Vucevic Trade Watch 2025

[drosestruts]

So starved from basketball content I'm watching highlights of Vuc (and Marko Simonivic) vs France

Watch on YouTube

[sco]

So starved from basketball content I'm watching highlights of Vuc (and Marko Simonivic) vs France

Watch on YouTube

oof...I'm totally starved for basketball, and yet I can't bring myself to watch those two. Thanks anyway!

[drosestruts]

So starved from basketball content I'm watching highlights of Vuc (and Marko Simonivic) vs France

Watch on YouTube

oof...I'm totally starved for basketball, and yet I can't bring myself to watch those two. Thanks anyway!

Are you sure you don't want to watch Alex Sarr score 19 points in only 13 minutes of playing? You'll never guess who was "guarding" him

[sco]

So starved from basketball content I'm watching highlights of Vuc (and Marko Simonivic) vs France

Watch on YouTube

oof...I'm totally starved for basketball, and yet I can't bring myself to watch those two. Thanks anyway!

Are you sure you don't want to watch Alex Sarr score 19 points in only 13 minutes of playing? You'll never guess who was "guarding" him

[TheJordanRule]

Why can't we EVER get a rim running, rim defending, agile center on this stupid roster? How hard is it to make such an obvious change? I'm sick of this need constantly getting ignored. Keep Vuce. That's fine. But don't pretend he's a core guy or even a starter at this point. How many more years need to go by before even a LICK of sense gets demonstrated in this regard? Why TF did we drop Daniel Gafford again?

[Ccwatercraft]

So starved from basketball content I'm watching highlights of Vuc (and Marko Simonivic) vs France

Watch on YouTube

oof...I'm totally starved for basketball, and yet I can't bring myself to watch those two. Thanks anyway!

Hardwood.classics did a utah/chi finals game from way.back, that was pretty fun.

[Michael Jackson]

Why can't we EVER get a rim running, rim defending, agile center on this stupid roster? How hard is it to make such an obvious change? I'm sick of this need constantly getting ignored. Keep Vuce. That's fine. But don't pretend he's a core guy or even a starter at this point. How many more years need to go by before even a LICK of sense gets demonstrated in this regard? Why TF did we drop Daniel Gafford again?

He was traded in part to get rid of Gafford and take a flyer on Troy Brown Jr with that trade and not trading for Vuc we could have been the team with both Wagner’s.

[kodo]

Why can't we EVER get a rim running, rim defending, agile center on this stupid roster? How hard is it to make such an obvious change? I'm sick of this need constantly getting ignored. Keep Vuce. That's fine. But don't pretend he's a core guy or even a starter at this point. How many more years need to go by before even a LICK of sense gets demonstrated in this regard? Why TF did we drop Daniel Gafford again?

Bulls were losing a lot and all the bigs (Lauri, Gafford, Wendell) took the blunt of the blame, all were shipped out.
And TBH, a lot of fans blamed those 3 guys as well even though IMO all 3 were doing their job well.

[sco]

Well there goes the season.

Per WT:

"The Bulls' GM (Marc Eversley), who had contacted me after all the rumors about me, confirmed that nothing was true and that everything we had said to each other after the season was still relevant," Vucevic said. "I knew it but it's always nice when your GM contacts you to tell you."

When asked if he expects to start the season with Chicago, Vucevic said "Yes, I have almost no doubt about it" but acknowledged he doesn't know where the season will take him. As for speculation about a potential buyout, Vucevic said he doesn't get caught up in rumors.

[Red8911]

Well there goes the season.

Per WT:

"The Bulls' GM (Marc Eversley), who had contacted me after all the rumors about me, confirmed that nothing was true and that everything we had said to each other after the season was still relevant," Vucevic said. "I knew it but it's always nice when your GM contacts you to tell you."

When asked if he expects to start the season with Chicago, Vucevic said "Yes, I have almost no doubt about it" but acknowledged he doesn't know where the season will take him. As for speculation about a potential buyout, Vucevic said he doesn't get caught up in rumors.

Why there goes the season ? This doesn’t mean anything he could still get traded but even if he doesn’t it’s really not the end of the world.

If they don’t find a trade that makes sense then I don’t mind keeping him another year. They should cut his min a bit so Collins and/or Smith can also get their time.The way I see it having these 3 centers is actually a strength.

