Nikola Vucevic revealed that his trade from the Orlando Magic to the Chicago Bulls was a mutual decision in which he was looped in by his former team.

‘‘Yeah, it wasn’t a situation where they traded me out of nowhere,’’ Vucevic said of the deal that sent him from the Magic to the Bulls last season. ‘‘It was something that we discussed a lot, and it was mutually agreed. It wasn’t a situation where they told me I wasn’t going to get traded and then I get traded. A lot of it came from my communication with them, so it wasn’t a surprise for me.

‘‘Never will I ever have any bad feelings toward Orlando; it will always be positive. It was time for the team to go in a different direction. It was time for something new to happen. It wasn’t working the way we wanted, and I think it worked out for both parties in the end.’’

The Magic acquired Wendell Carter Jr., Otto Porter Jr. and two first round picks for Vucevic and Al-Farouq Aminu.

While Alex Caruso received a four-year, $37 million offer from the Chicago Bulls in free agency, he was willing to stay with the Los Angeles Lakers on a two-year, $20 million deal. Caruso's deal with the Bulls was only guaranteed for $30 million.

The Lakers, however, stayed at their offer of $21 million over three years. 

Caruso was the Lakers' first call in free agency, but they never budged from their initial offer. 

“No dollars and cents higher than that ever came back,” Caruso said. “There’s no counters. It was just, I think, that was kind of all they had. And at that point, it was like, okay, I have to make an executive decision based on real life here.”

The Lakers eventually signed Talen Horton-Tucker to a three-year, $31 million deal. 

Coby White has been cleared to return to game action for the Chicago Bulls following his offseason shoulder surgery.

‘‘Provided everything goes well with his stuff here [Sunday] — no setbacks, which we don’t anticipate there being any — he’ll be cleared to go,’’ Billy Donovan said.

The Bulls acquired Lonzo Ball, Alex Caruso and Ayo Dosunmu this offseason, which will limit the minutes available to White.

‘‘It’s not like he’s playing afraid or tentative on defense,’’ Donovan said. ‘‘It’s not even about that. He’s just got to get into the physicality of the game. He’s got to work on that kind of stuff. He’s not shying away from playing defense, he just hasn’t done it for six months.’’

The NBA's investigation into possible pre-free agency tampering on the sign-and-trade acquisitions of Lonzo Ball and Kyle Lowry are in their advanced stages.

The Chicago Bulls acquired Ball from the New Orleans Pelicans, while the Miami Heat acquired Lowry from the Toronto Raptors.

The NBA has conducted interviews with team executives and player agents while also gathering electronic messaging of front office executives of the four teams.

The NBA instituted more stringent penalties in these cases in 2019, including raising the maximum fine for teams to $10 million and including the possibility of suspending team executives, forfeiting draft picks and even the voiding of contracts. 

The Milwaukee Bucks lost a 2022 second round pick for tampering charges with Bogdan Bogdanovic. 

Nikola Vucevic has tested positive for COVID-19 and will miss at least 10 days due to health and safety protocols.

Vucevic is in his first full season with the Chicago Bulls, averaging 13.6 points, 10.9 rebounds and 4.3 assists in 34.1 minutes per game.

During an appearance on J.J. Redick's podcast, Alex Caruso indirectly he confirmed he was willing to remain with the Los Angeles Lakers on a contract worth less than the one offered by the Chicago Bulls.

“So going into (free agency), I really didn’t know what to expect, and I really didn’t hear much from any team — including the Lakers — leading up to 6 p.m., and then they called, and the Lakers made their offer," said Caruso as transcribed by Silver Screen & Roll. "It wasn’t an offer I was going to accept because I was going to be able to get considerably more money from another team.

“There was talk with a bunch of different people about the mid-level, which I think was four (years), $40 million. We never got anybody to that actual number, but there were a couple teams that got close. And then my agent texted me and said ‘hey, Chicago is interested in signing you.’ I didn’t know that financially it was going to be able to work. I thought that once Zo (Lonzo Ball) signed with Chicago, I was like ‘OK, so Chicago is off the list.’

“I got on the phone with (Bulls GM Artūras Karnišovas) and with (head coach Billy Donovan), and the way they were just talking about how they wanted to play and how they saw me as a player, I thought they hit the nail on the head. I thought everything they said, I was like ‘I think that’s accurate, I think that’s what I bring to the table, I think that’s how I can help the team win, I think that’s the direction this team wants to go.’ I thought there was a need for the stuff that I had.

“Essentially we got that offer, went back to L.A., asked if they could do the same, they said ‘no.’ Asked for something else that was a little less, they said ‘no.’ So I said ‘OK, if that’s what it comes to, I’m ready to go to Chicago and start the next chapter.’ It’s been great. I think it’s been a great decision for me.”

The best offer from the Lakers was only $15 million for two seasons compared to the four-year, $37 million deal from the Bulls.  

Caruso is represented by Greg Lawrence of Wasserman. 

Through eight games, Nikola Vucevic is averaging more minutes than ever, but he's taking fewer shots and averaging his lowest points per game since his second NBA season. However, the Chicago Bulls center has no complaints.

"It's just the way we play that they have the ball. I think as a big man that's usually how it is; it's just the rough life of a big man," Vucevic said with a laugh. "The guards have more of the ball. It's fine. I think it's just more for me how to find my fit within all that. I understand that I might not be able to average what I averaged in Orlando, but it's totally fine. I think the guys understand that as well, so we're just trying to work on that. Obviously, we know that Zach (Lavine) and DeMar (DeRozan) are primary scorers. I think after that there's a lot of opportunities for a lot of guys."

Vucevic continues to be a top rebounder, as he averages 10.8 boards per game. He's also averaging a career-best 4.5 assists per game.

"Obviously, my role is a little different than what I had offensively last year when I came here than with Orlando," Vucevic said. "There's more talent and more guys who can score. So it's a little different offensively for me. So I just try to do different things, passing, defensively rebounding; there are many ways you can impact the game, screening and doing other things that I can to help the team. When you have so much talent around you, you have to adjust, a little bit change your game and play a different way. And that's what I've been trying to do.