Wild Trade Proposal Sends Nets’ Nic Claxton to Bulls

Ever since acquiring him from the Orlando Magic, the Chicago Bulls have been reluctant to move off of the two-time All-Star. With each passing trade deadline, his name is almost always mentioned, but a deal never comes to fruition. Now 35 years old, Vucevic is exiting his prime, and Chicago could soon be in the market for a new starting center.

Bleacher Report's Greg Swartz believes the Brooklyn Nets' starting center, Nic Claxton, could—or at least should—be Vucevic's eventual predecessor, as he detailed in his "1 Ambitious Trade Target for Every Team During 2025-26 NBA Season" piece, which was published earlier this week.

"Nic Claxton, 26, is younger, a better defender [than Vucevic] and has a reasonable three years and $69.5 million remaining on his deal. He should also be very available from a Brooklyn Nets team that's undergoing a complete rebuild right now," Swartz wrote.

It seems unlikely that Brooklyn would be willing to move Claxton as of today, barring some sort of outrageous return package being sent its way. The front office has maintained the position that "everyone is available," but its hard to imagine the Nets dealing Claxton without a true plan in place to assume the starting gig.

Day'Ron Sharpe certainly has the capacity to, and his bargain of a contract certainly helps, but the depth outside of he and Claxton is the unknown. How will 2025 first-rounder Danny Wolf look come the regular season? Will his physicallity and rebounding skills from college translate to the professional level?

The same questions can be applied to Fanbo Zeng, who is even more of an unknown than Wolf is. Maybe later in the regular season, when Brooklyn has a bit of a better idea of what these guys can offer, than the idea of trading Claxton can be discussed.

And even in the event that Brooklyn decides to part with its starting anchor, it's hard to imagine it dealing him within the Eastern Conference. Claxton has been a vital part of the organization for years now, and while the Nets should do right by him if they move on, sending him to a conference rival wouldn't be all that smart.

The proposal certainly isn't insane. On paper, it actually makes a lot of sense from Chicago's perspective, we may just have to wait for some chips to fall before we begin talking about a complete fire sale on Brooklyn's end.