By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
After staying silent on NBA’s trade deadline day, Chicago Bulls vice president Arturas Karnisovas stated that they are planning to re-sign center Nikola Vucevic, ESPN reports.
“He’s having an unbelievable year, and we want him to be here,” Karnisovas said. “I think for this group, that was important. Now that the trade deadline has passed, this is the group that we’re sticking with, and they can go out there, play, put their foot on the gas, and go on a run.”
Chicago acquired Vucevic from the Orlando Magic at the trade deadline in March 2021, Karnisovas’ first significant roster move as the team’s head of basketball operations.
The Montenegrin big man is averaging 18 points and 11,3 rebounds per game and is the only player to start all 55 games for the Bulls this season.
Vucevic is in the final year of a four-year, 100 million-dollar deal he signed with the Magic in 2019.
The Bulls, sitting on the No. 9 seed at the Eastern conference standings with a 26-29 score, are planning on keeping their core with Nikola Vucevic, DeMar DeRozan, and Zach Lavine for a while.
“What’s the saying when you get married? Through sickness and health, you stick through it. That’s how I look at it when I’m with a group of guys. Through sickness and health, ’til death do us part,” DeRozan said after losing to the Nets.