Bulls land game-changing center in recent mock draft

Chicago still has a lot to accomplish to ensure it has a first-round pick in the 2025 NBA Draft.

The franchise still owes a first-round selection to the San Antonio Spurs from the DeMar DeRozan trade in 2021. As that pick is top-10 protected this season, to be sure it stays in The Windy City, the Bulls will need to finish with one of the sixth-worst records in the league.

It seems like that ship has already sailed, so it will be up to some ping-pong balls and the basketball gods to determine whether or not Chicago has a chance at making a pick in what’s widely considered to be a loaded draft class.

If they do get that chance, though, Jonathan Wasserman of Bleacher Report has given the Bulls an ideal and potentially franchise-changing prospect in his latest mock draft.

Wasserman has Chicago just squeezing into the top 10 and taking Duke center Khaman Maluach.

Maluach is a 7-foot-2, 250-pound center with gobs of natural explosiveness and athleticism. Wasserman compares him to former Blue Devils big man and current Dallas Mavericks center Dereck Lively II. Maluach is bigger, bouncier and more threatening at the rim than Lively, though, and has shown more promise as a jump shooter.

The South Sudan product has started all 20 games for coach Jon Scheyer. He’s averaging 8.3 points and 6.2 rebounds in 20 minutes per game and shooting nearly 80 percent from the field, mainly on putbacks, lob finishes and cuts from the dunkers spot. He’s dominating the glass on both ends, as evidenced by his 2.5 offensive rebounds a night.

But what sets the 18-year-old apart is his shooting touch. Maluach is connecting on 77.3 percent of his free-throw attempts, and when he had the chance to show off his range before committing to Duke, he showed glimpses of becoming a true floor-spacing big.

With his size, explosiveness, athleticism and finishing ability, Maluach has a guaranteed role in the league. But if he can truly develop that shooting range, he has the potential to become one of the best centers in the NBA. A hypothetically rebuilding Bulls squad would have the time and patience to let a frontcourt of Maluach and Matas Buzelis grow together.

Will the Bulls and Warriors consummate a trade before the deadline?

There’s no longer smoke billowing from the rumor mill when it comes to Chicago and Golden State; there’s fire.

Multiple reports have stated the Warriors’ interest in both Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic. The Bulls are stubbornly refusing to lower their asking price of a first-round pick for Vucevic, but it appears Golden State is legitimately interested in adding LaVine as a secondary scorer next to Stephen Curry—perhaps even more interested than they are in Jimmy Butler.

It seems like there’s too much news linking the Bulls and Warriors to Vucevic and/or LaVine for something not to happen. But it may have to *gulp* come down to Chicago’s front office deciding whether or not it’s willing to relent and let its veterans go.