Bulls can't move off Nikola Vucevic
Wrapping up the rest of the 2025 NBA trade deadline
Chicago’s basketball crime wasn’t biffing some single, stellar move to wash Nikola Vucevic off the books, away from the club, adrift from memory.
Chicago’s problem is the staging. NBA fans understand how to put NBA teams together. Acting the role of general manager is hard but deducing the best five guys to a side is not. Some of them have short arms and don’t play defense, Bulls fans can see which one. He’s the tallest one.
This is why Bulls fans want to see Chicago’s front office flipping, rather than flapping. The duty of a rebuilding squad is to eventually exchange paperclips for pretty good players, repeatedly trading up and around. Continually turning over the best at the table until the table grows into a stall and before ya know it, a whole corner of the market. Where everyone gathers.
This means meeting whichever potential client pops up halfway, identifying a give in their need and a pointlessness in treating every potential trade partner the same. They’re not the same, every instance is different. This is why there is strength in momentum, delivering good-faith interactions with colleagues, not a stiff-lipped attempt at winning every damn phone call, jumping from one context-averse vacuum to another.
Much of this is just pushing paper, appearing clever in the face of colleagues, cultivating the image as the type who likes to deal for this or the type who loves trading for that. Bullshit, corporate, busy work. As if these second-round picks are backed by gold, these things ain’t worth the paper ya printed ‘em on!
It is a market, not an unblinking set of options to peruse. Motivations change, limits are met in full view of competitors, embarrassments ring louder than triumphs, time slurps up the broth from the bottom of the bowl.
So the Bulls (22-30, No. 11 in the East, one game ahead of Philadelphia) didn’t trade Nikola Vucevic for a first-round pick, so what, he can’t play defense but he put up All-Star stats for the season’s first half. The Bulls think this is to be respected because, well, Sacramento respects it.
Good for Sacramento, the rest of the NBA thinks, we’re going to find someone from the buyout list who didn’t shoot 26.8 percent from deep in January.
What does Chicago earn, besides smug self-satisfaction?
Besides, apparently, five white guys it can play at once?
Until Vucevic, Zach Collins, Matas Buzelis, Kevin Huerter and Josh Giddey hit the floor at the same time, the Bulls have a movement to ensure. This franchise embraces the Play-In, regards the tournament as a noble endeavor. The Bulls spot the Atlanta Hawks as a natural rival. Enemy, even.
Who cares if the Pacers (Finals, 2000) and Pistons (Finals in 2005, title in 2004) and Bucks (title in 2021) and Cavaliers (five Finals, title in 2016) already lapped every last bit of blood off the horns?
Flukes, as far as the Bulls are concerned. Did you know the Bulls used to have Derrick Rose? He was an MVP but he injured himself and you’ll hear all about it over and over and over again for the next decade. The team is ready to take advantage of where you were in 2010, what you were feeling and why you thought there was a chance.
There is no chance the Chicago Bulls lose out on whatever gate receipts they’ll pull for that first 2025 Play-In game down in Atlanta. If Atlanta hosted the Heat or Sixers, sure, empty lower bowl on a Tuesday night, but the Bulls figure to pack red to the rafters, make enough to cover the first few months salary of another No. 9 overall pick.
You know, No. 9 is where the Bulls were slated to pick in 2008, before the Derrick Rose lottery.
Trading Vucevic wasn’t the problem, the Bulls didn’t want to give in on a stern first-round pick demand and fine, second-round picks are mostly pointless.
The issue is desperation, the NBA was ready for Vuc’s move into the market. Just as it will be ready when the Bulls bring Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu up for discussion in June and July and trading partners will tell them, no, “deals” were for February. Not now. What we can give you is a “rip-off.”
Running an NBA team requires constant effort, repeated aggression simply to maintain a livable status quo, but the Bulls are different, the Bulls lay traps for themselves. Cynics would call them “excuses,” but the Bulls are the team which limited its options with Coby and Ayo despite the pair’s clear gifts as partners, or singular talents.
