The Chicago Bulls will not have their pick in the 2023 NBA Draft. With Dalen Terry representing the team, the Bulls watched their pick land at 11th overall, meaning it will now convey to the Orlando Magic. The selection was top-four protected from the Nikola Vucevic trade the Bulls made in 2021.
Chicago sent Wendell Carter Jr., Otto Porter Jr., and two first-round picks to the Magic in said deal, receiving Vucevic and Al-Farouq Aminu in return. The first of the two picks was made in the 2021 NBA Draft and turned into Franz Wagner. Now, the Magic will have the chance to add another star prospect to their roster with another Chicago selection.
Some prospects who could potentially fall into that range are UCF forward Taylor Hendricks, Kansas wing Gradey Dick, Kentucky point guard Carson Wallace, UCONN guard Jordan Hawkins, and Baylor guard Keyonte George.
For the Bulls, the Vucevic trade looks like one of their biggest mistakes in recent memory. In theory, banking on the core of Lonzo Ball, Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan, and Vucevic seems promising, but Ball’s poor injury luck and Vucevic’s decline have gotten in the way.
Moving forward, they will have some tough decisions to make. Should they keep the team together and run it back? Should they trade DeRozan and attempt to build around LaVine again? Should they completely gut the team and get a ton of draft picks in return?
As things stand, it seems Arturas Karnisovas and the Bulls front office are intent on keeping the current core intact, but just like the Vucevic deal, that may not work out the way they hope.
Only time will tell, but with the amount of talent in the Eastern Conference, the Bulls are in a very tight spot.
