When the Chicago Bulls acquired Nikola Vucevic in March of 2021, he was a walking 20 & 10 double-double, with some underrated passing chops and an expanding range. He was a great pickup for the Bulls, but they learned the hard way that he is more effective on a team that already had talent on it; forcing him to be a main option on offense doesn't yield great team success. He's also, somehow, still on the team. I digress.
Now, in 2026, the Chicago Bulls appear interested in trading for Sacramento Kings big man Domantas Sabonis, according to Sam Amick of The Athletic. Ah. Right. Sounds familiar.
Granted, Sabonis is a better player right now than Vucevic ever was. If Nikola Jokic didn't exist, Sabonis might be thought of as the best passing big man in basketball. Plus, the two seasons in which there was a fully competent roster in Sacramento, the Kings won 48 then 46 games and were a Steph Curry 50-point game away from making the second round of the playoffs.
Domantas Sabonis is a great center who makes no sense for the Bulls
I don't subscribe to the idea that a team can't win at a high level with Domantas Sabonis. But I do believe this Bulls team would only be marginally better with Sabonis at the five instead of Vucevic, and marginally better right now might just mean a play-in win rather than a play-in loss.
Does that mean Sabonis should be completely off the table? Maybe not! He has two more years remaining on his contract after '25-26, so the Bulls acquiring him would be doing so with the intention of keeping him around for a bit.
However, if the front office plans to keep this roster the same and simply add Sabonis... That might be pointless. He wouldn't lift this team to contention by himself, and a trade would likely require the Bulls to part with some assets. Doing that for a few extra wins per year seems hurtful to the longterm outlook of this team.
The biggest problem with Nikola Vucevic over the past five years hasn't been his production; it's how much of an impact the Bulls expected him to have by himself, instead of viewing him as a good center who can contribute on a talented team.
Trading for Sabonis right now feels eerily similar to that; it wouldn't be a bad deal because of the player the Bulls add, it would be a bad trade because it doesn't make much sense for the direction the Bulls are trying to go beyond 2026. And unless the Bulls have another big move in mind in the near future, adding Sabonis might be a deal to stay away from.