The Chicago Bulls made their first big move of the offseason. With 24 hours left before the 2026 NBA Draft, the Bulls acquired their starting center for next season in a three-team trade with the Brooklyn Nets and the Minnesota Timberwolves. The details of the trade, as first reported by ESPN's Shams Charania, are as follows:
Chicago Bulls receive: Nic Claxton
Brooklyn Nets receive: Julius Randle, No. 28 pick
Minnesota Timberwolves receive: No. 33 pick
This is a fascinating trade for all parties. Most of the attention will understandably be given to the Minnesota part of the deal, as they have seemingly salary-dumped Randle and had to move five spots back in the draft to do so. This will seemingly augur another move as they have created a massive $33.3 million traded player exception.
The Bulls solved their biggest roster hole without sacrificing any assets.
Brooklyn and Chicago, on the other hand, had a similar approach to their offseason. As the two teams with the most cap space in the league, both the Nets and the Bulls preferred to trade for players into their cap space rather than sign free agents. Chicago essentially used its $56 million in cap room to bring in Claxton without giving anything up.
Claxton, making $23.1 million next season, will bring Chicago's functional cap space to around $33 million. Given the lack of great options in unrestricted free agency, the Bulls likely thought that they wouldn't have done better than Claxton in the open market.
The Bulls desperately needed a starting center, and the free agent market is bereft of starting-caliber talent. Isaiah Hartenstein would be the best option there, but the Thunder have a team option on him, making him unlikely to hit the market. The best options after that are Mitchell Robinson and Rob Williams, who are older, more injury-prone, and probably not better than Claxton.
It's difficult to know what to expect from Claxton. The Nets have been so bad over the last three seasons that it's hard to judge the 27-year-old center on the defensive side of the ball. Earlier in his career, he was an excellent switch defender who could guard multiple positions while being able to protect the rim.
Whether he can still do that at the highest level remains to be seen. The good thing is that the Bulls are likely not making the playoffs any time soon. As long as Claxton can give them rim protection, rebounding, and a lob threat as a starting center during the regular season, this would be a solid pickup.
Considering where NBA contracts are these days, paying Claxton $44 million over the next two years is completely reasonable. He should be tradeable on this contract if the Bulls wanted to upgrade the center spot next summer. It's difficult to imagine that the Bulls will be stuck with this deal. Plus, what else were they going to do with their cap space this offseason?
This is obviously not the sexiest acquisition for a team with the most cap space this summer. Bulls fans may have expected something splashier, but new GM Bryson Graham was never going to rush the process and overpay for a free agent. As the first move of the offseason, this is a very nice deal given that it cost the Bulls absolutely nothing.
Grade: B+
| More Bulls News and Rumors |
Add us as a preferred source on Google