3) Chicago Bulls trade targets to salary match with OPJ: Nikola Vucevic
There’s a lot of intriguing trade ideas that could go around if the Bulls were to get into discussions with the Orlando Magic. Two trade targets that could really stick out if the Bulls were to get into trade discussions with the Magic are the former All-Star center Nikola Vucevic and the uber-athletic forward Aaron Gordon.
The former of those two standout Magic players Vucevic was the 16th overall pick of the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round of the 2011 NBA Draft. But he only played in one season with the Sixers before getting shipped of to join the Magic. And his play immediately took off in his early years in Orlando.
The 6-foot-11 and 260 pound Swiss big man has now played eight years in Orlando, in just shy of 550 regular season games (only a couple dozen of which he hasn’t started in). And during the shortened 2019-20 regular season, Vucevic played in 62 games with the Magic (all of which he started in). He averaged 19.6 points per game, 10.9 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 0.9 steals, and 0.8 blocks.
And he shot 47.7 percent from the field, 33.9 percent from beyond the arc, and 78.4 percent from the free-throw line. That amounted to a stellar 4.2 box plus/minus rating, 3.1 value over replacement player rating, .153 win shares per 48 minutes, 54.9 true shooting percentage, and 21.9 player efficiency rating.
Vucevic is due around $28 million next year, just like OPJ. And while his current contract carries much longer than OPJ’s (through the 2022-23 season), his annual salary continually declines until then.