Golden State Warriors fans will get a chance to put a face to the rumors when Nikola Vucevic and the Chicago Bulls visit San Francisco on Thursday night.
The veteran big man has been linked to the vertically challenged Warriors ever since the Stephen Curry-led squad began tumbling from its lofty perch earlier this season.
After a 12-3 start, the Warriors have lost 19 of 28 to fall below .500 and out of the Western Conference playoff picture.
Golden State got a scoreless nine minutes from starting center Kevon Looney and 11 points and eight rebounds in 24 minutes off the bench from second-year big man Trayce Jackson-Davis in Wednesday’s 123-117 road loss to the Sacramento Kings.
But perhaps most telling about the Warriors’ big-man issues was the fact that Quinten Post, a rookie who has seen more action in the G League than in the NBA this season, was summoned from bench with 2:15 to go and the game tied at 113.
Post committed two fouls — one an illegal screen that resulted in a turnover — as Golden State was outscored 10-4 down the stretch. Golden State had an earlier 18-point lead.
With little production from inside the key, the Warriors chucked up 48 3-pointers — compared to 44 two-pointers –against the Kings. They were coming off a 40-point loss Monday to the Boston Celtics in which they attempted 53 threes.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr says he has no problem taking 50 or more threes in a game.
“The way the NBA works these days with so many people launching threes,” he said. “If you make a bunch of them, you’re in great shape; if you don’t and the other team makes a bunch, you can be reeling quickly. The game has these huge swings and you’re more vulnerable than ever.”
Vucevic, who has a traditional low-post offensive game the likes of which Warriors fans haven’t seen since Andrew Bogut, has scored in double figures in all but one game this season. He poured in 40 in Chicago’s home loss to the Charlotte Hornets last Friday before contributing an average of 15.5 points and 9.5 rebounds to the Bulls’ split on the first two stops of their current three-game western swing.
Chicago had lost five in a row before Monday’s 112-99 road win over the Los Angeles Clippers. Zach LaVine, another hot name in the NBA rumor mill, went for 35 points in the win.
The San Francisco performance will be the second on Lonzo Ball’s California homecoming. The former UCLA standout, after successfully overcoming a career-threatening knee injury, made his second start of the season in the win over the Clippers, contributing five points, four rebounds, four assists and three steals in 26 minutes.
Following two days off, Ball is expected to face the Warriors for the first time since January 2022. He last played in the Bay Area in November 2021.
Bulls coach Billy Donovan finds the comeback, one in which Ball received a meniscus transplant, almost unfathomable.
“It speaks volumes to his resiliency and toughness mentally because he really was on an island by himself,” Donovan said. “He was away from our team. He was in rehab. That can become lonely. And it wasn’t like it was going on for six months. That went on for two and a half years. So I’m just happy for him that he can be out there playing.”
One of the best games of Ball’s career came against the Warriors in May 2021. Playing for the New Orleans Pelicans, Ball bombed in seven 3-pointers while accumulating 33 points, six rebounds and four assists in a home win.
