The Chicago Bulls made another big splash on Tuesday, working out a sign-and-trade deal with the San Antonio Spurs for DeMar DeRozan. The Bulls are giving DeRozan a hefty three-year, $85 million deal to come aboard, with Thaddeus Young, Al-Farouq Aminu and draft picks going to San Antonio.
Bulls All-Star center Nikola Vucevic played with DeRozan at USC, and he's pumped up for this acquisition:
Only pic I could find 😂. But 12 years later on same team again! Welcome to the squad brother!!! @DeMar_DeRozan Let’s do this!!!! @chicagobulls pic.twitter.com/1QtAkBcNwr
— Nikola Vucevic (@NikolaVucevic) August 3, 2021
Hilariously enough, Vucevic and DeRozan were also USC teammates with Taj Gibson, a former Bull. And the coach when they were all there together? That's right, it was former Bulls head coach Tim Floyd. Crazy how that works out.
Vucevic is excited about the offseason in general. On Day 1 of free agency, Chicago got commitments from Lonzo Ball and Alex Caruso. Now it's DeRozan. The Bulls have totally remade their roster in a matter of days:
#Bullsnation are you excited or what???
Welcome to the squad @DeMar_DeRozan @ZO2_ @ACFresh21!!! Let’s get it!!!!— Nikola Vucevic (@NikolaVucevic) August 3, 2021
Chicago is doing its best to be a contender in the Eastern Conference. The Bulls will likely be trotting out a starting lineup of DeRozan, Vucevic, Ball, Zach LaVine and Patrick Williams, which is a major upgrade in talent from recent years as the franchise sputtered along following the Jimmy Butler trade.
The new front office led by Arturas Karnisovas and Marc Eversley isn't pulling any punches and is being aggressive. They're all in on building a winning team now. There are certainly some risks involved given the money shelled out and the draft capital sent away in some of these acquisitions, including the Vucevic one before the trade deadline, but this should be a playoff team that could make some noise.
The Bulls are back, and now we'll see just how back they are.
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