roster, much to the future first-ballot Hall of Famer’s undoubted chagrin, isn’t getting them out of the West. Adding a double-doubling presence in the middle could help them do just that.
Re: The Bulls, Melton and Looney both have a year left on their respective deals, so why not give them a half-season audition? Melton might get a new contract, while Looney probably won’t, so this trade could be a big nothingburger, as second rounders are almost always nothingburgers. But if we want to kickstart TankFest 2024 — which we most definitely do — this move makes perfect sense.
NEW ORLEANS PELICANS RECEIVE
Nikola Vučević
CHICAGO BULLS RECEIVE
Herb Jones
Jeremiah Robinson-Earl
Karlo Matvokic
2027 second round pick
New Orleans’ situation in the middle isn’t what we in the industry call optimal. Rookie Yves Missi is slotted in as the starter; what with their Pels’ 4-12 record, it’s clear this isn’t the answer. Sure, it would be a blow for them to lose defensive wiz Jones, but, as noted, 4-12.
As for Jones, he could slide into Chicago’s starting lineup next to Jalen Smith, giving the Bulls an athletic twosome that could amp up the team’s already-solid pace percentage. Robinson-Earl will be a one-and-done, while Matkovic will enjoy his stint in a Windy City Bulls uni.
LOS ANGELES LAKERS RECEIVE
Nikola Vučević
Zach Lavine
CHICAGO BULLS RECEIVE
D’Angelo Russell
Rui Hachimura
Austin Reeves
Jared Vanderbilt
Christian Wood
For months now, a goodly percentage of Lakers Twitter has clamored for their franchise to make some move, and a goodly percentage of those trade suggestions have involved Vooch and/or Zach Lavine. This transaction gets both to Cali, while clearing a bunch of onerous contracts from L.A.’s books. (Gabe Vincent’s contract isn’t one of them. There’s only so much I can do.) Adding two former All-Stars to the LeBron James/Anthony Davis combo platter puts J.J. Redick’s squad right into the West mix.
This deal, for the Bulls, is all about 26-year-old Austin Reeves — due to the surprisingly fast development of rookie Dalton Knecht, he’s become semi-expendable — who fits nicely into Chicago’s style and timeline. Russell and Wood both have a year left on their deals and wouldn’t be resigned, while Vanderbilt (four years) and Hachimura (two years) will give the Bulls’ a few season’s worth of competent front court bulk.
BONUS BLOCKBUSTER
NEW ORLEANS PELICANS RECEIVE
Nikola Vučević
Patrick Williams
2026 first round draft pick (Chicago owns a pair of 2026 first round picks: New Orleans receives the lower of the two.)
Future draft picks TBD
Cash considerations
CHICAGO BULLS RECEIVE
Zion Williamson
Taking on the remaining four years of Williamson’s five-year, $197,230,450 deal would be a massive, pricey swing for Chicago. Sure, Williamson is a sexy name, but injuries have kept him from having a sexy court presence: In his first four NBA seasons, he averaged just 46 games a year, and it’s been more (or less) of the same here in ‘24, what with his strained hammie, a boo-boo that’ll keep him sidelined until January, give or take. With a career winning percentage of .538, his NBA presence hasn’t been super-helpful, so, yeah, a massive, pricey swing.
As for the New Orleans side of things, Vooch will fill the Pels’ center-sized hole, Williams could thrive in a new home, and a first rounder, some second rounders and a few extra ducats are always a good thing. Chicago gets the sexy name, while NOLA gets the substance.