The Chicago Bulls and Orlando Magic pulled off the first blockbuster deal of the 2021 NBA trade deadline. To the surprise of many, the Bulls were able to pry Nikola Vucevic out of Orlando to pair him with their own All-Star, Zach Lavine.
NBA Analysis Network shared news of the Bulls aggressively making a push to acquire Vucevic minutes before the news was broken by Adrian Wojnarowski on Twitter.
The whole scenario features Nikola Vucevic and Al Farouq-Aminu to the Bulls in exchange for Wendell Carter Jr. and Otto Porter Jr. with two first round picks (2021 & 2023) to Orlando.
The Bulls will be sending Wendell Carter Jr., Otto Porter Jr., a 2021 first-round draft pick and a 2023 first-round trade pick in exchange for Vucevic and Al-Farouq Aminu. This signals the end of an era in Orlando and the start of a new one in Chicago.
Billy Donovan took over as the Bulls’ head coach this offseason expecting another rebuilding job, but the Bulls have expedited that process with this trade.
The Bulls now have their foundation in place to cement themselves as playoff contenders in the Eastern Conference. A team with LaVine and Vucevic will be difficult to stop offensively and will give some of the higher-seeded teams in the conference some issues in early-round matchups should they get past the play-in games.
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For Orlando, they now have two young, intriguing big men in Carter Jr. and Mo Bamba. The remainder of the season should be used as an evaluation period to see which they want to build around in the middle.
Porter Jr. was being discussed as a potential buyout candidate with the Bulls, and it is likely that happens now that he has been traded to Orlando. It would not be a surprise if he never suits up in a Magic uniform.
Expect other dominoes to now begin falling, as the Magic still have Aaron Gordon, Evan Fournier and Terrence Ross that could be moved today.
