{"id":110267,"date":"2024-12-02T12:30:39","date_gmt":"2024-12-02T17:30:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=110267"},"modified":"2024-12-02T12:12:02","modified_gmt":"2024-12-02T17:12:02","slug":"nikola-vucevic-trade-destinations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/12\/02\/nikola-vucevic-trade-destinations\/","title":{"rendered":"2 Western Conference Teams Could be Trade Destinations for Nikola Vucevic"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Chicago Bulls have been trying to trade off some of their veteran players for a few years now. The team has been stuck in NBA purgatory for almost a decade. They haven\u2019t had a 50-win season since 2014-2015 and also haven’t tanked for a top-three pick in over a decade. <\/span>They <\/span><\/a>tried for a Zach LaVine<\/a> trade this summer without success but were able to get rid of both DeMar DeRozan<\/a> and Alex Caruso<\/a>. With recent Bulls news about their potential low asking price for a Nikola Vucevic<\/a> trade, the Bulls trade rumors are louder than ever.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

2 Western Conference Teams Could be Trade Destinations for Nikola Vucevic<\/h2>\n

Bulls Trade Rumors\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Jake Fischer recently reported<\/span><\/a> that an NBA general manager told him that the Bulls’ asking price in a Vucevic trade could be just two second-round picks. Although Vucevic\u2019s contract is certainly not the easiest to swallow (he is owed $21.5 million next season), he could provide a ton of value for multiple teams in the league.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Vucevic is having an excellent season in Chicago, averaging 20.9 points, 10 rebounds, and 3.2 assists per game. He currently has a career-high in effective field goal percentage of 65.2%. This is largely due to him shooting a career-high 46.9% from three. He is still somewhat of a defensive liability, but his rebounding and scoring are right there with some of the best big men in the league.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Is a Lakers Vucevic Trade Possible?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> have not been shy about wanting to upgrade at the center position. Even with Anthony Davis<\/a> playing at an MVP level this season with lots of minutes at the five, he still likely wants to play power forward alongside a solid big man. Can you blame him? During the Lakers championship run in 2020, they had both Dwight Howard<\/a> and JaVale McGee<\/a> playing minutes at the five.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This season, the Lakers are lacking size and center depth. Jarred Vanderbilt<\/a>, Christian Wood<\/a>, and Jaxson Hayes<\/a> are all dealing with injuries, making the Lakers’ need for another big man even more glaring. Making the contracts work with Vucevic could be costly, but taking pressure off LeBron James<\/a> and AD could be a risk worth taking.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Warriors Need Size<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The Warriors are also lacking size at the center position. They continue to play Draymond Green<\/a> at the center position to finish games, while undersized centers like Kevon Looney<\/a> and Trayce Jackson-Davis<\/a> take a bit of center load throughout the game.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Since the Bulls news of their potential cheap price on Vucevic, the Warriors must be considering taking on the two-time All-Star. Vucevic\u2019s shooting and playmaking would be incredible in the Warriors’ free-flowing offense. Just imagine Vucevic and Stephen Curry<\/a> running a pick-and-roll. Green could help make up for some of Vucevic\u2019s defensive shortcomings as well.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Although it could be a good fit, Vucevic might not be exactly the type of player the Warriors are looking to trade for. After losing De\u2019Anthony Melton<\/a> to a season-ending injury<\/a>, the Warriors need more point-of-attack defense and ball handling. On top of that, Vucevic\u2019s large contract may be more than they are willing to take on. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Chicago Bulls have been trying to trade off some of their veteran players for a few years now. The team has been stuck in NBA purgatory for almost a decade. They haven\u2019t had a 50-win season since 2014-2015 and also haven’t tanked for a top-three pick in over a decade. They tried for a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5284,"featured_media":110298,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,1608,25,26,62],"tags":[240,350,409,38,1382,474,48,457],"class_list":["post-110267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bulls","category-basketball","category-warriors","category-lakers","category-nba","tag-anthony-davis","tag-demar-derozan","tag-draymond-green","tag-lebron-james","tag-nba-trade","tag-nikola-vucevic","tag-stephen-curry","tag-zach-lavine"],"modified_by":"Eamon Cassels, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5284"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110267"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110267\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":110299,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110267\/revisions\/110299"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}