Chicago Bulls Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Bulls To Pursue Extension With Nikola Vucevic?

August 6th, 2022 at 10:07am CST by Dana Gauruder

Nikola Vucevic and the Bulls will have initial discussions during training camp regarding a possible extension, according to Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times.

A source told Cowley that both sides want him to remain with the team beyond the final year of his contract. Vucevic is heading into the last season of his front-loaded four-year, $100MM deal that he signed with Orlando. He’ll make $22MM in 2022/23.

Vucevic has been the subject of trade rumors for months. There was heavy speculation that he’d be part of a Rudy Gobert deal with Utah before the All-Star center was dealt to Minnesota. Extending Vucevic on a one-year deal with a player option for the 2024/25 season would make sense for both sides, Cowley speculates.

Chicago may simply have come to the conclusion that an upgrade at center may not be available.

The Bulls front office places a high value on the Vucevic’s professionalism, versatility and consistency. However, there’s no denying that the big man had a rather forgettable 2021/22 season. He averaged 17.6 PPG, his lowest since the 2017-18 season, and shot just 31.4% from 3-point range. He’s a 34.8% career shooter from distance.

In the previous season, when he was acquired by Chicago, he averaged 23.4 PPG and made 40% of his 3-pointers in 70 games between the Bulls and Magic. Cowley notes Vucevic’s touches have dipped after he was more of a focal point in Orlando’s scheme.

The biggest issue with Vucevic is his defensive shortcomings. He’s never been a shot blocker and he has difficulty in pick-and-roll situations. But Chicago was never truly whole last season due to injuries and Vucevic didn’t have the ability to build chemistry at both ends with the core group.

And-Ones: Crawford, Micic, Dragic

August 5th, 2022 at 7:01pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Retired shooting guard Jamal Crawford reflected on his 20-year NBA run in a conversation with Bryan Kalbrosky of USA Today. Earlier this summer, the 6’5″ vet, a three-time Sixth Man of the Year, showed off his still-lethal handle at his yearly Seattle-based Pro-Am league the CrawsOver.

“I would always stretch and ice even if nothing was hurting,” Crawford, now 42, said of one of the keys to his longevity in the league. “I heard an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of recovery. I was always taking care of myself… I was always trying to think about the long game so I could play at a high level for a long time… I would’ve played even longer if I knew the stuff I know now.”

Across 1,327 career games played with the Bulls, Knicks, Warriors, Hawks, Trail Blazers, Clippers, Timberwolves, Suns and Nets, Crawford averaged 14.6 PPG, 3.4 APG and 2.2 RPG, while posting shooting splits of .410/.348/.862.

Here are more odds and ends from around the basketball globe:

After flirting with a move to the NBA this summer, star EuroLeague guard Vasilije Micic opted to remain with Anadolu Efes in Turkey. The Thunder continue to possess the draft rights to the two-time reigning EuroLeague Final Four MVP, who spoke to Rada Nikolić August of Sport Klub about his offseason decision . “I felt a slight mistrust from the direction of the strongest league in the world, which they have towards many, not only me,” Micic said, though he seemed open to keeping the door open to an eventual move stateside. “I really don’t think I’m going there to prove what and how much I can do. It’s nice like this for me, so if I go to America one day, it will happen…” Last year, the 28-year-old averaged 18.1 PPG, 4.7 APG, 2.3 RPG, and 1.1 SPG across 28 contests with Anadolu Efes in EuroLeague play.
New Bulls reserve point guard Goran Dragic is set to return to competition for his native Slovenia in EuroBasket 2022 this September, as he announced via Twitter. “I’M BACK,” the 36-year-old posted, along with a variety of descriptive emojis. Dragic had previously retired from playing for Slovenia in 2017, after helping the national club win its first-ever FIBA European championship in EuroBasket play. Dragic won the EuroBasket MVP award for his efforts, averaging 22.6 PPG in nine games. Dragic joined Chicago this summer following turns with the Raptors and Nets in 2021/22.

NBA Teams With Open Two-Way Contract Slots

August 5th, 2022 at 2:31pm CST by Luke Adams

A total of 18 NBA teams currently have both of their two-way contract slots filled, as our tracker shows.

