The Chicago Bulls are expected to be highly active around the February 8 trade deadline. Nikola Vucevic, DeMar DeRozan, and Zach LaVine have all been linked with potential trades away from Chicago. Many expect the front office to begin re-tooling or rebuilding the roster; a slow start to the new season has given those rumors additional life.
However, finding willing trade partners for multiple star-level talents isn’t easy, especially when you’re trying to get fair value in return. Furthermore, trying to negotiate those deals mid-way through the season is even harder, as most teams are unwilling to part with core rotation players this deep into the basketball calendar.
Nevertheless, there’s expected to be significant interest in LaVine and DeRozan. Interestingly, there will likely be a robust trade market for Alex Caruso, too, should the Bulls decide to make him available. However, Vucevic’s market seems far less robust. As such, Bleacher Report’s Andy Bailey has proposed a trade that would utilize Caruso’s trade interest while ensuring Vucevic is part of the deal for salary-matching purposes.
The trade package
Here is the full outline of Bailey’s proposed trade:
Golden State Warriors receive: Nikola Vucevic and Alex Caruso.
Chicago Bulls receive: Chris Paul, a 2026 first-round pick, and a 2028 first-round pick.
Bailey's reasoning
During his article proposing the potential trade, Bailey provided some reasoning as to why he believes the deal would make sense for both the Bulls and the Warriors.
“The opportunity to unload Nikola Vučević’s contract (he’s on the books for $41.5 million over the two seasons after this one) would have to be enticing, too,” Bailey wrote. “For the Warriors, a team in desperate need of size and rebounding, Vučević makes more sense than he does for the Bulls. His passing ability could also be reminiscent of what Andrew Bogut once provided near the height of the dynasty.
…CP3’s contract would also add some flexibility. His $30 million salary for 2024-25 is completely non-guaranteed, making him essentially an expiring contract.”
Would the Bulls make the trade?
Moving on from Nikola Vucevic’s contract is going to be a difficult task for the Bulls front office. Getting fair value in return will be almost impossible. However, by including Caruso in the deal, the Bulls could get a legendary floor general for the remainder of the season before shedding over $30 million in salary heading into the offseason.
Paul would help keep the Bulls competitive in the short term and ensure the franchise has plenty of opportunity to re-tool once the season has concluded. Securing two first-round picks for Vucevic would also be a solid return and could be the start of Chicago’s effort to begin stacking draft assets.
No deal involving Vucevic will be perfect. However, this is probably as close as you’re going to get for Chicago.
