THE The Chicago Bulls have finally decided to stop living in denial. Earlier in the offseason, they faced the fact that reconstruction is necessary to end the cycle of mediocrity they’ve been in for the past few seasons, and as a result, they traded Alex Caruso to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Josh Giddey, then let DeMar DeRozan go to the Sacramento Kings in free agency via a sign-and-trade.
But it doesn’t appear the Bulls are done making moves. They still have a few veteran players on the roster who could help winning teams, like Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic. But at this point, Vucevic is already completely numb to his involvement in the trade rumors, as it appears he hasn’t been off the trading block in quite some time.
“I mean, honestly, I’ve gotten used to it at this point. Since I’ve been with the Bulls, I’ve been in a lot of trade stories, especially last summer and throughout last season. So it’s part of the game,” Vucevic said in an interview with NBA insider Marc Stein.
Nikola Vucevic acknowledged that being a 33-year-old veteran on a rebuilding team makes him a magnet for trade rumors. The Bulls, of course, didn’t anticipate things going the way they have the past two seasons. Losing Lonzo Ball was the Beginning of the end for Chicagobecause they couldn’t get back to being a consistent winning team after his knee problems.
“As I said before, if everything was going well, if we were winning and everything was going well, this would not be the case. But since things were not going so well, we were not winning and we were not achieving our goals, it is obvious that change is inevitable,” Vucevic added.
But in the end, it’s all about business for Vucevic, and nothing would surprise him anymore. After all, change is part of the nature of the NBA.
“Honestly, I know that’s a pretty basic answer, but you don’t have a lot of control over that, so you wait and see. If they decide to change and trade me, that’s on them. Just like a year and a half ago, I was a free agent and I could have chosen to go somewhere else. That’s just how this business works and now we’ll see.”
Can Bulls center Nikola Vucevic still contribute to winning basketball?
Related NewsThe article continues below
Over the past decade, Nikola Vucevic has been one of the most consistent double-double threats in the entire association. But Vucevic’s style of play hasn’t exactly led to much success. The Orlando Magic have been a fringe playoff team for most of his tenure, which is why it was a bit disconcerting when the Bulls traded a plethora of quality assets — including Wendell Carter Jr. and the draft pick that became Franz Wagner — for the Montenegrin big man.
Vucevic is in clear decline; as with Zach LaVine, the Bulls may not get many, if any, assets in exchange for the 33-year-old big man. The Memphis Grizzlies could be the most logical business partner for Vucevic, as they have Jaren Jackson Jr. to help fill any potential gaps Vucevic may have defensively.
