Just read
the full breakdown of the deal.
The Pelicans are sending center Omer Asik, guards Tony Allen and Jameer Nelson and a future first-round draft pick to Chicago, which will send New Orleans’ 2018 second-round pick back to the Pelicans, league sources said. As part of the deal, the Pelicans will guarantee Mirotic’s $12.5 million team option for the 2018-19 season, league sources said. Mirotic signed a two-year contract in free agency last summer, which gave him rights to veto any trade for a year if the team involved didn’t guarantee the option.
I guess the first round pick is the best part for the Bulls, though it's hard to get excited about that right now. In the more immediate future, they're giving up a pick, and who knows when or how good that future pick will be. If the Luol Deng has taught us anything, it's that GarPax are terrible when it comes to handling conditions on picks. Also, Nelson and Allen are free agents at the end of the season, but Asik's contract runs a couple more years.
I wasn't under the delusion that they were going to get a great haul for Mirotic, but I was hoping for a bit more shrewdness and savvy. Taking on bad contracts and giving away picks to sweeten deals while getting future picks that may well be worthless isn't a great rebuilding strategy. Keeping the guy who punched out a teammate, especially when he's the lesser talent, is also highly questionable to say the least.
It just doesn't seem like they have a plan or much smarts, though they're certainly convinced of their own genius. Granted, Dunn and LaVine are looking like good pick-ups, and Markkanen is having a very promising rookie season, but at this point I'm waiting for them to mess it up somehow; say, trading Markkanen and an unprotected first round pick to OKC for Carmelo Anthony. Whenever they do make a good move, I'm waiting for the bad one that follows.