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I propose the following trade which will keep the team under the aprons and help get the max rookie extension for Paolo Banchero next year in addition to this year firm up the front court until Moe Wagner gets back. The trade is as follows:

Magic get : Chicago Bulls Nikola Vucevic with a salary of $21,481,481
Bulls get : Jonathan Isaac with a salary of $15,000,000 and Jett Howard with a salary of $5,529,506

Vucevic has one year left on his contract for 2025/26
Isaac has a contract guaranteed till the end of 2028/29
Jett Howard has guaranteed for only 2025/26

The Magic could rent Vucevic for one year and with the one year rental on Tyus Jones at $7,000,000 that would open up the team salary for an extra $27,000,000 to help with the Max contract to Banchero. The team eliminates the salaries of both Jonathan Isaac and Jett Howard. Isaac is injury prone and Howard did not work out as expected. This also allows for a decision to keep either Tyus jones or Vucevic next year. The salaries match for the trade to happen as well.

why would chicago do this though and take on isaac's partial guarantee next year

ps welcome to the board

Welcome to the Boards!

Please review the sticky at the top of the forum. One of our rules is you have to give reasons why every team involved would make a trade. You covered Orlando in detail, but gave no reasons why Chicago should make this trade. Please edit them into the OP.

The Bulls have no need or room for Howard to show what you think he can do

Isaac has two problems, he's signed for 4 more years, the Bulls have Buzelis to be the PF going forward, Patrick Williams still around and just drafted Essengue. The other is in 8 seasons he's played 71 games twice, and ZERO games twice. The Magic signed a 4 year gamble the Bulls don't have to bail them out of it

On-court, I'm intrigued for ORL...but trading a useful player for an expiring older player might create a problem in a year. ORL will be on a financial razor's edge for years, so it's not as simple as using Vuc's expiring salary to find a free agent next summer...they won't have cap space even if Vuc leaves and, likely, won't even have access to an MLE.

I don't think they would extend Vuc on trade day either, given his age (possible decline) and his fit, especially defensively, might not work out.

Interesting though...if those future concerns can be addressed.

The Bulls aren't screwing up their flexibility for next year to bring in a young player that hasn't any signs of developing into a good player.

I wouldn't want CHI taking on Isaac's contract and Howard hasn't shown anything to make that worth it. I'd rather CHI let Vuc expire.

facothomas22 wrote:The Bulls aren't screwing up their flexibility for next year to bring in a young player that hasn't any signs of developing into a good player.

If that's the issue - he's not guaranteed anything beyond this coming season. It's a free look...but, of course, there may be better alternatives.

Why the Bulls ? The Bulls recently rid themselves of Zach Lavine and Demar derozan which were two of the three players that were brought in to win now and Vucevic was the only one left from that trio. The Bulls did not extend his current contract which means they are looking to move on from him as well the end of this season. Yes, Jett Howard has not proven himself but that may be because of not enough minutes were given him to prove himself and the Bulls are in rebuild mode now so they are open to their own rookies to try and prove their worth. Jonathan Isaac just came back from an extended injury period so it he may just need more time to get back to where he was before the injury. The Magic extended his contract so they believe in him by that action. This works out for both teams for their situations. One in win now mode and ready to give out a rookie max payout next season and the other in a rebuild mode.

Thank you and I appreciate your thoughts and answers.

I like this for the Bulls, less so for Orlando, but if it's time to move on from Isaac, Banchero does need to get paid soon.