The Bulls are the team which gave up the first-round pick to San Antonio in the first place, the Bulls are the ones who shopped Nikola Vucevic as if 29 other potential trading partners weren’t slipping layups over him 75 games per season.
The Bulls approach Josh Giddey’s “restricted free agency” with the rest of the league well aware of what the Bulls are up to, the face they’ll try to save with Chicago’s forever future all-time leader in triple-doubles, missed three-pointers, and tripping over his own dangling locks on defense.
Below you will read about activity, clattering noises made by teams not only avoiding the luxury tax, but an uneasy team portrait in 2025-26.
Many of these steps hatched from years-old ideas, trades already made, many of them are clean-up jobs, if not overcorrections, to mistakes already acknowledged.
It is constant, though, unending.
The Bulls only dip in when they have to. And for 27 years, we haven’t made them have to yet.
Well, we will when they bring five white guys out.
AN EXPECTED GRIZZLIES TRADE
Dealt Marcus Smart and a first-round pick to Washington for the pleasure of leaping off the $21 million owed to Marcus Smart next season. And whatever basketball Marcus was gonna play, I reckon.
The Grizzlies required a better cap sheet. Two superstars cost money, the all-world acclaim builds and the compensation grows larger. Additionally, Memphis isn’t in a position to let $21 million attend only a quarter of the season.
Smart is 31 in March and he hit 41 percent of his two-pointers in his final season as a Grizzly. It occasionally looked as if it was painful for him to bend over or move quickly which makes sense, we all watched Marcus Smart give up his body for years. The nagging injuries which dotted this season and last seem inevitable in retrospect.
But boy howdy. Woulda been interesting had Marcus stayed healthy. And if Ja Morant and that kid don’t bounce the ball so hard at each other.
For Smart, Memphis gave up the rights to Marcus Sasser, the pick which turned into Bub Carrington, and Tyus Jones (starting point guard on the win-now Suns). But doors are opening.
The Grizzlies cleared committed first-round salary off the books for summer alongside Smart’s aching deal. The team has all its other future first-round picks plus the gems it collected (GG Jackson II, Jaylen Wells, No. 30 pick Santi Aldama) alongside its lottery studs (Zach Edey, Jaren Jackson Jr., Ja). Memphis owns swap rights with the Suns in 2026 and 2030.
Jake LaRavia is fun, Memphis traded him and the Grizzlies will rue his incomplete arc. The Kings will enjoy watching him take Doug McDermott’s minutes.
The next team to sign Jake LaRavia to a small’ish deal will acquire someone they know well, the Grizzlies (18.8 minutes per game over three seasons) certain gave Jake some reps.
The Grizzlies, um, also traded Walker Kessler for LaRavia.
Traded Kessler and another first-round pick (TyTy Washington Jr.), selected directly before Peyton Watson, Andrew Nembhard, Jaylin Williams, Max Christie, and Jaden Hardy.
NON-TRADE
Bradley Beal did not waive his no-clause and should not have been expected to.
HOOSIERS FIRE HEAD COACH MIKE WOODSON
I don’t know anything about the Indiana Hoosiers or college basketball but it is probably best to get this out of the way before the All-Star break.
NON-TRADE
Trading Michael Porter would not make a better team out of the Nuggets, otherwise the Nuggets woulda traded Michael Porter a year ago or eight months ago or three months ago or this week.
Denver requires density, not a shinier sheen. This isn’t an argument against dealing for a star to play with the Nuggets, just not with the consistent scoring efforts of Porter to lose in exchange. The offense couldn’t afford it, let alone the rotation balance.
Ask any Nugget fan, you can’t just replace one or two of these things at a time. Gotta replace the whole set, all four, don’t want to mess around with that famous Subaru I mean basketball system.
Nugs coach Michael Malone brought Porter up earlier this week, he needn’t:
"No because we're not trading Michael Porter," Malone said. "So I'm not touching base with anybody on that.”
It wasn’t in the cards, financially or through the view of basketball-y assets.
“ ... And if there's something coming, obviously [Nuggets GM Calvin Booth] will talk with me and I'm sure we'll communicate with whatever players.”
