2025 Free Agency News/Rumors

[Dez]

The level of mental gymnastics you're doing to avoid admitting that nobody wants Vucevic is staggering.

The evidence you all keep presenting is lack of evidence, lmao! How do you prove no one wants him? Where are you all coming up with this, other than opinion? Because he hasn't moved, that means no one wants him?

Mental Gymanstics: Let's use logic. Vucevic was not on the block all last season, he went on the block near the deadline.

AK loves Nikola Vucevic. Billy Donovan loves Nikola Vucevic. Can we admit that? AK traded a boatload to get him, then gave him another $60 mill extension. Billy Donovan has started and playd Vucevic a huge amount of minutes the entirety of the time he's been here. Played him so much, "better" defensive backup centers like Drummond and Smith barely got PT many games. He started Vucevic at the end of the season.

Can we infer from there that Billy and AK are 100% fine with Vucevic and will take the defensive flaws for what he brings offensively?

Fans have been loud about wanting Vucevic gone. AK has not. Billy has not. Vucevic is expiring and 34. Would make sense to put almost any player on the block at that point. Every expiring contract on this team is on the block. There's no reason to think AK wants Vucevic gone more than any other player on this team besides Giddey, Coby, Matas, Noa.

Why would AK take a lowball offer where we gain nothing? Yes, the market is limited for a 34 year old expiring $20 mill center. Would say the market for Jrue Holiday on that contract with his last year would be extremely small, but he got moved and they got assets. I would expect AK to turn down deals some of you would take for Vucevic. He probably already has.

Just block Dez and Muzbar....It makes things so much better.

You may as well block everyone mate, I don't think anybody agrees with your AKME love.

[sco]

There are simply just limited ways to move Vuc.

- His 21M salary makes it more likely that you're taking back an expensive, long-term deal in return.
- He's 35 and his defense is a liability.
- His 3P shooting is literally up and down every year. High chance he's in for regression after shooting a career-high in 3P% last year.
- Teams are signing starting caliber centers for a lot cheaper.

He's not immovable, but there are just way too many signs that it's probably difficult to trade him. If the Bulls wanted to take back a long-term contract, I'm sure he would already be gone.

He seems like a clear buyout candidate right now.

Based on the market, he should be willing to take a $5M discount on a buyout, which would give us the full MLE to go add another useful piece. Thinking a little more about that, given the lack of teams with available cap space and who are tax payers, we may be able to get a much better player now than waiting a year for Vuc to give us more cap space.

[Indomitable]

The evidence you all keep presenting is lack of evidence, lmao! How do you prove no one wants him? Where are you all coming up with this, other than opinion? Because he hasn't moved, that means no one wants him?

Mental Gymanstics: Let's use logic. Vucevic was not on the block all last season, he went on the block near the deadline.

AK loves Nikola Vucevic. Billy Donovan loves Nikola Vucevic. Can we admit that? AK traded a boatload to get him, then gave him another $60 mill extension. Billy Donovan has started and playd Vucevic a huge amount of minutes the entirety of the time he's been here. Played him so much, "better" defensive backup centers like Drummond and Smith barely got PT many games. He started Vucevic at the end of the season.

Can we infer from there that Billy and AK are 100% fine with Vucevic and will take the defensive flaws for what he brings offensively?

Fans have been loud about wanting Vucevic gone. AK has not. Billy has not. Vucevic is expiring and 34. Would make sense to put almost any player on the block at that point. Every expiring contract on this team is on the block. There's no reason to think AK wants Vucevic gone more than any other player on this team besides Giddey, Coby, Matas, Noa.

Why would AK take a lowball offer where we gain nothing? Yes, the market is limited for a 34 year old expiring $20 mill center. Would say the market for Jrue Holiday on that contract with his last year would be extremely small, but he got moved and they got assets. I would expect AK to turn down deals some of you would take for Vucevic. He probably already has.

Just block Dez and Muzbar....It makes things so much better.

You may as well block everyone mate, I don't think anybody agrees with your AKME love.

I agree with Guru. Every since I blocked him the post have improved

[Infinity2152]

I keep coming back to the point that a lot of you are considering this addition by subtraction. AKA Vucevic is a negative asset to us so it's worth it to buy him out. I don't see it that way, and I seriously don't think AK sees it that way. Literally the only thing we'd gain by buying him out is a roster spots and we have like 5 players we could do that with for cheaper.

