NBA Trades: 7 center trade targets the Pelicans must chase to avoid disaster
By Cal Durrett
3) Nikola Vucevic
A potential outside-the-box trade target for New Orleans could be Chicago Bulls center Nikola Vucevic. Vuvevic isn't a perfect fit considering his struggles defending in space, but he does provide rebounding, interior scoring, and theoretical floor spacing.
Over his last three and a half seasons with the Bulls, despite shooting slightly below league average from deep, he's hit 376 threes, making him one of the more prolific stretch fives in the NBA. He is also probably gettable with the Bulls looking to rebuild by possibly tanking to keep their 2025 first away from the San Antonio Spurs and landing the first overall pick.
Vuvevic might not help them win many more games but replacing him with a less experienced or less talented player would help them tank while it would give the Pelicans a trade target. Finding a matching salary would be tricky with Vuvevic making $20 million next season, though. One possibility may be trading CJ McCollum and a first-round pick for Vucevic and Jevon Carter.
Losing McCollumn's production would hurt but he would likely come off the bench next season and is set to make $66 million the next two seasons. Trading him would save them almost $7 million next season and $10 million in 2025-26. With three firsts in next year's draft, trading one and McCollumn, getting a starting center and saving nearly $17 million might make sense.