(Unless the cap nerds figured something out while we were out here playing basketball. In that case, huh.)
“But Michael is a really important piece, he helped us win a championship."
And the Nuggets were never in danger of trading him, not because of that championship, but because zero trades featuring Michael Porter would make the Nuggets any better.
TRADE
Cavs receive DeAndre Hunter.
Hawks receive Caris LeVert, Georges Niang, three second-round picks and two future first-round swaps with Cleveland.
The swaps are pointless, unlikely to convey unless one or several of the Cavalier stars decides to retire to a houseboat on the Scioto.
The Hawks are disappointing, the club had an excuse to take a shot and didn’t. The front office owned the opportunity to use Jalen Johnson’s injury as motivation to putter around the edges, clearing tax space, while taking a chance on a scorer for March. Everything and also the other stuff.
Instead, the Hawks (23-28, No. 10 in the East, 2.5 games ahead of No. 12 Philadelphia) are down scorers No. 2 and No. 3 in advance of the stretch run.
The Hawks made this move because Atlanta clearly has zero faith in DeAndre Hunter (19 points per game in 29 minutes an outing, 37 appearances and four starts) remaining healthy through the remainder of his contract, in spite of Hunter’s status as a top Sixth Man of the Year candidate.
Quite understandable. I’ve watched a lot of DeAndre Hunter’s breakout season in 2024-25, and while $24 million a season for DeAndre Hunter in 2025-26 and 2026-27 is absolutely a phenomenal price (only 12 percent of the cap), would you want it on your team?
Probably not, if you’ve missed Hunter this season. All you know about DeAndre Hunter is that he sits out a lot of NBA games.
Probably not, if you’ve watched much of Hunter’s breakout season. Our man’s fit improved but he still jumps around like the paint is made of snapping alligators. In spite of this terror, DeAndre is still way better than Caris LeVert or Caris LeVert and Georges Niang put together.
Cavs? Cavs are kicking everyone’s ass and realizes now, now is the time, and Caris LeVert is not that man. He is inconsistent, he often telegraphs his moves, looking for his own shot when a pass will do, later forcing a pass to make up for that iffy shot.
Also, left-handed. Always knocking elbows with the rest of us while we’re trying to endorse checks at the bank.
The Hawks also immediately sent those second-round picks away to the Clippers.
TRADE
Hawks receive Terance Mann and Bones Hyland.
Clippers receive Bogdan Bogdanovic.
Details?
oh no not only that
Any Clipper move was a while coming, the team entered Thursday over the luxury tax and cut just enough money in the move to slide under: Mann and Hyland combine to make about a million and a half bucks less than Bogdan this season, that’s all it takes.
Bogdanovic is very injured this year, stiffer than usual, but the Clippers could expect good things from him in 2025-26 (at $16 million) after a summer spent kneading his way back toward malleability.
That’s, two percent of the deal.
The other chunk o’ motivation is Bogdanovic’s $16 million salary in 2026-27, completely unguaranteed and the rest of the NBA knows it. They will want that deal in order to cut salary, ameliorate mistakes.
The Clippers saved themselves money initially and Bogdanovic’s contract (which must be cut by 6/30/2026) is an asset capable of earning a first-round pick via trade this time next year, or at the draft, or at next year’s draft, or for several days after the 2026 NBA draft.
Selling so low on the same deal is a curious move for the Hawks, who must feature a strong scouting urge toward Terance Mann, 29 in autumn.
At an average of just under $16 million, Mann is on the books for three more guaranteed seasons following this lost campaign. TM injured his finger in December, Tyronn Lue’s Clipper rotation moved past this mitigating factor and never looked back, even after Terance returned to full health.
Can he be a minute-sopper? Someone to play so-so two-way ball? Can we trust him not be horrible?
There should be value in this, long-term reliability via consistency, but the NBA would rather do away with that instinct on its way toward destroying its middle class. If Mann fails in Atlanta, his contract’s terms will be held up as a millstone to avoid in any team’s front office future.
