SAN FRANCISCO – Very little surprises Nikola Vucevic these days.
Thursday morning did.
The Bulls big man sat courtside at the Chase Center, expecting the local San Francisco media to be hovering all around him as his name is once again front and center in the trade rumor mill with the Warriors once again the leading suitors for his services.
Yet, it was only a crowd of one, leading to Vucevic smirking when asked if he felt like his game against the Warriors later that night was a try-out.
“Not really,” he responded. “There’s been many rumors in the past where I then played that certain team I’ve been linked to or not, and it doesn’t really affect me because I don’t think that way.”
He doesn’t, and rightfully so.
The Sun-Times reported earlier this season that Vucevic was linked to Golden State, who has been looking to add spacing with a versatile five, but nothing came of it.
Things have changed a bit, however. The Warriors began the season 12-3 but have been skidding downward since. They entered the game with the Bulls losers of two straight, sitting at 21-22, and on the outside looking in for a spot in the Western Conference playoffs.
Steph Curry is 36 years old, and the dynasty is crumbling around him.
They already showed that they aren’t ready for that, trading for Dennis Schroder, but it hasn’t stopped the bleeding.
Then factor in Curry’s latest comments after Wednesday’s loss to the Kings in which he talked about the luxury of having a center who can stretch the floor and hit threes.
“Just the way the league is going right now, having space, as many shooters as possible at whatever position, the five, it definitely helps,” Curry told reporters. “You have a counter to aggressive defenses that want to take the ball out of my hands.”
Vucevic would be that counter.
He entered the game with the Warriors averaging 20.3 points per game, while shooting a ridiculous 41.1% from three-point range.
The NBA trade deadline is Feb. 6, and business is about to pick up. Just keep Vucevic away from the chatter.
“It is funny to me because there are so many rumors and so many different trades thrown around with my name in them, and many other players for that matter, and then 99% of the time it never happens, it’s not true,” Vucevic said. “I’ve been around 14 years so I know how it all works, so it’s about brushing it aside and focusing on the things I can control, which is my play. When you’re younger you probably think about it more, it affects you more, you look into it more. Now, unless something materializes and I hear it from my people, it’s just rumors that I’m not going to put much into.”
Not just words either. Bulls executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas is on the trip, and Vucevic said he had no desire to exercise Karnisovas’ open-door policy about asking what’s going on.
“When it comes to that stuff (talking to Karnisovas), I let my agents do that,” he said. “If you start getting caught up in it, it has to affect your play, it has to affect the way you are on a daily basis as a basketball player. I don’t want that to happen.”
Although the next week will get interesting for Vucevic and the Bulls. Talks around the league have been heating up, especially with the Jimmy Butler situation in Miami, and the Sun-Times continues reporting that there are no untouchables on the Bulls roster – rookie Matas Buzelis not included.
“When you get older you understand the business side of all this,” Vucevic added. “You see the situation you’re in, you see it is a possibility and just accept it and deal with it.”