Early NBA Free Agency Tracker: Vucevic Gets New Deal, Prince Doesn’t

NBA Free Agencydoesn’t start until Friday, but that’s not stopping teams from negotiating with their own players on contract extensions. Two teams came to early decisions on potential free agents today. TheChicago Bullsdecided to bring back center Nikola Vucevic while theMinnesota Timberwolvesdeclined to pick up their team option on the final year of forward Taurean Prince’s deal.

Here’s an extended write-up on Vucevic. The news on Prince is below. We will update this thread as more deals become known.

Bulls Retain Their Center

The Chicago Bulls are bringing back former All-Star center Nikola Vucevic on a three-year contract extension.

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowskibroke the newsearlier today via Twitter:

Vucevic is coming off of the final year of his four-year, $100 million contract that he signed with theOrlando Magicback in 2019.

The 12-year veteran has played for the Bulls since 2020. He’s produced nearly identical stats over the last two seasons, scoring 17.6 points along with 11 rebounds and 3.2 assists per contest.

Vucevic’s play has earned him a reputation as one of the better centers in the league though the Bulls struggled in what was otherwise a down 40-42 season as the No. 10 seed in the Eastern Conference.

Despite a play-in berth, they failed to reach the playoffs after a 102-91 loss to the eventual Eastern Conference championMiami Heat, a game in which Vucevic went for 12 points and nine rebounds on 6-9 shooting from the field.

At 32 years old, Vucevic returns to a Bulls team that has a big off-season ahead to solidify a contending roster. According toNBA.com, they forfeited their only pick in this year’s draft ‘due to violating rules governing free agency discussions.’

Nevertheless, they were able to acquire University of Tennessee small forward Julian Phillips — the No. 35 overall pick originally selected by the波士顿凯尔特人队via theWashington Wizards.

如何ever, the Bulls won’t be able to pair up Vucevic with point guard Lonzo Ball, who is expected to miss his second straight season with a lingering left knee injury.

Bringing back Vucevic is a critical step in the right direction for the franchise as they look to win more with him alongside fellow stars Zach LaVine and DeMar Derozan — a trio that has not advanced farther than the first round in any of their three years together.

Minnesota Turns Their Back on Prince

The Minnesota Timberwolves declined the final year of forward Taurean Prince’s contract, making him an unrestricted free agent in the signing period that begins this Friday.

Adrian Wojnarowskireported the news.

The Timberwolves are declining to guarantee Taurean Prince’s $7.4M contract for the 2023-2024 season, sources tell ESPN. Prince — who’s averaged 10.4 points in his seven years — joins the free agent market.

Prince scored 9.1 points in 22.1 minutes per game for the ‘Wolves last season, shooting 46.7% from the floor and 38.1% from the three-point arc.

Judging by his response, Prince was at least mildly surprised by the news.

Clippers send Eric Gordon into unrestricted free agency

The Los Angeles Clippers are not guaranteeing Eric Gordon’s $21 million deal for 2023-24, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

The decision will save the Californian franchise$110 million in luxury taxwith Gordon set to turn 35 in December.

The shooting guard was sent to the Clippers from theHouston Rocketsat February’s trade deadline. He averaged 11.0 points on 42.3 percent three point shooting and 2.1 assists post trade.