That doesn’t mean those players will be locked into those slots for the rest of the 2022/23 season, or even until opening night, since two-way deals are low-cost contracts that don’t count against the salary cap, making them easy to replace. But it means those spots are unavailable for the time being.

That leaves 12 teams with at least one two-way slot available. Those teams are as follows:

Atlanta Hawks
Brooklyn Nets
Charlotte Hornets
Chicago Bulls
Dallas Mavericks
Houston Rockets
Indiana Pacers
Los Angeles Clippers
New Orleans Pelicans
Portland Trail Blazers
San Antonio Spurs
Washington Wizards

The Hawks, Hornets, Mavericks, Rockets, Clippers, the Trail Blazers, and Wizards have fairly straightforward two-way situations at the moment — they’ve each filled one slot and have one open, with no reports indicating that any of those teams has reached an agreement on a two-way deal with a free agent or draftee.

The Nets and Bulls also have one two-way spot filled and one open, but each of them has a two-way qualifying offer out to a restricted free agent — David Duke for Brooklyn and Malcolm Hill for Chicago. If those players simply accept their QOs, neither the Nets nor the Bulls will have a two-way opening.

The Spurs also have one two-way player signed and one spot open, though a Shams Charania report last month indicated that undrafted rookie Jordan Hall will sign a two-way contract with San Antonio. If and when that happens, the Spurs will join the list of teams with both of their two-way slots occupied.

The Pacers and Pelicans are currently the only two teams that don’t have a single player on a two-way contract. A Charania report way back in June suggested that Dereon Seabron would sign a two-way deal with New Orleans, but it hasn’t officially happened yet.

The best candidate for a two-way contract with Indiana, meanwhile, could be 48th overall pick Kendall Brown, who is one of a handful of 2022 draftees still unsigned. Even if Seabron and Brown sign two-way pacts, the Pacers and Pelicans would still each have one slot available.

Contract Details: Dellavedova, McGruder, Knox

August 3rd, 2022 at 12:11pm CST by Luke Adams

Matthew Dellavedova‘s new one-year, minimum-salary contract with the Kings, originally reported as partially guaranteed, is actually non-guaranteed for the time being, Hoops Rumors has learned.

Dellavedova will receive a partial guarantee of $250K if he’s not waived before Sacramento’s first game of the regular season, then would lock in his full $2.63MM guarantee if he remains under contract through the NBA’s league-wide guarantee deadline of January 7.

Here are a few more details on recently signed NBA contracts:

Rodney McGruder‘s one-year, minimum-salary deal with the Pistons is fully guaranteed, Hoops Rumors has learned. That gives Detroit 17 players on guaranteed contracts, though one of those players (Kemba Walker) is very likely to be bought out. The Pistons would still have to trade or release one more player with a guaranteed salary in order to get to the 15-man regular season limit.
Kevin Knox‘s two-year, $6MM contract with the Pistons is worth a flat $3MM in each of the two seasons. While the first year is guaranteed, the deal includes a team option for the 2023/24 season.
As expected, Goran Dragic‘s one-year, minimum-salary contract with the Bulls and JaMychal Green‘s with the Warriors are both fully guaranteed.

Bulls Sign Goran Dragic

August 2nd, 2022 at 3:12pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

AUGUST 2: Nearly a month after first reaching an agreement with Dragic, the Bulls have officially signed him, the team announced today in a press release.

JULY 3: The Bulls are fortifying their backcourt bench depth with a new veteran addition. Chicago will sign former All-NBA point guard Goran Dragic to a one-year contract, per Jordan Schultz of the Pull Up Podcast (Twitter link).

Dragic, most recently with the Nets, will earn $2.9MM, the veteran’s minimum, next season, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic.

Dragic, who has an All-Star season and an All-NBA season on his résumé, played a crucial role during the Heat’s NBA Finals run within the Orlando “bubble” campus in 2020. The Slovenian guard’s production fell to earth the next season amid injury troubles, and he was ultimately dealt to the Raptors in the sign-and-trade agreement that landed Kyle Lowry with the Heat in the 2021 offseason.

Last year, Dragic appeared in just five games with Toronto before reaching an agreement to leave the club as it sought out a suitable trade. The 36-year-old was shipped to the Spurs and negotiated a buyout with San Antonio, then latched on with the Nets as a free agent.

