Bulls’ Nikola Vucevic says he has strong relationship with Arturas Karnisovas

Bulls center Nikola Vucevic is still hearing his name in trade rumors, but he is not exactly sweating it.

Vucevic, speaking with BasketNews before Montenegro’s 27-point loss to Lithuania at EuroBasket 2025, made it clear that he and head of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas are on the same page. Vucevic poured in 20 points with 10 rebounds and a little of everything else in the game, then spoke highly of his boss.

“It has been very good. We have good communication,” Vucevic said. “He has always been pretty open with me. Even just a couple of weeks ago, when the buyout news came out, he actually texted me to tell me not to worry about it and not to read into it.”

Vucevic said his relationship with Karnisovas goes back to his pre-draft workout days, when Karnisovas was with Houston and even took him out to dinner. “So I have known him for a very long time,” he added.

That trust matters, because Vucevic has been the subject of trade and buyout chatter for months. He turns 35 in October and is on an expiring $21.48 million deal.

He defended the front office, pointing out that the team has been hit hard by injuries and only recently pivoted toward younger pieces.

As for his future, Vucevic said he has “almost no doubt” he will open the season in Chicago. He added that he is open to staying longer.

“Yes, of course,” he said. “We will see. I have one more year left with them, so we will see what happens. But yeah, obviously, I would love to win in Chicago.”

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