The Chicago Bulls made a win-now move ahead of the 2021 NBA trade deadline when the team a pair of draft picks, Wendell Carter Jr., and Otto Porter into Nikola Vucevic. While it did not lead to the team making the playoffs last year, Vucevic was part of the team that made it to the postseason during the 2021-22 campaign.
Of course, Vucevic was not perfect by any stretch — his offense took a bit of a step back compared to what he did in Orlando en route to two All-Star nods, while Chicago’s issues on defense magnified the fact that he’s not exactly a standout on that end of the floor. He came under criticism from Bulls fans, who want to see more out of him as he enters the final year of his contract.
Time will tell what happens there, but apparently, Chicago doesn’t want 2022-23 to be the final year of his tenure. According to Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times, the two sides are aligned about Vucevic sticking around beyond this year.
And not only is he still with the Bulls, but a source said both sides want him to stay with the team beyond the last year of his contract this coming season and will have initial discussions on what that might look like when training camp begins in the fall.
Vucevic averaged 17.6 points, 11 rebounds, and 3.2 assists in 33.1 minutes per game last year while connecting on 47.3 percent of his attempts from the field and shooting 31.4 percent from three. His scoring output and three-point accuracy were his lowest marks in each stat since the 2017-18 campaign.