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Once the dust settles on Donovan Mitchell and Kevin Durant, the Miami Heat could reportedly have their sights set on Nikola Vucevic. Sean Deveney of Heavy. com spoke with a league executive who floated the idea of the Heat sending Duncan Robinson and Omar Yurt-Sevin to the Chicago Bulls in exchange for Vucevic. The executive said:
“The Bulls had some interest in Duncan Robinson before, if the Heat really Want Vuc, that’s probably the basis of the trade, Vuc for Robinson. The Heat will have to add [Omer] Yurtseven, give Chicago a big man to work with. The Bulls may want them to take back Tony Bradley, just To make a little more money under taxes in case they want to add someone.”
From a purely asset perspective, this looks like executive wishful thinking.
Robinson’s five-year, $90 million deal is arguably the worst contract signed in the summer of 2021. He has struggled with one of his high-level NBA skills (shooting) for much of the 2021-22 season and was dropped in the playoff rotation. The Heat probably still owe Robinson $64.4 million; it’s hard to imagine his trade value being lower.
Yurtseven flashed some extra rebounds in limited minutes last season, but he’s a 24-year-old Formerly undrafted free agent. He has the potential to develop into a net-plus player — he had a minus-1.0 plus-minus last season according to Basketball Reference — but he’s been at his best as a role player.
Those two players combined don’t touch Vucevic’s value — especially considering the Bulls give up in 2021 Trade to trade him. Chicago sent a promising young big man Wendell Carter Jr., a pick that became the No. 8 pick in the 2021 draft and a first-round pick in 2023 with a light protection for Vucet Vicky landed.
While he didn’t quite live up to All-Star expectations, Vucevic is still an excellent, versatile offensive center for the Play for a team with playoff dreams. Unless the Bulls get a more suitable player, it doesn’t make sense to trade him.
Robinson is not, considering the roster is already packed with players who can play No. 2 and No. 3. Yurtseven would be an earthquake downgrade in every sense.
If this deal fails, it would be malfeasance at the front desk.
