Ranking the 6 players involved in Chicago Bulls’ trade for Nikola Vucevic
6. Al-Farouq Aminu
The Chicago Bulls received Al-Farouq Aminu from the Orlando Magic as an addition to Vucevic, but he did not play a meaningful role on the court with the team. Aminu appeared in just 6 games and scored 9 total points towards the end of the 2021 season. His career was on a decline at this point, as he played 35 total games over 1.5 seasons with the Magic and averaged 5 points and 5 boards per game. This was a drop from the 9.5 points and 7.1 rebounds per game he averaged in four seasons with the Portland Trail Blazers.
Aminu then came to the Bulls, where he was traded to the San Antonio Spurs less than five months later for the Bulls to acquire DeMar DeRozan. Aminu was then waived by the Spurs, effectively ending his NBA career. Although his time with the Bulls was short-lived, he will be remembered as being part of the first major trade that the Chicago Bulls made in the 2020s, as well as the first one that Arturas Karnisovas made during his tenure.
5. Otto Porter Jr.
Otto Porter’s time with both the Bulls and the Magic was more eventful than Aminu’s, but it was also for just a short time. Porter was acquired by the Chicago Bulls in 2019 in exchange for Jabari Parker, Bobby Portis, and a second-round pick. Porter was coming off of a max contract extension he signed in 2017, which was for four years and $106 million. This turned out to be another bad trade for the Chicago Bulls, as they gave up Bobby Portis, who turned out to be a vital piece in the Milwaukee Bucks championship run as well as their dominance in the Eastern Conference over the last few years.
In Porter’s time with the Bulls, he was underwhelming. He averaged just 12.5 points and 5 rebounds per game in just 54 appearances across 2.5 seasons. Porter’s tenure was marred with injuries, and the Bulls needed to offload his large contract, and the Vucevic trade was a good way to do that.
Porter also was with his new team for a short time, also changing teams that next season. He went to the Warriors on a $2.4 million veteran minimum contract, where he played 63 games and played a sizable role in the Dubs championship run, including a start in Game 6. Porter is now on the Toronto Raptors, where he suffered a season-ending foot injury in January.