Days after Nikola Vucevic argued for the Chicago Bulls to keep their core together for one more run at the playoffs, the center led the team in scoring with 25 points in a 113-110 loss to the lowly Indiana Pacers in front to 16,777 fans at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
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The second consecutive loss dropped the Bulls to 23-24 on the season.
Chicago is on a downward trend before the trade deadline on Feb. 5, and the front office should be looking send players like Coby White to contenders so they build up ammo with draft capital.
The Bulls tried to do that earlier in the season.
Per Michael Scotto of Hoops Hype, Chicago tried to take advantage of the Boston Celtics luxury tax situation. The Celtics are $12.1 million above the luxury tax, and the Bulls wanted to see if they could trade for sixth-man guard Anfernee Simons, who has a $27.68 million contract expiring.
The Bulls were willing to deal Vucevic.
“For example, earlier this season, well before Boston surged into second place in the East, the Chicago Bulls inquired on the possibility of trading center Nikola Vucevic for Simons and a Celtics first-round pick, which would have lowered Boston’s tax bill, but the Celtics weren’t interested, league sources told HoopsHype,” Scotto wrote.
The Celtics don’t plan to give up a first-round pick to avoid the luxury tax, and the Bulls still have an aging center on a team destined to hang in for a potential play-in spot.
Nikola Vucevic wants to finish the season with the Chicago Bulls
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Earlier this week, Vucevic said he wanted to stay with Chicago.
“As far as the deadline, there’s always talks, always things that could happen, and this is a unique year because of the contract situation for a lot of guys, but I do like this group,” Vucevic said. “I enjoy being around these guys…
“There are a lot of guys that have a chip on their shoulders and want to prove people wrong because we’ve been doubted. I would like to see what we can do and where we can go this year, but the front office has to make decisions and we all understand that.”
The Bulls didn’t help the front office’s case to keep him or White around after suffering a loss to the now 12-36 Pacers.
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Chicago Bulls’ Coby White makes trade preference known
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