The Bulls aren't in any rush to get rid of Vucevic and they shouldn't be, imo. The Bulls aren't trying to be great next year anyway. Collins or Smith starting is not guaranteed to bring us more wins or help us more long term. Maybe better defense, not more wins. We haven't even had a full season of Matas next to Vucevic. Matas and Noa are the types of PF we needed next to Vuc all along, long guys who can help with shot blocking and rim protection.

Billy Donovan doesn't HAVE to start Vucevic even if he's here next year. Unless Smith is a long term starter level player, and we play to keep him, isn't who starts at center pretty irrelevant between these three guys?

[GoBlue72391]

Just block Dez and Muzbar....It makes things so much better.

You may as well block everyone mate, I don't think anybody agrees with your AKME love.

I agree with Guru. Every since I blocked him the post have improved

I've never blocked anyone. I couldn't imagine being so sensitive, and Dez and Muzbar aren't exactly at the top of my troll suspects list lol

Guru I'm almost certain is a troll. "AKME don't miss."

[Indomitable]

You may as well block everyone mate, I don't think anybody agrees with your AKME love.

I agree with Guru. Every since I blocked him the post have improved

I've never blocked anyone. I couldn't imagine being so sensitive, and Dez and Muzbar aren't exactly at the top of my troll suspects list lol

Guru I'm almost certain is a troll. "AKME don't miss."

That's my point.

Dez has good or bad points. Still there is a reason behind it.

I do not need to agree but I enjoy intelligent discussions

[GoBlue72391]

I keep coming back to the point that a lot of you are considering this addition by subtraction. AKA Vucevic is a negative asset to us so it's worth it to buy him out. I don't see it that way, and I seriously don't think AK sees it that way. Literally the only thing we'd gain by buying him out is a roster spots and we have like 5 players we could do that with for cheaper.

The Bulls aren't in any rush to get rid of Vucevic and they shouldn't be, imo. The Bulls aren't trying to be great next year anyway. Collins or Smith starting is not guaranteed to bring us more wins or help us more long term. Maybe better defense, not more wins. We haven't even had a full season of Matas next to Vucevic. Matas and Noa are the types of PF we needed next to Vuc all along, long guys who can help with shot blocking and rim protection.

Billy Donovan doesn't HAVE to start Vucevic even if he's here next year. Unless Smith is a long term starter level player, and we play to keep him, isn't who starts at center pretty irrelevant between these three guys?

It's just his defense. It's so bad that getting rid of him would literally be addition by subtraction. Maybe if we had an elite defensive 4 next to him it wouldn't be so bad, but even then I don't know. Or if we brought him off the bench as a super sub I think that would be manageable.

By the time Matas and Essengue develop into the kind of defensive PF Vuc needs next to him, Vuc will retired or way declined.

His offense fluctuates between fine and pretty damn good. I've grown to like him over the years, it's just that his defense is actually worse than advertised.

[Dominator83]

Milwaukee has messed up one of the best situations in the league. They have Giannis. That trade for Lillard cost them Jrue Holiday, an unprotected first, two swaps, and now they have Lillard as $22 mill dead money for the next 5 years. Replaced Middleton with Kuzma. The Myles Turner upgrade is nice, but $22 mill dead money for 5 years is legit crazy in Milwaukee. Went from a core of Jrue, Middleton, Giannis, Lopez to Giannis, Kuzma, Turner, three bigs. With dead money.

Oh yeah I totally agree despite these moves they are still fkd. After they start underperforming again Giannis will finally ask out, they will get a few picks back and we won’t hear about Milwaukee again for another 20 years.

JJJ getting supermax looks almost as bad. And losing Bane at the same time? Best player is Ja Morant's unstable ***. We complain about AK, but teams with actual top 10-15 players are making much worse moves, imo. Memphis had enough talent to really contend with the right moves.

Phoenix crashing out for years. Just trade Coby/Vucevic for Jalen Green/ re-signed Bol Bol and call it a day.

Liked everything but the very last sentence. We just had watched years of the Zach Lavine experience. And you wanna trade for a poor man's Zach Lavine?!

[Infinity2152]

Yeah, as long as guys don't get personal, we can disagree all day. I'm going to just say this.

