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The Chicago Bulls ended up being a part of one of the first (and most unexpected) big moves of the NBA offseason.
It was reported by Shams Charania late on Monday night that Chicago was a part of a three-team deal with the Brooklyn Nets and Minnesota Timberwolves.
As a part of the deal, Julius Randle and the 28th overall pick go to the Nets, the 33rd overall pick goes to Minnesota, and Nic Claxton will be sent to the Bulls. The trade was the rare three-team deal where it is clearly a win for all parties involved.
Starting with the least obvious winner of the bunch, the Brooklyn Nets. The Nets are in the midst of a long rebuild. But with the new "3-2-1 NBA Draft Lottery" rules that penalizes the teams that finish in the bottom-3, acquiring a player who raises your floor in the regular season isn't a back-breaker like it was when you wanted to be one of the worst teams in the league.
Also having a player who can be a great finisher in the pick-and-roll like Randle will be a boon for a team that drafted several guards last year, and looked poised to take another one this draft as well.
Minnesota simply needed to find anyway to shed salary to clear the way for a long-term Ayo Dosunmu contract. The former Bull was excellent for Minnesota every step of the way, including a 43-point outburst in Game 4 of the Western Conference First Round against the Denver Nuggets. Almost immediately following the news of the Randle trade, the T-Wolves signed Dosunmu to a deal for five-years, $112 million.
Chicago is perhaps the simplest part of this trade to figure out. The Bulls--as we have discussed often here--had a massive hole at the center position ever since they shipped Nikola Vucevic off to Boston last season.
The role was open for long so it was clear they would fill it eventually, but there were many options that would either take a large contract--think signing a restricted free agent like Jalen Duren or Walker Kessler--or decent draft pick, like using 15th overall on a center or trading up for one.
But Bulls Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations Bryson Graham pulled off the unthinkable, with Chicago adding an athletic rim-protector without giving up anything in terms of significant assets.
The Bulls will send Mo Geueye's contract to Minnesota to make the trade legal, as they did need to send out something to complete the deal. But otherwise, Chicago comes out of this deal with their 4th and 15th picks still in tow.
Chicago simply acted as a third team to facilitate this Minnesota-Brooklyn trade, taking on a salary the Nets wanted to get rid of to make the numbers work. It was an excellent piece of work by Graham, as the Bulls will still have $30 million in salary cap space to work with this offseason after acquiring Claxton, who will immediately slot in as their starting center and primary rim-protector.
Over the 2025-26 season, Claxton averaged 11.7 PPG, 6.9 RPG, 3.7 APG (career-high) and 1.1 BPG.
Continue reading...
It was reported by Shams Charania late on Monday night that Chicago was a part of a three-team deal with the Brooklyn Nets and Minnesota Timberwolves.
As a part of the deal, Julius Randle and the 28th overall pick go to the Nets, the 33rd overall pick goes to Minnesota, and Nic Claxton will be sent to the Bulls. The trade was the rare three-team deal where it is clearly a win for all parties involved.
Starting with the least obvious winner of the bunch, the Brooklyn Nets. The Nets are in the midst of a long rebuild. But with the new "3-2-1 NBA Draft Lottery" rules that penalizes the teams that finish in the bottom-3, acquiring a player who raises your floor in the regular season isn't a back-breaker like it was when you wanted to be one of the worst teams in the league.
Also having a player who can be a great finisher in the pick-and-roll like Randle will be a boon for a team that drafted several guards last year, and looked poised to take another one this draft as well.
Minnesota simply needed to find anyway to shed salary to clear the way for a long-term Ayo Dosunmu contract. The former Bull was excellent for Minnesota every step of the way, including a 43-point outburst in Game 4 of the Western Conference First Round against the Denver Nuggets. Almost immediately following the news of the Randle trade, the T-Wolves signed Dosunmu to a deal for five-years, $112 million.
Chicago is perhaps the simplest part of this trade to figure out. The Bulls--as we have discussed often here--had a massive hole at the center position ever since they shipped Nikola Vucevic off to Boston last season.
The role was open for long so it was clear they would fill it eventually, but there were many options that would either take a large contract--think signing a restricted free agent like Jalen Duren or Walker Kessler--or decent draft pick, like using 15th overall on a center or trading up for one.
But Bulls Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations Bryson Graham pulled off the unthinkable, with Chicago adding an athletic rim-protector without giving up anything in terms of significant assets.
The Bulls will send Mo Geueye's contract to Minnesota to make the trade legal, as they did need to send out something to complete the deal. But otherwise, Chicago comes out of this deal with their 4th and 15th picks still in tow.
Chicago simply acted as a third team to facilitate this Minnesota-Brooklyn trade, taking on a salary the Nets wanted to get rid of to make the numbers work. It was an excellent piece of work by Graham, as the Bulls will still have $30 million in salary cap space to work with this offseason after acquiring Claxton, who will immediately slot in as their starting center and primary rim-protector.
Over the 2025-26 season, Claxton averaged 11.7 PPG, 6.9 RPG, 3.7 APG (career-high) and 1.1 BPG.
Continue reading...