Across 16 games with Brooklyn, including six starts, Dragic averaged 7.3 PPG, 4.8 APG and 3.2 RPG, while posting .376/.245/.739 shooting splits. Though his assist and rebounding numbers were in line with his career averages of 4.8 APG and 3.1 RPG, his scoring efficiency across 25.5 MPG for Brooklyn was a far cry from his 14-year career average of 13.7 PPG on .460/.362/.767 shooting.

The addition of Dragic marks Chicago’s fourth free agent agreement this offseason. The team agreed to re-sign All-Star shooting guard Zach LaVine to a maximum deal, is bringing back deep-bench reserve forward Derrick Jones Jr., and will add journeyman reserve center Andre Drummond to boost its rebounding.

As Yossi Gozlan of HoopsHype observes (via Twitter), thanks to Dragic’s minimum-salary deal, the Bulls are now approximately $1.7MM below the luxury tax this season, carrying a projected 15 players on guaranteed contracts. Gozlan adds that Chicago has around $7MM left to use from its non-taxpayer mid-level exception.

Any further Bulls roster changes seem more likely to come via trade than free agency. Opening up a roster spot now to add another free agent would require trading or waiving a current Bull with a guaranteed salary. The team also has a $5MM trade exception that will expire after July 7.

If the Bulls do make a deal, it could involve their backcourt depth. The team adds to a group of guards that already includes Lonzo Ball, Alex Caruso, Ayo Dosunmu, and Coby White, though Ball’s health heading into next season remains a question mark.

K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago reports that the team anticipates this current roster will be intact for training camp in the fall, though he acknowledges that the team does appear to have a surplus of guards.

Checking In On Remaining Restricted Free Agents

August 1st, 2022 at 4:00pm CST by Luke Adams

Of the players who finished last season on an NBA roster and didn’t have a contract for 2022/23, there are still dozens of unrestricted free agents on the open market. However, the number of restricted free agents is far smaller.

As our list of current free agents shows, there are just eight restricted free agents still unsigned — four who received standard qualifying offers and four who received two-way QOs.

We’re already a month into the 2022 free agent period, but it’s possible that some of these restricted free agents will remain on the market for another month or two. Let’s take a closer look at the RFAs still available…

Standard RFAs:

Miles Bridges (Hornets)
Jordan Nwora (Bucks)
Collin Sexton (Cavaliers)
Joe Wieskamp (Spurs)

It’s no surprise that Bridges remains unsigned. He was arrested just before free agency began and now faces multiple felony charges related to domestic violence. The Hornets will certainly be in no rush to re-sign him as the legal process plays out, and Bridges’ $7.9MM qualifying offer won’t expire until October 1, so he’ll be in no hurry to accept it either. If and when Bridges is back under contract, the NBA would have the option of placing him on paid administrative leave, pending an investigation.

The other three cases here look more like straightforward examples of how restricted free agency often works. In all likelihood, the Bucks, Cavaliers, and Spurs have made preliminary offers to Nwora, Sexton, and Wieskamp, respectively, and have encouraged them to explore the market to see if they can get a more lucrative offer sheet elsewhere. Until that happens, those teams are unlikely to bid against themselves by increasing their offers.

We know, for instance, that the Cavs have reportedly offered Sexton a three-year deal worth roughly $40MM. He’s believed to be seeking a salary closer to $20MM per year.

All three players would have the option of accepting their qualifying offers and heading into the season on a one-year contract, but that may be a more viable path for Sexton, who is coming off a lost season and has a QO worth $7.2MM, than for Nwora ($2.1MM). Wieskamp’s qualifying offer is also relatively modest ($1.8MM), but his NBA résumé is far more limited than Sexton’s or Nwora’s, so it’s unclear if he’ll get a better offer than that.

Two-way RFAs:

David Duke (Nets)
Malcolm Hill (Bulls)
David Johnson (Raptors)
Brodric Thomas (Celtics)

A report in early July suggested that Duke was hoping to earn a standard contract from the Nets, and following a Las Vegas Summer League in which he averaged 19.0 points per game in five appearances, there’s no reason to think his stance has changed. Brooklyn only has 13 players on standard contracts, so a promotion remains in play for Duke, but the team likely wants resolution on the Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving sagas before locking in those back-of-the-roster spots.

