Anyone who’s anyone expects the Chicago Bulls to trade Nikola Mirotic before the NBA’s Feb. 8 deadline. Except, here’s the thing: What if they don’t? What if their asking price is too high?
Cost may, in fact, be an issue for any suitors looking to strike deal, because the Bulls are demanding a first-round pick in exchange for the 26-year-old’s services, according to NBA.com’s David Aldridge:
The Chicago Bulls will almost certainly deal Nikola Mirotic by the deadline. The Cavs haven’t been linked to Mirotic, a poor defender who nonetheless is scoring at a significant clip (17.3 per game, including 44.7 percent on 3-pointers). But Cleveland’s bench needs a boost. Chicago has insisted on a first-rounder in return.
The Mirotic-to-the-Jazz trade connection reported a couple of weeks ago is still possible, but Utah has fallen off in the Western Conference and is now four and a half games out of the last playoff spot. Rudy Gobert’s return to the lineup Friday could give the Jazz the impetus to take a run at the postseason, but would that make Utah more aggressive to make a potential deal or be more inclined to keep its current group together and hope continuity and a big French shot-blocking demon could get it on a roll?
Getting a first-rounder for Mirotic could prove difficult. His numbers warrant one in a vacuum, but the Bulls will encounter more than a few holdups.
First and foremost, Mirotic has veto power over any deal. Most don’t expect him to be too choosy when it comes to switching teams, but he effectively controls his own market. Suitors know this. And they will play Chicago’s smaller-than-normal scope up in negotiations.
While the Bulls can circumvent this wrinkle by picking up Mirotic’s team option, doing so could create a different kind of squeezed market. Some teams may only be interested in him as a partial-season rental and have no desire to pay him through 2018-19. And even if that’s not a sticking point, the fear that his performance this season could be an anomaly will factor into the equation.
Finally, as Aldridge notes, some of Mirotic’s preferred suitors and most aggressive admirers could play themselves out of the buyer market. The Utah Jazz probably shouldn’t cough up their own first-rounder for a non-All-Star, and other potential suitors such as the Washington Wizards and Milwaukee Bucks continue to hover outside the top five in their conference, making it difficult for them to justify forking over a king’s ransom for a still-developing talent like Mirotic.
