By Shams Charania, Darnell Mayberry and John Hollinger
The Chicago Bulls and center Nikola Vučević agreed to a contract extension, the franchise announced Wednesday. It is for three years and $60 million, league sources told The Athletic.Here’s what you need to know:
- Vučević, 32, will be under contract through the 2025-26 season. He appeared in all 82 games last season and averaged 17.6 points, 11 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 33.5 minutes.
- Vučević arrived in Chicago (along with Al-Farouq Aminu) in 2021 after a trade with Orlando for Wendell Carter Jr., Otto Porter Jr. and two first-round picks.
- The Bulls finished 40-42 last season, 10th in the Eastern Conference.
The Athletic’s instant analysis:
Why the Bulls made this deal
The Bulls have said all along that they wanted to re-sign Vučević, and getting him back on a three-year, $60 million deal checks their biggest box this offseason.
With that deal squared away, the Bulls can focus on finding a replacement for starting point guard Lonzo Ball, who will miss the 2023-24 season following knee surgery. Bulls management also said it will target shooting in free agency. — Mayberry
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Making sense of the extension
Vučević’s contract extension initially looks like a depressing case of the Bulls going all-in on whatever it is they’re doing, and in the end that may be all it proves to be.
However, I will refrain from dunking on this particular contract until I see the totality of what Chicago ends up doing this summer and how much of Vučević’s deal ends up being guaranteed, which is rarely reported at the outset of a signing leak.
The particular reason I’m playing wait-and-see here is because of a phenomenon known as the Bird rights trap, which I wrote about extensively two years ago and will summarize here:
The Bird rights trap is when a team is incentivized to overpay its own free agent with Bird rights because it will be impossible to sign a replacement of similar quality if that player leaves. It is particularly notable with teams in Chicago’s exact position: Far enough from the tax line that they can almost certainly manage to limbo under it, but without the possibility of generating sufficient cap room if the player in question departs.
In Vučević’s case, the Bulls would have had to renounce the rights to Vučević, Coby White, Ayo Dosunmu and Derrick Jones Jr. just to get far enough under the cap to sign a contract in the range of the one Vučević agreed to. In an uncertain center market, their other realistic alternatives were Christian Wood, Dwight Powell and Mason Plumlee.
The other reason to sign this extension now, rather than wait out free agency and see if Vooch could be retained for less, is that Vučević is immediately tradeable on an extension, but not as a free agent. (Also, they won’t be penalized a draft pick for leaking this on June 28, but hey, bygones.)
Unlike most extensions, Vucevic’s contract can be traded in July because his salary did not increase by more than five percent in the extension (in fact it almost certainly will decrease in 2023-24, based on the reported contract dollars), and the extension is not for more than three years. Thus, Chicago lost none of its optionality to make an upgrade on the trade market if one becomes available, and could use Vooch’s estimated $18 million in 2023-24 as a salary match.
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By keeping Vučević’s contract on their books, the Bulls fill a position in the short term, but also fill a volume of salary-matching ballast that could be needed for any future moves. That’s if Plan A works and they’re still trying to win. Alternatively, if goes to Plan B — and I still suspect it’s headed that way eventually — Vooch’s contract just isn’t big enough to hurt them in a rebuild, especially if the final year isn’t fully guaranteed.
So let’s hold our fire here while the rest of the Bulls’ offseason plays out. It’s easy to see the raw numbers as a total overpay — my BORD$ formula had Vučević worth roughly half this amount — but the specific cap logic here suggests a wait-and-see approach. — Hollinger
What they’re saying
“During his time in Chicago, Nikola has proven that he is a special player both on and off the court,” Bulls executive vice president of basketball operations Artūras Karnišovas said in a statement. “He has produced at an elite level since we acquired him and will remain an integral part of our foundation moving forward.
“Nikola’s willingness to do whatever is asked of him to help us win, while also being an established veteran leader for our group, makes him a valuable component of the culture of our organization. He is a consummate professional and tremendous teammate, which plays a big role in making us an attractive destination for other players. We are excited to have him continue to be part of our journey.”
Vučevć said he was “excited to continue my journey as a Chicago Bull.”
“Since I have arrived in Chicago, everyone in the organization has been incredibly welcoming to my family and me,” he said in a statement. “I am motivated more than ever to achieve our mutual goals as a team. I want to thank the Reinsdorf family and Artūras for continuing to believe in me. I also want to thank Bulls fans for the constant support, you guys are the best part about playing in Chicago. We will work harder than ever to bring success to the city of Chicago.”
Required reading
- What should Bulls do with Lonzo Ball, DeMar DeRozan, Zach LaVine and Nikola Vučević?
- How will Bulls solve their 3-point shooting woes? Is free agency the answer?
(Photo: Raj Mehta / USA Today)