Once Goran Dragic officially signs, the Bulls will have 15 players on standard guaranteed contracts and just one on a two-way deal, so they’d probably like to see Hill accept his two-way qualifying offer to fill that second slot.

It’s unclear what the Raptors‘ plans are for Johnson. The team has filled its two-way slots with new signees (Ron Harper Jr. and Jeff Dowtin) and there will be stiff competition for a spot on the 15-man regular season roster — the team already has 13 players on fully guaranteed contracts, plus three with partial guarantees and second-rounder Christian Koloko still unsigned. We’ll see if Johnson gets a chance to vie for one of those roster spots.

There may be a cleaner path for Thomas to earn a place on the Celtics‘ 15-man roster. Only 12 of Boston’s regular season roster spots are accounted for so far, so Thomas could get the chance to compete to be the 13th or 14th man. The team has already filled both its two-way slots with new additions (JD Davison and Mfiondu Kabengele).

DeRozan Believes Bulls Weren't Ready For Adversity

July 30th, 2022 at 8:34am CST by Dana Gauruder

DeMar DeRozan felt the Bulls weren’t “ready for adversity” last season when injuries piled up, he told Draymond Green on his podcast (hat tip to K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago). “We kind of fell apart. We lost ourselves obviously through health,” he said. “Regardless, I think I told one of the young guys after All-Star break, I said this is the moment when you see what teams are serious. He didn’t know what I meant by that. For us to hit the wall that we hit showed that we wasn’t ready for adversity.”
During the same podcast, DeRozan spoke of how criticism aimed at the Bulls for engineering a sign-and-trade with San Antonio fueled his highly productive season. He averaged a career-high 27.9 PPG. “My whole career has kind of been based off that (criticism). But I never let it bring me completely down. It knocked me down. But I got back up,” he said. “And for me, that moment of going to Chicago, I just told myself, ‘This is a new opportunity. I’m going to make the most out of it in every type of way.’”

Central Notes: Bulls, Bucks, A. Antetokounmpo

July 28th, 2022 at 12:42pm CST by Rory Maher

The Bulls recently announced that they have promoted a number of members of their basketball operations department (Twitter link via K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago). Those promotions and new titles are as follows:

Pat Connelly – Assistant GM
Faizan Hasnany – Manager of basketball strategy and analytics
Josh Malone – Assistant GM of Windy City Bulls (G League affiliate)
Steve Pankow – Head equipment manager and travel coordinator
Chigozie Umeadi – Director of basketball operations and GM of Windy City Bulls
Steve Weinman – VP of basketball strategy and analytics

Chicago has also added Shaquin Albrow to serve as senior manager of team services and player development.

Here’s more from the Central Division:

Darnell Mayberry of The Athletic gives the Bulls a “B” grade for their relatively quiet offseason. Mayberry notes that the team was able to re-sign Zach LaVine, Andre Drummond was a solid and affordable bench upgrade at center, and Goran Dragic will be an insurance policy in case Lonzo Ball is still dealing with his knee injury when the season rolls around. Dalen Terry, the No. 18 overall pick of last month’s draft, also looks like a solid addition, but Mayberry expects him to spend a good amount of time in the G League as he works on adding muscle and improving his shot.
Eric Nehm of The Athletic covers a number of Bucks-related topics in his latest mailbag column. Nehm doesn’t believe Milwaukee will give veteran extensions to either Khris Middleton or Brook Lopez before the season starts — Lopez is entering the last year of his contract at $13.9MM, while Middleton has a $40.4MM player option for 2023/24. The 2023 offseason will be a crucial one for the Bucks, Nehm notes, because if Milwaukee fails to win the Finals, ownership might choose to dodge the luxury tax and retool the roster with the salary cap flexibility created by Lopez and possibly Middleton becoming free agents.
The Wisconsin Herd, the Bucks‘ G League affiliate, have acquired the rights to Alex Antetokounmpo and a second-round pick in the 2023 G League draft from the Raptors 905, Toronto’s affiliate, in exchange for the rights to Jalen Lecque, the Herd announced in a press release. The youngest Antetokounmpo brother appeared in a total of 23 G League games last season, but didn’t receive much playing time.