I’m glad that Vuc still has a positive attitude despite the situation he’s in. Still shows up every night, does what he does and never stopped being a true professional. Much respect to him.

When there were rumors about him getting bought out,top European teams were rumored to want him. They wish they can have Vucevic and here we are on the Bulls board treating him like a scrub lol.

[sco]

Well there goes the season.

Per WT:

"The Bulls' GM (Marc Eversley), who had contacted me after all the rumors about me, confirmed that nothing was true and that everything we had said to each other after the season was still relevant," Vucevic said. "I knew it but it's always nice when your GM contacts you to tell you."

When asked if he expects to start the season with Chicago, Vucevic said "Yes, I have almost no doubt about it" but acknowledged he doesn't know where the season will take him. As for speculation about a potential buyout, Vucevic said he doesn't get caught up in rumors.

Why there goes the season ? This doesn’t mean anything he could still get traded but even if he doesn’t it’s really not the end of the world.

If they don’t find a trade that makes sense then I don’t mind keeping him another year. They should cut his min a bit so Collins and/or Smith can also get their time.The way I see it having these 3 centers is actually a strength.

I’m glad that Vuc still has a positive attitude despite the situation he’s in. Still shows up every night, does what he does and never stopped being a true professional. Much respect to him.

When there were rumors about him getting bought out,top European teams were rumored to want him. They wish they can have Vucevic and here we are on the Bulls board treating him like a scrub lol.

I understand others feel differently. Here's my POV:

1) Defensively, Vuc is the worst starting C in the NBA, providing little to stop opponents' from having a free-pass to the rim and lacks the ability to close out on 3pt shooters. This not only has a direct impact, but indirectly, our other guys look worse defensively because they need to hedge toward covering the paint that Vuc doesn't. This has a broader negative impact for this season because we are evaluating whether Coby can work with this team going forward. We all know that Coby's defense has also been bad, but keeping Vuc as our starting C, may make Coby continue to seem bad on defense, where perhaps it would have otherwise been acceptable...this could lead to us letting Coby walk, wrongly.

2) Vuc's offensive game is heavily geared toward acting as a hub and getting a lot of touches, many of which turn into shots. IMO, the most important thing this team can do this season is develop Matas into an offensive playmaker. Vuc's continued heavy involvement on offense will essentially keep Matas relegated to be our 4th option, where he should have plays run for him on offense a lot more, and this will stunt his growth.

Your comment about Euro teams wanting him, I'm sorry, but that's akin to saying that middle-school girls teams are interested...Sure, he sucks as an NBA starter and is a horrible fit with this team, but he's worlds better than that league. In fact, he'd be a great bench player, which is what he'd be on every other team, but that transition won't happen here (out of "respect").

[drosestruts]

I also don't like Vuc but he's a better starting center than anyone currently on:

Boston
Indiana
Charlotte
Golden State
New Orleans
Washington
Lakers
Phoenix


This isn't really praise for Vuc. He probably costs more than any of the centers on teams listed above, and in many cases by a wide margin. So there's certainly a cost/benefit to value measure here.

But in terms of just straight up playing basketball, as bad as he is, he's better than what those 8 teams have.

[Muzbar]

Well there goes the season.

Per WT:

"The Bulls' GM (Marc Eversley), who had contacted me after all the rumors about me, confirmed that nothing was true and that everything we had said to each other after the season was still relevant," Vucevic said. "I knew it but it's always nice when your GM contacts you to tell you."

When asked if he expects to start the season with Chicago, Vucevic said "Yes, I have almost no doubt about it" but acknowledged he doesn't know where the season will take him. As for speculation about a potential buyout, Vucevic said he doesn't get caught up in rumors.

Let's be honest.

Vucevic was never going to be traded or bought out before the season, for multiple reasons.

What happens at/after the deadline, however, that will be interesting. They may do a Lonzo with him...

[kodo]

If he's decent or terrible (I don't think anyone thinks he's great) largely depends on how much you weight his offense vs his defense.
For me, there is only 1 player on the floor that can realistically defend the rim every play, the center. It's the goalie of the NBA, and all the other skills like 3P shooting or assist making can be done better by the other 4 players while the goalie is the only one who can realistically defend the rim on every possession. So a goalie who might shoot 3s OK and reads plays enough to make a couple of assists but completely fails at doing his job of protecting the rim, is still a bad goalie. The only exception we've seen is Joker who may be the best offensive C in the history of the game.

