NEWSLETTER
While on-going negotiations between Nikola Vucevic and the Chicago Bulls have not yet materialized into an extension, the two sides are still expected to get a deal done.
News of the mutual interest in an extension first broke a few weeks back. And the Chicago Sun-Times elaborated on that point, expressing that a three-year deal seemed to be where the discussions were headed. HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto has now reiterated that fact and narrowed down the details (including price) even further.
“The belief among various NBA executives who spoke with HoopsHype is that Nikola Vucevic, one of the top free agents on the market, will re-sign with the Chicago Bulls. Vucevic’s projected free agency value, according to those executives, is three years in the $65 million range,” Scotto wrote.
When discussing the Sun-Times report, we guessed a deal that sat somewhere between $55-66 million. With that being the case, this number isn’t all that shocking, especially when we consider Vucevic has some decent leverage. Not only is the two-time All-Star coming off a solid bounce-back campaign, but he is the one who can – technically – choose to leave Chicago in his dust.
The Bulls have until June 30 to reach an extension with Vucevic and avoid a scenario where he enters unrestricted free agency. They can still re-sign him after that date, but there will be more competition in the water, which tends to make things more complicated.
But this all does make me wonder if Chicago is still making up their mind, especially after the recent Zach LaVine trade rumors. While it’s still more likely than not that those rumors don’t lead anywhere, we’re also about to enter one of the most chaotic times of the year. What if a shocking draft night deal pops up for LaVine or DeMar DeRozan? What if a team misses out on a key free-agent target and is suddenly interested in Vucevic?
Again, it probably shouldn’t be the expected outcome, but this is the best time of year to be flexible. The Bulls may want to keep a sign-and-trade option on the table for the big man, especially if they move on from someone like LaVine and begin a rebuild of sorts.
Anyway, as I’ve said in the past, I’ll be fine with a new Nikola Vucevic contract. While the reason shouldn’t at all be related to how much Chicago originally gave up in the trade (that’s a sunk cost), it’s normally best to keep an asset and figure out the rest later. If Vucevic is making only a little more than $20M/year, that shouldn’t be the toughest contract to trade down the road, especially if he continues to perform at a solid level.
