Mirotic Finally Traded to New Orleans

The Bulls have traded Nikola Mirotic to the New Orleans Pelicans for Omer Asik and a 2018 protected first-round pick. Also headed to the Bulls are Tony Allen and Jameer Nelson, both of whom will be waived. Furthermore, the Bulls returned to the Pelicans the second-round pick they acquired in the trade for Quincy Pondexter, who also will be waived, and they will be able to swap second-round picks with the Pelicans in 2021.

The trade that didn’t happen Tuesday finally went down Thursday after the Pelicans agreed to pick up Mirotic’s $12.5 million option for next year. Meanwhile, the Bulls inherited Asik’s overpriced contract, which allows him to make $24.7 million from now until the 2019–20 season. That’s a lot for a player who’s struggled to find minutes in a year when he’s averaging career lows across the board. But sometimes, you have to give a little to get what you want, which was that first-round pick for Mirotic.

The Pelicans retain their pick if it’s in the top-5 this year and in the top-8 the next. It becomes unprotected the year after that. They’re a fringe playoff team right now, so the Bulls will get the pick immediately unless there’s a major collapse in New Orleans. With the rebuild in its early stages, they could stand to have that pick right away.

So ends the Mirotic saga in Chicago. This season alone, we experienced both the best and the worst of him. He’s been great on the court and floated between hero and villain off it. But the Bulls are looking toward the future, and he just didn’t fit the mold Gar Forman and John Paxson have envisioned.

With the final holdover from the Tom Thibodeau era officially departed, we can say with pure honesty that it’s time to look toward the future. We can all start anew with the players now and grow to love them as they have nobody from the old guard to throw their own wrench into progress. Then, we can say goodbye to Robin Lopez and Justin Holiday between now and next week.