In terms of the 1 job that only the C can do, rim protection, Vuc is near bottom of the league. Against a pool of 54 players who could reasonably play center (6' 10" +) and have played at least 40 games, Vuc ranked 50th.

Spoiler:

Rank Last Name DFG%
1 Gafford 47.5
2 Clingan 49.5
3 Wembanyama 50.0
4 Porziņģis 51.5
5 Gobert 51.9
6 Kornet 52.2
7 Sims 53.3
8 Jackson 54.0
9 Hayes 54.0
10 Kessler 54.8
11 Eubanks 55.8
12 Capela 56.0
13 Richards 56.0
14 Hartenstein 56.3
15 Adams 56.5
16 Zubac 56.7
17 Matković 56.9
18 Davis 57.0
19 Mobley 57.0
20 Collins 57.0
21 Huff 57.1
22 Carter 57.2
23 Edey 57.6
24 Turner 57.7
25 Bryant 58.2
26 Bitadze 58.3
27 Sengun 58.5
28 Post 58.5
29 Lopez 58.6
30 Claxton 58.7
31 Robinson 59.1
32 Okongwu 60.2
33 Powell 60.4
34 Poeltl 60.5
35 Plumlee 60.8
36 Missi 60.9
37 Queta 61.4
38 Nurkić 61.6
39 Sarr 62.2
40 Duren 62.3
41 Markkanen 62.3
42 Ware 62.8
43 Olynyk 63.2
44 Len 64.0
45 Sabonis 64.6
46 Landale 64.9
47 Jordan 65.1
48 Williams 65.1
49 Aldama 67.3
50 Vučević 67.8
51 Valančiūnas 68.1
52 Towns 69.7
53 Jokić 70.0
54 Filipowski 70.1

People point to Sengun as an example of how Vuc could anchor a successful defense, Sengun is 27th. He's far above Vuc in rim protection and closer to Myles Turner.

The worst part of Vuc's lack of rim protection isn't even giving up layups/dunks/floaters, it's that Donvoan enables this by creating a defensive scheme that collapses our perimeter defenders into the paint to help since Vuc isn't doing his job, leaving the 3P line wide open.

Bulls opponent 3PA rank:
2025: 27th
2024: 30th
2023: 29th
(and two of those years we had Alex Caruso)

How are you pretending to be a playoff team in 2025 with a defensive strategy that allows open shots from the 3P line, when everyone in the league is all about making as many 3s as possible? On successful teams the job of stopping shots in the paint goes to the C, allowing the other 4 players to defend the perimeter.

[drosestruts]

If he's decent or terrible (I don't think anyone thinks he's great) largely depends on how much you weight his offense vs his defense.
For me, there is only 1 player on the floor that can realistically defend the rim every play, the center. It's the goalie of the NBA, and all the other skills like 3P shooting or assist making can be done better by the other 4 players while the goalie is the only one who can realistically defend the rim on every possession. So a goalie who might shoot 3s OK and reads plays enough to make a couple of assists but completely fails at doing his job of protecting the rim, is still a bad goalie. The only exception we've seen is Joker who may be the best offensive C in the history of the game.

In terms of the 1 job that only the C can do, rim protection, Vuc is near bottom of the league. Against a pool of 54 players who could reasonably play center (6' 10" +) and have played at least 40 games, Vuc ranked 50th.

Spoiler:

Rank Last Name DFG%
1 Gafford 47.5
2 Clingan 49.5
3 Wembanyama 50.0
4 Porziņģis 51.5
5 Gobert 51.9
6 Kornet 52.2
7 Sims 53.3
8 Jackson 54.0
9 Hayes 54.0
10 Kessler 54.8
11 Eubanks 55.8
12 Capela 56.0
13 Richards 56.0
14 Hartenstein 56.3
15 Adams 56.5
16 Zubac 56.7
17 Matković 56.9
18 Davis 57.0
19 Mobley 57.0
20 Collins 57.0
21 Huff 57.1
22 Carter 57.2
23 Edey 57.6
24 Turner 57.7
25 Bryant 58.2
26 Bitadze 58.3
27 Sengun 58.5
28 Post 58.5
29 Lopez 58.6
30 Claxton 58.7
31 Robinson 59.1
32 Okongwu 60.2
33 Powell 60.4
34 Poeltl 60.5
35 Plumlee 60.8
36 Missi 60.9
37 Queta 61.4
38 Nurkić 61.6
39 Sarr 62.2
40 Duren 62.3
41 Markkanen 62.3
42 Ware 62.8
43 Olynyk 63.2
44 Len 64.0
45 Sabonis 64.6
46 Landale 64.9
47 Jordan 65.1
48 Williams 65.1
49 Aldama 67.3
50 Vučević 67.8
51 Valančiūnas 68.1
52 Towns 69.7
53 Jokić 70.0
54 Filipowski 70.1

