Nikola Vucevic – Chicago Bulls (formerly Orlando Magic)
While many did not see this coming, getting traded from the Orlando Magic was the best thing that could have ever happened to Nikola Vucevic! The now 2x All-Star center is 30-years-old and while he is in the prime of his career, he was wasting away the best years of his career with the Orlando Magic.
They had some talented players with Nikola Vucevic, Gordon and Fournier, but let’s be real, the Orlando Magic has no shot to be anything more than a team that gets beaten up in the first-round of the playoffs. There was nothing going for this organization, which is why they made the moves they did at the NBA trade deadline to try and set themselves up for future success.
We have to give the Magic’s front-office a ton of credit for making these moves, because it definitely is not easy to tear everything down that you have built over the years and put your job on the line, but this was a move that had to be made and it is better that they did it now rather than 2-3 years down the line.
Getting traded to the Chicago Bulls is a great situation for Nikola Vucevic not only because they are a young team on the rise, but because he has a true All-Star partner in Zach LaVine to play with now. Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic are both having the best years of their careers and together, they could definitely create a formidable “one-two” punch in the Eastern Conference.
With young talents in Lauri Markkanen, Coby White and Patrick Williams around the Bulls’ two All-Stars, there is a lot to like about this team and they could look to add one more high-level talent in the offseason to turn themselves into true championship contenders in the Eastern Conference.
The Bulls are currently a couple of games back from being the 8-seed in the Eastern Conference, but with the playoff expansion this year, the Chicago Bulls should be able to play themselves into one of the two play-in games this season and have a real shot to make the playoffs. The future is very bright not just for Chicago, but for Nikola Vucevic and the remainder of his career.
