If the Chicago Bulls want to field a competitive team next year, they need to make some serious changes this summer. Running back the same squad would result in the same middling results, and that would be a complete waste of a season. They have some crucial decisions to make this offseason, and one of the biggest involves Nikola Vucevic.
The 32-year-old big man will be an unrestricted free agent this summer, and according to Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium, he and the Bulls have just recently begun contract negotiation talks. However, what will those conversations look like? Will Gottlieb of CHGO thinks the Bulls may be in a tough spot.
Arturas Karnisovas has made it clear that he wants to bring the current core back next year and compete for a playoff spot, but that could lead to some desperation in negotiations with Vucevic. Gottlieb thinks that could be a sign of weakness.
“The Bulls, on the other hand, may argue that despite his production, Vucevic is still the third option on the current core and their limited financial abilities make it difficult to give him the full amount of what he might be asking.
“But operating from a position of desperation is operating from a position of weakness,” Gottlieb wrote. “The Bulls have stated goals of competing. The optics of the trade to acquire Vucevic look far worse if he walks for nothing. The Bulls can retain some power by setting a walkaway number — a price they are unwilling to exceed, even at risk of losing Vucevic for nothing. Other than that, they are between a rock and a hard place.”
Vucevic is a solid player and just wrapped up a season in which he played all 82 games, but how much is he truly worth as the third option on a middling playoff team?
