{"id":81509,"date":"2025-08-20T03:58:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-20T03:58:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/81509\/"},"modified":"2025-08-20T03:58:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-20T03:58:07","slug":"nikola-vucevic-talks-status-with-bulls-goals-eurobasket","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/81509\/","title":{"rendered":"Nikola Vucevic Talks Status With Bulls, Goals, EuroBasket"},"content":{"rendered":"

Despite being the subject of trade and buyout speculation this summer, Nikola Vucevic<\/a> has \u201calmost no doubt\u201d that he\u2019ll open the 2025\/26 season with the Bulls, he told Theo Quintard of Basket USA<\/a> (hat tip to Eurohoops<\/a>).<\/p>\n

On a Bleacher Report live stream last month<\/a>, NBA insider Jake Fischer responded to a question from a Bulls fan about Vucevic by noting that there has been no real trade market for the big man this offseason and speculating that a mid-season buyout could be more likely than a trade.<\/p>\n

According to Vucevic, Bulls general manager Marc Eversley got in touch with him around that time to tell him to dismiss the rumors swirling about his future.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are always rumors,\u201d Vuceveic said to Basket USA (text translated from French). \u201cMost of them are wrong. It\u2019s a little bit of anything. For example, the buyout (rumor) was misinterpreted in Europe. The reporter said that if there was no trade during the season, there might be a buyout option before the deadline. I know how business works. In the final year of the contract, there is always speculation. Since I can\u2019t control anything, I\u2019m trying not to take the lead.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here are a few more of the most notable remarks that Vucevic made during the interview:<\/p>\n

The Bulls\u2019 starting center said he was happy with his individual performance in 2024\/25, but acknowledged it was \u201cfrustrating\u201d to once again be eliminated in the play-in tournament. He added that he\u2019d like to have the chance to compete for a championship before his NBA career is over. \u201cIn Europe, it\u2019s easier to join a big team,\u201d Vucevic said. \u201cBut in the NBA, it is complicated because of rules and trades.\u201d
\nVucevic believes this year\u2019s EuroBasket tournament may be the last time he plays for Montenegro in an international offseason event. \u201cPerhaps I will change my mind, but for the time being, I believe that this will be my last,\u201d he said. \u201cThe next (major tournament) is only two years away. I\u2019ll be 36, 37. I would also like to focus more on my career in the NBA. With age, I have to think about my body and recovery, before I re-attack the season. During the year, I am often absent because of travel, training and matches. Summer is an opportunity to make up for lost time with my three children and enjoy it. At the moment, that\u2019s my biggest priority.\u201d
\nAfter finishing 13th at EuroBasket 2022, Montenegro will have a challenging path to the round of 16 in the 2025 tournament, Vucevic admitted. The Montenegrin national team is in a group with Germany, Finland, Great Britain, Lithuania, and Sweden. \u201cIf (we get) through the first round, it will be a huge success,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have absent players, injuries, so it will be quite difficult as it stands, but I think we still have a small chance to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Despite being the subject of trade and buyout speculation this summer, Nikola Vucevic has \u201calmost no doubt\u201d that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":81510,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,34713,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-81509","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-basketball","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-basketball","11":"tag-nikola-vucevic","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81509","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81509"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81509\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}