Bones Hyland is still somehow on his rookie deal. I thought he was banished from NBA rosters around the same time they banned tweeting at halftime. Wasn’t Bones Hyland on the Atlanta Celtics with Randolph Morris and Josh Smith?
The Hawks cut a significant chunk of salary, essentially Bogdanovic’s $16 million, from next season’s books. Hunter’s 2025-26 contract broke into two marginal players, Niang at only $8.2 million expiring, Terance Mann returning to respectability, each potentially combining into the sort of salary ($23.7 million) standout trades are built upon.
Audacious, if dull, potentially better than watching Hunter and Bogdanovic limp around another year.
Terrific move for the Clippers to get off Terance’s deal and into whatever opportunities Bogdanovic’s contract provides. If Bogdan (33 in August) helps at all next season, hey, good for him.
NON-TRADE
Portland fans, take it easy.
Nobody wants to create, within these Trail Blazer neophytes, a condition. An association.
A flinch every February, reminding them winning is always met with a nicer, older guy at work being sent away for some stranger.
Especially if Joe Cronin is that nobody, and Jerami Grant is that nicer, older guy.
Jerami is nice, he’ll remain nice, teams might want another chance at nice next February. Even at 39 percent from the floor, Jerami Grant is not in the way of anything on the court, in many ways his presence (other teams literally pay attention to him) is chiefly relevant to Portland’s recent winning spell. Is that worth paying him two or three (2027-28 is a player option at $36.4 million) more seasons? If the vibes are strong, yes.
The salary cap is huge, and Deni Avdija’s contract declines every season, bottoming out at $11.875 million in 2027-28.
Grant’s ongoing contract is no problem unless the Blazers extend DeAndre Ayton and also extend Anfernee Simons and Shaedon Sharpe and Robert Williams, and even then it will only be for one season (2027-28, the first season of Scoot Henderson’s and Toumani Camara’s extensions).
The Blazers may avoid this brief complication (for what could be a potent playoff team) by either trading Jerami Grant between now and 2027, or re-signing him to a smaller contract in 2027 to ease Grant (31 in March) into his mid-30s. Whereupon he’ll likely be a sound veteran many teams would want around, chief among those groups is the current Portland club full of young players who grew up around Jerami Grant, not minding one bit that he represented one-fifth the team’s salary cap.
I mean, maybe they’ll resent it at some point. Not now.
This isn’t an argument for mediocrity, or for Blazers fans to be sated by the team’s first show of life in too dang long.
It is an argument to let hot things roll.
NON-STINKO TRADES MADE BY WASHINGTON FOR ONCE
The discs in Marcus Smart’s back do not shift every time he crosses and uncrosses his legs. His knees do not require draining every 18 days, he does not wear goggles or a bulky brace, he has no history of Jones fractures or any other foot fractures named after members of the Monkees.
Now, broken fingers? Dolenz dislocations? Nesmith knocks? Tork traumas?
Smart had a few of those, he is old and threw his body around Boston for years. But there is no reason Marcus can’t be at full strength in 2025-26, very good overall, a two-way player to either help the Wizards lurch into Play-In discussions (Washington has the assets to deal for scorers, and quickly) or move onto a contending team.
Bulls fans? This was what Chicago’s general manager was supposed to be doing this entire time.
But the Wizards outpaced the Bulls.
Washington also acquired Colby Jones (to replace those embarrassing Johnny Davis minutes) and Alex Len (Alex Sarr sprained his ankle). Actual NBA players to make the final month of the season a little warmer, ninth and tenth men at no cost to anyone, certainly not the Wizards’ draft capital. Neither of them played in Sacramento but each should take a few laps around the capitol.
Because we’re finally done with Kuz. Finally over Davis and Marvin Bagley III.
Just, normal bad. Not, freaky bad.
Washington boasts the worst record in the NBA at 9-41 and Washington owns the same odds for the top overall pick if it finishes with the worst record, or second-worst record, or third-worst. Washington’s status among the worst three is assured.
It is safe for the Wizards to finish the 2024-25 season on, say, a 9-23 run.