We trade Vucevic. We're very likely starting Collins. Career 8pts, 5rb 33% 3pt shooter who had a nice run at the end of the season. Where he averaged a whopping 8.6 pts, 6.7 rbs with .5 blocks on 30% 3pt shooting in 20 mins.

The "upgrade" we get trading Vuc is to start a guy who's not much better defensively and a worse scorer, rebounder and shooter. Who's also expiring and not in our long term plans. Imagine we lose more games if we trade Vucevic and get nothing back, if that's the goal.

Don't see much difference whether it's Collins or Vucevic that gets moved. we're also losing 4.4 3pt attempts a gm, though maybe Collins picks some of them up with this worse shooting.

[GoBlue72391]

Yeah, as long as guys don't get personal, we can disagree all day. I'm going to just say this.

We trade Vucevic. We're very likely starting Collins. Career 8pts, 5rb 33% 3pt shooter who had a nice run at the end of the season. Where he averaged a whopping 8.6 pts, 6.7 rbs with .5 blocks on 30% 3pt shooting in 20 mins.

The "upgrade" we get trading Vuc is to start a guy who's not much better defensively and a worse scorer, rebounder and shooter. Who's also expiring and not in our long term plans. Imagine we lose more games if we trade Vucevic and get nothing back, if that's the goal.

Getting worse in the short term isn't a bad thing for a rebuilding team. But regardless, I think we lose more games due to Vuc's D than W due to his offense.

[jnrjr79]

There are simply just limited ways to move Vuc.

- His 21M salary makes it more likely that you're taking back an expensive, long-term deal in return.
- He's 35 and his defense is a liability.
- His 3P shooting is literally up and down every year. High chance he's in for regression after shooting a career-high in 3P% last year.
- Teams are signing starting caliber centers for a lot cheaper.

He's not immovable, but there are just way too many signs that it's probably difficult to trade him. If the Bulls wanted to take back a long-term contract, I'm sure he would already be gone.

He seems like a clear buyout candidate right now.

Yeah, IMO the long-term money thing is the issue at this point. Nobody is going to trade you a player you are probably interested in long-term for Vooch. What they might do is trade long-term salary you don’t really want and attach a pick. The Bulls seem to be trying to avoid salary commitments beyond this season. That makes it tough to do a deal. I think Vooch can be moved, but maybe not on terms the Bulls would prefer to simply letting him expire/buying him out. But I doubt they consider a buyout during the offseason - they probably wait until the deadline to see if some team has an injury at C and would take Vooch off their hands for a return the Bulls want.

[Muzbar]

You may as well block everyone mate, I don't think anybody agrees with your AKME love.

I agree with Guru. Every since I blocked him the post have improved

I've never blocked anyone. I couldn't imagine being so sensitive, and Dez and Muzbar aren't exactly at the top of my troll suspects list lol

Guru I'm almost certain is a troll. "AKME don't miss."

The problem with people blocking you is you can still see what they post. I was hoping when I was blocked I wouldn't have to see the dribble.

But alas.

Seems I've made Indomitable's block list also. Life goes on.

[Indomitable]

I agree with Guru. Every since I blocked him the post have improved

I've never blocked anyone. I couldn't imagine being so sensitive, and Dez and Muzbar aren't exactly at the top of my troll suspects list lol

Guru I'm almost certain is a troll. "AKME don't miss."

The problem with people blocking you is you can still see what they post. I was hoping when I was blocked I wouldn't have to see the dribble.

But alas.

Seems I've made Indomitable's block list also. Life goes on.

I was talking to Dez and I was not talking about you.
My point is use the foe list is a personal thing. If personal insults were flying sure. Still it was an unnecessary original statement.

Still who cares. Have a good day.

[Muzbar]

Anyways back to the topic at hand:

Pistons acquired Duncan Robinson via S&T and will send Simone Fontecchio to Miami.

3/48m

[jnrjr79]

I keep coming back to the point that a lot of you are considering this addition by subtraction. AKA Vucevic is a negative asset to us so it's worth it to buy him out. I don't see it that way, and I seriously don't think AK sees it that way. Literally the only thing we'd gain by buying him out is a roster spots and we have like 5 players we could do that with for cheaper.

