It wasn’t long ago that Nikola Mirotic was one of the most valuable assets in the NBA. He was supposed to be another cornerstone for a Bulls team primed to be among the Eastern elite, at least in theory. After three middling seasons, a full Chicago tear-down, and a broken jaw, Mirotic is finally living up to his “best player in Europe” hype.
Since his return to the court, the Bulls own the league’s sixth-best winning percentage, better than the Spurs, Celtics, Rockets, and Cavaliers. I’m not saying the turnaround is all because of Mirotic, but I’m not not saying it’s all because of Mirotic. Regardless, he’s having his best season in the NBA by far. The shooting prowess that presumed to make him a star is now on display. At a scalding 46.3 percent, he’s shooting about 10 percentage points higher on 3’s this season than the rest of his career.
Maybe it was one of those weird things where adversity brings people closer together. Maybe, sometimes, you just want to hear someone say they’re sorry. Whatever the case may be, not only is Mirotic playing spectacularly, but he and Portis as an off-the-bench frontcourt pairing have gone together better than mayonnaise and jelly.
In a 15-game sample, it’s hard to tell if this is just an elongated hot streak or the new normal for Mirotic.
What remains the same from a year ago is Mirotic’s desire to get traded out of Chicago. This past offseason, the two parties came to an agreement on a two-year deal. The Bulls have a team option for his second year, but Mirotic has veto rights on any trade for this season. It’s an open secret that Mirotic would waive the clause to get to a playoff-bound destination. Of course, this iteration of Mirotic, averaging 18-and-7 with marksman shooting, would be a helpful addition for any contender. Prospective trading partners would just have to suss out if the comeback is for real or a 15-game mirage.
I have a half dozen potential ports of call that make sense for everybody involved.
Eastern Conference Landing Spots:
The Bucks employ a top-5 player in the league. A Stretch Armstrong Swiss Army knife who should be playing center, flanked by four shooters around him. With this deal, Milwaukee gets a perfect complimentary player they don’t really have, while Chicago gets a fascinating prospect in Thon Maker and basically Mirotic-lite with Mirza Teletovic.
The catch with this one though is Maker might be dead. However, the notoriously cheap Jerry Reinsdorf might see that as a positive and find a loophole to shed the salary of Maker’s contract.
A deal to get Justise Winslow is enticing since he’d be a great fit next to Lauri Markkanen. Winslow hasn’t reached his lofty expectations coming out of Duke, but he’s not even 22 years old yet. His lack of growth could be more to do with his situation, and Chicago should be looking for buy-low players with potential.
Markieff Morris is in a down year for a team lacking depth. If the Wizards want to be a serious contender in the East, they need to find an upgrade. Mirotic represents the perfect fit as their starting-4. Morris and Tomas Satoransky are decent pieces on good contracts combining for less than what Mirotic makes. So the money savings and sweetener of a second rounder could be enough for the Bulls to bite.
Western Conference Landing Spots:
Right off the bat, I like imagining the new heights of anyone going to San Antonio will probably see. The Spurs machine constantly puts players in the best positions for success. Mirotic would be no exception and would fit right along in Gregg Popovich’s glass menagerie of international players. I question if the mélange of Rudy Gay, Bryn Forbes, and Derrick White is enough for Chicago to make the move, or if San Antonio would have to add draft compensation to grease the rails. Either way, put Mirotic in silver and black and I’d bet he’d play even better than he is now.
Utah could desperately use Mirotic’s shooting. The Jazz score the fourth-fewest points in the league and shoot the third-lowest 3-point percentage. Pairing Derrick Favors with Rudy Gobert doesn’t provide the Jazz enough spacing, but swap in Mirotic and we’re onto something.
We know Favors isn’t long for Utah and will likely be moved by the deadline. But he wouldn’t be helpful for the Bulls. Getting Alec Burks and Tony Bradley, a rookie project center with four years of team control, and a second rounder could be tempting.
I can’t personally confirm this, but I’d guess Tom Thibodeau doesn’t like change. We all know he has a penchant for his old players. Thibodeau coached Mirotic for two seasons and Robin Lopez just seems like a Thibs guy. Getting them in the Northstar State to a team currently fourth in the West feels right.
Minnesota is actually one of the two teams worse at shooting 3’s than Utah (Orlando is worse than both of them). Mirotic and his three made 3’s a game would be a godsend.
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Mirotic becomes eligible to be traded on Jan. 14. Of course, the Bulls can always decide to keep their Montenegrin big man and try to ride the electric wave they’re on and stampede their way into the playoffs. They’re 12 games under .500 right now, but they did go 10-5 in the 15 game span since Mirotic came back from his broken jaw. Again, not saying it’s because of Mirotic, just connecting the dots. Everyone loves a comeback story.