Chicago Bulls big man Andre Drummond has found himself in trade rumors as of late amid his reported desire to play for a contender. But, all that chatter is put to bed for the time being.

The veteran has exercised his $3.3 million player option to return to the Windy City in 2023-24, as reported by Adrian Wojnarowski.

This is a tad surprising since Drummond barely played in 2022-23. He averaged a mere 12.3 minutes per night, which was a career-low. The center scored 6.0 points and grabbed 6.6 boards per outing, though, proving to be a valuable backup for Nikola Vucevic, who just inked a new three-year deal to stay with the Bulls.

Drummond's career has been quite the whirlwind since 2019-20. He spent seven seasons with the Detroit Pistons before moving around to seven different organizations since then. Last year was his first with Chicago after previous stops with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Brooklyn Nets, and Los Angeles Lakers, among others.

Marc Stein previously reported this week that the Dallas Mavericks were expected to sign Andre Drummond in free agency because the widespread expectation was the former UConn standout would decline the player option.

While he didn't, there is still the chance the Bulls trade him this summer. Given their lack of depth behind Vooch however, the franchise must go out and find another guy to play the five if they ship off Drummond elsewhere.

In 11 NBA seasons, Drummond has posted averages of 13.2 points and 12.7 rebounds. If nothing else, he's an absolute force on the boards. That's still valuable in today's game.