NEWSLETTER
Do you remember Vasilije Micic? If not, let me refresh.
Micic is a EuroLeague standout who found himself caught up in Chicago Bulls offseason rumors last July. A Serbian media outlet called Mozzart Sport initially reported that Arturas Karnisovas’ squad had an interest in acquiring the draft rights to the veteran guard. However, roughly six days later, we learned that Micic had signed a new three-year deal with Anadolu Efes of the EuroLeague to continue dominating overseas.
Now, with a second-consecutive EuroLeague Final Four MVP under his belt (after taking down former-Bull Nikola Mirotic and Real Madrid in the championship game this weekend), rumors about Micic have started up again.
According to long-time Insider Marc Stein, there is “already NBA interest” in the 28-year-old guard for next season.
Oklahoma City acquired the rights to Micic in the same December 2020 deal in which it landed Al Horford from Philadelphia. The Thunder indeed also acquired a future first-round pick (2025) in the same trade.
I'm told there is already NBA interest in Micic, 28, for next season. https://t.co/kxvRXfFWLb
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) May 21, 2022
As Stein notes, Micic would technically have to join the Oklahoma City Thunder if he were to head out west. The organization acquired his draft rights from Philadelphia when taking Al Horford’s huge contract off the 76ers back in December of 2020.
Whether or not a rebuilding Thunder team would have interest in Micic’s services is a fair question, as is whether or not the former EuroLeague MVP would even want to play for the currently non-competitive franchise. With that being the case, I have to assume phone calls are being made about acquiring the veteran’s draft rights, and prior reports make it impossible not to think the Bulls could be involved in those conversations.
For a little more background on what kind of player an NBA team could be signing, here is a brief blurb from my write-up last summer:
Micic averaged 16.7 points, 4.9 assists, 2.6 rebounds, and 1.2 steals per game while shooting an efficient 48.9 percent from the floor and 38.9 percent from 3-point range. The perimeter player also averaged 4.3 free-throw attempts per game.
Micic doesn’t come off as the most gifted facilitator, but he could potentially offer a similarly stable presence at the point guard position as Tomas Satoransky with a much higher offensive upside. Micic is a crafty ballhandler who has a knack for getting to the rim. His 3-point shot has also been nothing short of reliable in recent years, and he does offer quality positional size at six-foot-four. Upon a brief film watch, his lack of athleticism will likely hurt him on the defensive end at the next level, but perhaps his high IQ can help make up for some of that.
This past EuroLeague season, Micic continued his strong play with 18.4 points, 4.6 assists, and 3.4 rebounds per game over 34 contests. He also shot 46.1 percent from the field and roughly 34 percent from downtown. In other words, he showed practically zero drop-offs from his excellent season the year before.
Considering he’s a veteran two-way player with plenty of wins on his resume, it’s not hard to envision a playoff-caliber team taking a chance on Micic. But, still, he has to be willing to leave behind all of that overseas success, and whether or not he’ll finally do just that (originally drafted in 2014) appears to remain up in the air.
