Chicago Bulls: Poised for a playoff push after Nikola Vucevic trade

The Chicago Bulls have made the biggest splash in the early goings of NBA trade deadline day by acquiring center Nikola Vucevic from the Orlando Magic. Rumor had it that the Magic would demand a massive package for Vucevic, who is a two-time NBA All-Star, and apparently, they were satisfied by the return they got from Chicago.

Vucevic is in the midst of a career year, averaging 24.5 points,11.8 rebounds and 3.8 assists while shooting 48.0 percent from the floor and 40.6 percent from 3-point range.

The Chicago Bulls look ready for a playoff push after trading for Nikola Vucevic

The trade package looks like this:

Chicago gets:

• Nikola Vucevic
• Al-Farouq Aminu

Orlando gets:

• Otto Porter Jr.
• Wendell Carter Jr.
• 2021 first-round pick
• 2023 first-round pick

The Bulls made a serious win-now push in this deal. Porter’s $28.5 million salary expires after this season, but he’s played only 25 games this season and hasn’t been impressive when he’s been on the floor. Carter is just 21 years old and has plenty of potential, but he’s not going to help lead the Bulls to the promised land any time soon.

The Bulls currently sit 10th in the Eastern Conference with a 19-24 record, which gives them the final play-in spot. It’s clear that the Bulls have bigger goals than squeaking into the playoffs by happenstance in a fairly miserable conference.

Their record isn’t impressive, but they’re only 3.0 games behind the Charlotte Hornets for fourth in the conference, and they rightly deduced that their window to make a playoff run has never been wider since acquiring Zach LaVine. More than anything, this trade shows that executive vice president Arturas Karnisovas recognizes the competitive window that LaVine provides.

Instead of trading LaVine and hitting the reset button, hoping that maybe they could get a player who would one day be as good as him, they chose to build around him and construct a veteran core. You can’t squander a season like the one LaVine is having, averaging 28.5 hyper-efficient points per game.

He’s shooting 52.0 percent from the floor, 43.7 percent from behind the 3-point line and doing so with heavy usage at 30.8 percent.

For the first time, Zach LaVine has a true co-star alongside him. There’s no championship upside on the Bulls’ roster right now, but after years of roaming the NBA wilderness, they at least finally have the opportunity to make some serious noise in the Eastern Conference playoff picture.