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Chicago Bulls: 3 best NBA Draft picks for Karnisovas with the Nuggets

By Andrew Miller

Chicago Bulls (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images)
Chicago Bulls (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)
(Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images) /

Honorable mentions

There’s no way to do this list without mentioning a key draft night trade that went down between GarPax and Karnisovas back during the 2014 NBA Draft. The Bulls and Nuggets made a swap on draft night 2014 that would have a lasting impact for at least the next three or four years following.

Gary Harris, Shooting Guard

With the 19th overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft, the Bulls used one of their first round selections on the former 6-foot-4 Michigan State Spartans shooting guard Gary Harris. Harris would be one of two key pieces for the draft night trade that the Bulls would use with the Nuggets to land former Creighton Blue Jays wing Doug McDermott. That trade heavily fell in the Nuggets favor.

Up to this point, Harris has more than 18.0 career regular season win shares, better than a 36 percent three-point shooting percentage, and averages more than 12.0 points per game.

Jusuf Nurkic, Center

The Nuggets have already parted ways with the former Bulls 16th overall pick in the first round of the 2014 NBA Draft and seven-foot center Jusuf Nurkic. Now with the Portland Trail Blazers, Nurkic had recently elevated his game to a near All-Star level. He did clash with another star big man with the Nuggets, so trading him made sense.

During the 2018-19 regular season run with the Trail Blazers, Nurkic posted a stellar 3.7 box plus/minus rating, 2.8 value over replacement player rating, and a 57.0 true shooting percentage. All of those advanced numbers were good for career-highs.

Michael Porter Jr., Forward

The final honorable mention on this list has the potential to turn into a star in the NBA, if he can stay healthy. The Nuggets used their first round pick (14th overall) in the 2018 NBA Draft to select former Mizzou Tigers No. 1 prospect in the nation and 6-foot-10 forward Michael Porter Jr. He posted a player efficiency rating better than 18.0 this season while shooting around 50 percent from the field and better than 42.0 percent from beyond the arc.

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