Extension Rumors: Hunter, C. Johnson, Poole, G. Williams, More

July 19th, 2022 at 4:05pm CST by Luke Adams

Of the players eligible for rookie scale extensions this offseason, Spurs forward Keldon Johnson became the first to sign a new deal worth less than the maximum. According to Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report (Twitter link), Johnson’s new four-year contract will have a base value of $74MM, with $1.5MM in annual unlikely incentives that could push the total value of the deal to $80MM.

Johnson’s contract will serve as a point of comparison for many of the other extension-eligible players who will be negotiating with their respective teams this summer and fall, Fischer writes in a full story for Bleacher Report.

For instance, representatives for De’Andre Hunter figure to seek a similar deal for their client, though the Hawks may be reluctant to invest heavily in a player who has appeared in just 76 games in the last two seasons due to injuries. One cap strategist who spoke to Bleacher Report said Hunter’s injury concerns “are very real,” and sources tell Fischer that the 24-year-old and Atlanta are approximately $20MM apart in their discussions about a four-year extension.

Johnson’s extension with San Antonio is worth roughly the same amount annually as deals signed by sharpshooters like Davis Bertans, Duncan Robinson, and Joe Harris, and all four of those deals will be reference points when Cameron Johnson and the Suns discuss a new deal, according to Fischer, who suggests an extension for Johnson could easily surpass $15MM per year.

Here are a few more notes from Fischer on rookie scale extension candidates from around the NBA:

There’s a sense that the Warriors may be best off waiting on an extension for Jordan Poole unless they can get a team-friendly rate this offseason, Fischer writes. “What’s the upside in locking him in now?” the team cap strategist said. “He’s not Luka Doncic or Donovan Mitchell, who’ve proven they can carry a team. He’s close. If he does it again, you pay him. But prior to this year he was a borderline rotation player.”
Cap experts who spoke to Fischer believes that the Celtics‘ four-year extension for Robert Williams (worth $48MM, plus $6MM in incentives) will be a benchmark for their extension talks with Grant Williams. However, rival executives don’t think the C’s will want to spend much more on Grant than they did on Robert.
The Trail Blazers and Nassir Little may both be motivated to work out a new deal this summer. As Fischer explains, Little could increase his value (and his price tag) in 2022/23 if he’s part of Portland’s new-look starting lineup, but his injury history might make him inclined to take a guaranteed payday sooner rather than later.
There has been no traction on extension talks between the Sixers and Matisse Thybulle, sources tell Bleacher Report. Fischer also classifies Bulls guard Coby White as a player who is unlikely to sign an extension before the season.

Keegan Murray Named Las Vegas Summer League MVP

July 18th, 2022 at 1:16pm CST by Luke Adams

Kings forward Keegan Murray has been named the Most Valuable Player of the 2022 Las Vegas Summer League, according to an announcement from the NBA (Twitter link).

Murray, the fourth overall pick in this year’s draft, averaged 23.3 points, 7.3 rebounds, 2.0 assists, and 1.3 steals in his four Summer League games. He also made 50% of his shots from the field and knocked down 40% of his 8.8 three-point attempts per contest.

It was a terrific start for a rookie who figures to play a major role for a Kings team that badly wants to end its 16-year playoff drought. The first player selected after the consensus top three prospects were off the board, Murray was rated behind No. 5 pick Jaden Ivey on some experts’ draft boards, so the two youngsters will likely be measured against one another for at least the first year or two of their professional careers.

Murray looks like he’ll be an excellent fit on a Kings roster led by De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis, two talented scorers who aren’t elite defenders or reliable outside shooters. The former Iowa standout is capable of stretching the floor and handling a variety of defensive assignments, so he’ll presumably see plenty of action alongside Sacramento’s two stars.

Tari Eason (Rockets), Quentin Grimes (Knicks), Sandro Mamukelashvili (Bucks), and Cam Thomas (Nets) joined Murray on the All-Summer League First Team, according to the league (Twitter links). Thomas and another King, Davion Mitchell, shared the Summer League MVP award in 2021.

This year’s All-Summer League Second Team is made up of Santi Aldama (Grizzlies), Bennedict Mathurin (Pacers), Marko Simonovic (Bulls), Trendon Watford (Trail Blazers), and Lindell Wigginton (Bucks).