The European star is finally heading to the NBA after the Bulls acquired him on draft night in 2011.
European star Nikola Mirotic has agreed to a three-year, $17 million deal with the Chicago Bulls, according to Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski.
The Bulls acquired Mirotic from the Minnesota Timberwolves in a draft-night trade in 2011. The 23-year-old stayed overseas with Real Madrid of the ACB League for several years after getting drafted to develop his game, and he also had a hefty buyout in his contract.
This was the first offseason it made sense for Mirotic to come over to the Bulls, because he was finally off the NBA's rookie wage scale. The youngster agreed to pay a $3 million buyout to join Chicago.
Wojnarowski reports the Bulls will be using their mid-level exception to sign Mirotic, but that's contingent on acquiring Pau Gasol from the Los Angeles Lakers in a sign-and-trade. It was reported Saturday that the Bulls were going to sign Gasol outright with cap space after the amnesty of Carlos Boozer, meaning the Mirotic signing would have to be cap space as well if no Gasol sign-and-trade is worked out.
Mirotic comes to Chicago with a considerable amount of hype. He enjoyed a lot of success with Real Madrid, becoming the youngest player ever to win MVP of the ACB League in 2013. His season recently ended with a bit of a thud, but that shouldn't temper expectations too much.
Mirotic will join Gasol, Joakim Noah and Taj Gibson in an absolutely loaded Bulls frontcourt. Mirotic will bring a different dimension than the others, as he's a stretch 4 that will be able to help space the floor for Derrick Rose. This will be especially helpful on a Bulls team that needed to add more offensive firepower this offseason.