Ranking the 6 players involved in Chicago Bulls’ trade for Nikola Vucevic
On March 25, 2021, the Chicago Bulls made a blockbuster trade, attempting to bring the team back into relevance. Chicago sent Wendell Carter Jr., Otto Porter Jr., and two first-round picks to the Orlando Magic for Nikola Vucevic and Al-Farouq Aminu.
Vucevic’s tenure with the Bulls has been filled with ups and downs, with his numbers taking a dip from his last 2-and-a-half seasons with the Magic. As a Bull, Vooch has averaged 18.2 points and 11.1 rebounds per game on 49% shooting from the field and 34% from deep. With Orlando, he was a two-time All-Star and averaged 21.4 points and 11.4 rebounds per game on 49% shooting and 37% from long range. This drop in stats is understandably a result of Vucevic’s role going from the top option to the second and then third scorer with the Bulls. However, the Bulls’ lack of success compared to expectations has brought about questions of whether the All-Star center was worth the destruction of the Bulls’ future.
Now that each draft pick has conveyed from the trade that brought Nikola Vucevic to the Bulls, there are clear rankings of each player involved.
These questions have especially come about during this offseason, where the Bulls are in a spot that no NBA franchise wants to be in: a mediocre squad with very few future prospects. The Bulls had to trade a couple second-round picks for the 35th overall selection, which turned out to be Julian Phillips, a forward out of Tennessee. Phillips was Chicago’s only pick in the draft, as the Bulls did not make a splash that fans had hoped for.
Even though the Bulls did not have a first-round pick in the draft, the Orlando Magic were able to use the final pick in the Nikola Vucevic trade to select Jett Howard with the 11th overall pick. This means that the trade has finally been realized, and the Bulls ended up sending over picks that turned out to be Howard and Franz Wagner, as well as Carter and Porter. The Orlando Magic have built a really solid young core, and this trade was a big reason why. Wagner and Carter are two of their key existing players, and they complement former number one pick Paolo Banchero extremely well. New draftees Anthony Black and Jett Howard are poised to contribute from day one, and the Magic also possess excellent assets to bring the team to contender status.
With the trade finally completed, the six players’ rankings are clear.