The Bulls aren't in any rush to get rid of Vucevic and they shouldn't be, imo. The Bulls aren't trying to be great next year anyway. Collins or Smith starting is not guaranteed to bring us more wins or help us more long term. Maybe better defense, not more wins. We haven't even had a full season of Matas next to Vucevic. Matas and Noa are the types of PF we needed next to Vuc all along, long guys who can help with shot blocking and rim protection.

Billy Donovan doesn't HAVE to start Vucevic even if he's here next year. Unless Smith is a long term starter level player, and we play to keep him, isn't who starts at center pretty irrelevant between these three guys?

I don’t think AK will buy Vooch out either, but the one other thing you gain beyond the roster spots is minutes for Smith, which you might want for fit reasons, for defensive reasons, etc. I think that might actually lead to more wins next season, but I’d also say next season’s wins don’t matter and may frankly be bad. Given all the salary set to expire after next season, the best outcome for next season might be to be kinda bad (they won’t be THAT bad given the roster), have one more lottery pick, and then make a playoff push in ‘26-‘27.

[Infinity2152]

Yeah, as long as guys don't get personal, we can disagree all day. I'm going to just say this.

We trade Vucevic. We're very likely starting Collins. Career 8pts, 5rb 33% 3pt shooter who had a nice run at the end of the season. Where he averaged a whopping 8.6 pts, 6.7 rbs with .5 blocks on 30% 3pt shooting in 20 mins.

The "upgrade" we get trading Vuc is to start a guy who's not much better defensively and a worse scorer, rebounder and shooter. Who's also expiring and not in our long term plans. Imagine we lose more games if we trade Vucevic and get nothing back, if that's the goal.

Getting worse in the short term isn't a bad thing for a rebuilding team. But regardless, I think we lose more games due to Vuc's D than W due to his offense.

I get that. I just disagree. And because the team dynamics have changed, we'll never know. Could we have won more games with better defense without the 18 pts, 11rbs, 4-5 assts, 4 3pt attempts? Maybe, maybe not. There's a difference between a better looking game or team and actually getting more wins, which is what I'm more concerned about usually.

The grass is always greener on the other side, and you don't miss a good thing until it's gone. Vucevic has been remarkably healthy and consistent. Hell of a lot of centers miss a ton of games. AK knew exactly what he was looking to get from Vucevic when he traded for him, and he's pretty much delivered. Personally, I would have put a shot blocking, rim protecting PF next to him years ago and taken advantages of Vuc's positives while minimizing the negatives. Playing a bunch of 6'5 PF's or Patrick Williams isn't really helping with that defense, lmao!

[Guru]

I agree with Guru. Every since I blocked him the post have improved

I've never blocked anyone. I couldn't imagine being so sensitive, and Dez and Muzbar aren't exactly at the top of my troll suspects list lol

Guru I'm almost certain is a troll. "AKME don't miss."

That's my point.

Dez has good or bad points. Still there is a reason behind it.

I do not need to agree but I enjoy intelligent discussions

Also block Goblue. Those guys are all negative all the time. Those are the 3 I have blocked. I'm not sensitive, I just don't need negativity all the time.

[Guru]

I agree with Guru. Every since I blocked him the post have improved

I've never blocked anyone. I couldn't imagine being so sensitive, and Dez and Muzbar aren't exactly at the top of my troll suspects list lol

Guru I'm almost certain is a troll. "AKME don't miss."

The problem with people blocking you is you can still see what they post. I was hoping when I was blocked I wouldn't have to see the dribble.

But alas.

Seems I've made Indomitable's block list also. Life goes on.

I think you meant drivel.

[GoBlue72391]

I've never blocked anyone. I couldn't imagine being so sensitive, and Dez and Muzbar aren't exactly at the top of my troll suspects list lol

Guru I'm almost certain is a troll. "AKME don't miss."

That's my point.

Dez has good or bad points. Still there is a reason behind it.

I do not need to agree but I enjoy intelligent discussions

Also block Goblue. Those guys are all negative all the time. Those are the 3 I have blocked. I'm not sensitive, I just don't need negativity all the time.

I consider myself a realist.

[Dominator83]

Anyways back to the topic at hand:

Pistons acquired Duncan Robinson via S&T and will send Simone Fontecchio to Miami.

3/48m

Jesus. Is Duncan Robinson really worth double Tre Jones salary?!