ALL-STAR TRADE WEEK
We understand, the NBA does not want to lose momentum by smashing two of its big ticket events together.
But perhaps a mini-break is due. Anything to avoid what we’ve seen this week: NBA basketball interspaced with more moments of sadness and anxiety than usual.
Today is Friday and everyone in the NBA wished it were today, last Friday.
This league’s last seven days were typically-brilliant, these games are exciting as ever, but some of them shouldn’t have been scheduled. Some players were zoned-out, understandably.
Some were not, and Miami traded for those guys.
TRADE
Davion Mitchell from Toronto to the Heat.
If someone shows this to Pat Riley, Davion Mitchell will end up starting:
EXPECTED TRADE
The Pacers dove under the luxury tax by sending cash to Toronto for taking on the pro-rated final few months of James Wiseman’s $2.2 million contract. James is out for the rest of the season with a torn Achilles.
SACRAMENTO STOPS TRADING
The Kings were crushed on Wednesday night by Orlando and it didn’t look good. The trio of Malik Monk, DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine appeared about as defensively able as one should expect. Domantas Sabonis, sadly for those expectations, was the center.
The visiting Magic put 37 points on Sacramento in the first quarter and that’s a week for Orlando. Cole Anthony moved into the Magic’s starting lineup and the Kings melted. Sacto coach Doug Christie had days to think of this and, nope, 19-point loss.
The Kings grabbed Jonas Valančiūnas (Bucks and many others coulda used that) which helps, Jonas will provide yet another interesting counterpart and argument, the on/off splits for this club should be fascinating. Thursday’s loss in Portland was more encouraging, if similarly unrevelatory. There is no bench, holes everywhere, Keon Ellis can’t save all the Kings’ horses and all the Kings’ men and yeah, I’m sorry I wrote what I just wrote.
And, also, the Kings could win 10 of 12. There sure are some medium-sized scorers on this team.
TRADE
Hornets receive Jusuf Nurkic, 2026 first-round pick.
Suns receive Cody Martin, Vasilije Micic and a 2026 second-round pick.
Acquiring actual basketball return for Nurkic was a fine executive move by Suns GM James Jones. Martin and Micic will provide replacement-level minutes at important positions.
Jusuf (owed $19.375 million in 2025-26) will play for Charlotte when he is healthy and because he has to, Charlotte has nobody in the middle but over-the-back champion Moussa Diabate. Plus veteran Taj Gibson, who took his first steady girlfriend out on a date to the double rom-com ‘America’s Sweethearts,’ I’m guessing.
Nurkic is not good at this point. The highlight of Jusuf’s season, to me, was ESPN referring to him as a “former DPOY candidate” without a hint of sarcasm, simultaneously linking without irony to a single third-place Defensive Player of the Year vote Nurkic received seven years ago.
The Suns were not a deep team before the trade deadline and remain thin all around. Martin and Micic will not prevent the club from collapsing should the Suns’ stars dim, or if Beal and Booker and Durant outpace their typical output in 2025-26.
Portland moves up soon, the Jazz eventually, San Antonio already locked up its postseason future, the West is just like that. If everything goes correctly, Phoenix is no guarantee to keep out of the lottery in 2026 even with each superstar at full bore, and with a summer’s full of impressive additions.
But Phoenix had to find players to flit around its rookies, fit in with the stars. The Suns’ salary hole was too deep and Nurkic wasn’t letting anyone stand on his shoulders.
The Suns now own a team option on Micic’s $8.1 million commitment in 2025-26. Martin makes about the same before each expire next summer, each combine to make less than Nurkic and, again, each can play.
The latter isn’t a spectacular achievement on its own, but for Phoenix it means less Collin Gillespie. Less Bol Bol. Maybe the start of a little less Grayson Allen. Ninety fewer seconds of Kevin Durant. Every minute counts out there.
Was the third-string worth a first-round pick?
It doesn’t matter. The Suns are in jail. They trade things they like for cigarettes not because they smoke, but because they have to, they’re in jail.
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