Nikola Vucevic probably feels like the 20-year-old cousin still stuck at the kid’s table. You’ll join the adults when you can drink, Vooch!
Over the past handful of months, he has watched the front office begin to drastically reshape the Chicago Bulls. They got rid of arguably the roster’s two most impactful talents, DeMar DeRozan and Alex Caruso, and invested in multiple young players. Vucevic also found his name floated around in trade rumors, alluding to the fact that the change in Chicago is far from over.
Nevertheless, the big man remains on the team 𓄧heading into a year that feels far more about development than winning. And he recently shared his thoughts on that .
Vucevic, as he often does, spoke rather bluntly about the situation. While he expౠressed confidence in a handful of the players on the roster, he also emphasized that𓆉 what the future holds is entirely unclear.
“I think it’s just the way it is now. If things are not happening the way they should, change happens,” Nikola Vucevic told Stein. “Sometimes it might be for the better, sometimes it might be for the worse. But we’ll see. Obviously losing DeMar and [Alex] Caruso, it’ll be an adjustment. It’s an opportunity for some other guys to step up and play — and we got [Josh] Giddey. We’ll just have to see how we do. It’s part of the NBA; change happens all the time. I think once we get going and once we start [training] camp and playing, I don’t think it’s something we’ll be thinking about. We’ll just be thinking about playing the best we can and seeing what we can do. Us as players, once we start going, we don’t think about it too much.”
I respect Vucevic for his honesty. He could easily spew positivity and false hope knowing darn well that the Chicago Bulls are swimming in murky waters. At the same time, I have to imagine he knows that what rests ahead likely isn’t what he originally signed up for. The Bulls are far closer to the bottom of the Eastern Conference than the top, and they have every incentive to keep it that way with their 2025 first-round pick at risk of landing in San Antonio (top 10 protected).
Indeed, I think we can all agree it doesn’t sound like Vucevic is particularly happy. In his wide-ranging interview with Stein, he gushed about DeMar DeRozan and expressed this wait-and-see approach multiple times. If he was fully bought into the direction of the organization, he wouldn’t be saying that sometimes certain moves made could be “for the worse.”
Nobody can blame Vucevic for not sounding entirely bought in, however. He is a 33-year-old big man who has been stuck in med💃iocre situations throughout his whole career. The plan in Chicago was to win basketball games, and he has only achieved a single above-.500 campaigns thus far. The chances of another one happening this season are remarkably low, and I think we can safely assume he knows that.
This is probably precisely why Vucevic doesn’t appear to be stressing a potential trade. Stein asked the big man how he dealt with the constant speculation, and Vucevic’s answer felt both safe and telling.
“Honestly, I know it’s a pretty basic answer, but you don’t have much control over it, so you kind of just wait and see,” Nikola Vucevic said. “If they decide to change and trade me, it’s on them to do. Just like a year and a half ago I was a free agent and I could have chosen to go elsewhere. It’s just the way this business works and so now we’ll see. Maybe we’ll play well and everything is great. It’s kind of a wait-and-see game.”
Does this read like a player who would be bummed if he ended up in a new situation? To be sure, I’m not trying to read between the lines and suggest that Vucevic WANTS a trade. Nobody ever really likes getting uprooted, especially this close to the season. But he’s a win-now player outside a win-now environment. So while he might play this off as the common “it’s out of my control” answer, he doesn’t necessarily stress that – win or lose – Chicago is where he hopes to be.
Vucevic doesn’t come off as the type of player who will ruffle feathers. Although, he also doesn’t necessarily come off as someone who will hide his frustration either. If the Chicago Bulls are losing as much as we all expect, Vucevic probably isn’t going to look as motivated as the youngsters with something to prove. This is ultimately why his presence and role on the roster will be one of the top narratives to follow in the coming months. Can he become a veteran leader for a young team or will he stack the box score in hopes of enticing a new team?
In the wise words of Nikola Vucevic, “we’ll see.”
Anyway, you can subscribe to Marc Stein’s Subtack for the full interview with Nikola Vucevic . The big man didn’t shy away from answering any questions, including what happened to his once-sweet 3-point stroke.