People point to Sengun as an example of how Vuc could anchor a successful defense, Sengun is 27th. He's far above Vuc in rim protection and closer to Myles Turner.

The worst part of Vuc's lack of rim protection isn't even giving up layups/dunks/floaters, it's that Donvoan enables this by creating a defensive scheme that collapses our perimeter defenders into the paint to help since Vuc isn't doing his job, leaving the 3P line wide open.

Bulls opponent 3PA rank:
2025: 27th
2024: 30th
2023: 29th
(and two of those years we had Alex Caruso)

How are you pretending to be a playoff team in 2025 with a defensive strategy that allows open shots from the 3P line, when everyone in the league is all about making as many 3s as possible? On successful teams the job of stopping shots in the paint goes to the C, allowing the other 4 players to defend the perimeter.

If you're using a stat to prove Vuc is bad, but that stat says Jaxson Hayes is the 9th best in the league - i'm gonna have some issues with the stat.

Granted Vuc is bad.

Jaxson Hayes is just even worse.

[ChettheJet]

I also don't like Vuc but he's a better starting center than anyone currently on:

Boston
Indiana
Charlotte
Golden State
New Orleans
Washington
Lakers
Phoenix


This isn't really praise for Vuc. He probably costs more than any of the centers on teams listed above, and in many cases by a wide margin. So there's certainly a cost/benefit to value measure here.

But in terms of just straight up playing basketball, as bad as he is, he's better than what those 8 teams have.

You may be right on who could use Vucevic, even to start. BUT the major issue in moving him is the $21M they have to take back in salary. It's not going to be one guy and right now the Bulls have Vuc as an expiring contract, no team is going to offer helpful future talent for him, the Bulls don't want to take back just any 2 guys with 2 years to go on their deals. What any of those teams have to offer is the hangup for almost any trade.

[samwana]

I'm even more on the buy him out train after signing Giddey. Just let him stay in Europe after the Eurobasket tourney. He may not be that bad as a player perse, but he is that bad for the development if our young players and that is more important. Just let go. We don't want a pouting old center as a bad influence on our young players. He may get another chance somewhere else and play well, so what, we need to develop Matas, Noa, Coby, Giddey and see what we have in Collins and Smith.
Let go if the old DDR, LaVine, Vuc, Lonzo era. He's the last one left, let him go as well.

[MrSparkle]

Could send him with Carter for Anfernee Simons (Boston)… add another guard (yay), direct competition for Coby. Creates a roster spot.

Same (expiring) salaries, I believe.

[GuardianEnzo]

I'm even more on the buy him out train after signing Giddey. Just let him stay in Europe after the Eurobasket tourney. He may not be that bad as a player perse, but he is that bad for the development if our young players and that is more important. Just let go. We don't want a pouting old center as a bad influence on our young players. He may get another chance somewhere else and play well, so what, we need to develop Matas, Noa, Coby, Giddey and see what we have in Collins and Smith.
Let go if the old DDR, LaVine, Vuc, Lonzo era. He's the last one left, let him go as well.

Not that I wouldn't rather see other guys get Vuc's minutes, but when has there ever been any indication that he was pouting or a bad influence on younger players?

[dougthonus]

Not that I wouldn't rather see other guys get Vuc's minutes, but when has there ever been any indication that he was pouting or a bad influence on younger players?

There have been many instances where people felt he was pouting on the court. When he signed his extension, he talked about part of the negotiation being increasing his role. I don't know that it goes so far as being a bad influence though. I've never really heard that. Also, it seemed like post deadline he and Donovan had a sit down about his role, and he agreed to change it.

I don't think Vuc is a disruptive guy by any stretch, and he may have adapted into what the team wants now, but previously he definitely was constantly looking to expand his usage.