Getty Donovan Clingan #32 of the UConn Huskies.
The Chicago Bulls are currently slated to pick No. 11 overall in the 2024 draft. ESPN’s Jonathan Givony projects them to select G League Ignite standout Ron Holland.
Holland is a 6-foot-8 forward who the analyst also linked to teams as high as the Detroit Pistons with the No. 5 pick. However, Givony also shed light on rumors about the Bulls pursuing a trade for another target.
That target is UConn center and two-time national champion Donovan Clingan.
“It’s hard to see a scenario in which Clingan — the No. 3 player on ESPN’s Big Board — falls to No. 7,” Givony wrote on May 31.
“There’s chatter around the league that teams such as Portland, Memphis and Chicago might look to move up to draft Clingan earlier than this, but in this mock scenario, he falls right into the Trail Blazers’ lap. Clingan brings size, length, defensive prowess, nonstop intensity and passing ability along with a back-to-back national championship pedigree.”
Clingan averaged 13.0 points, 7.4 points, and 1.5 assists this past season.
It was his first season starting for the back-to-back champion Huskies. Clingan – a Big East All-Freshman selection off the bench – also came away with Conference and NCAA Tournament honors.
Donovan Clingan Could Be Worth Protege for Nikola Vucevic
Checking in at 7-foot-2 and 282 pounds, Clingan averaged 2.5 blocks last season. He only hit two of nine threes and shot 55.8% at the free throw line during his collegiate career.
But there is optimism that the big man can extend his range to become a perimeter threat.
The Bulls have Nikola Vucevic for two more years after inking the big man to a three-year, $60 million contract last offseason. But they could lose Andre Drummond to free agency as his two-year, $6.6 million pact expires.
Drummond entertained the idea of joining the Dallas Mavericks last offseason, which would have reunited him with teammate Derrick Jones Jr. and potentially headed to the NBA Finals.
A trade for Clingan could give the Bulls a true succession plan behind the 32-year-old Vucevic.
Donovan Clingan’s 7-foot-7 wingspan played a major role in UConn’s national championship game win over Purdue, contesting countless shots inside the arc all game. Didn’t finish with an eye-popping line, but did his job like he has all season.
The Bulls attempted to do something similar with former second-round pick Marko Simonovic. But he proved ineffective on defense and was waived in July 2023 after logging 16 total appearances across two seasons.
Clingan enters the league with a much different base skill set which could help him in his development with someone like Vucevic to help him refine his offense.
Bulls Trade Helped Build NBA Finals Roster
Jones is not the only former Bull in the NBA Finals, or even on his own team. Teammate Daniel Gafford a second-round pick by the Bulls in 2019 and was part of the trade that sent former Bulls first-rounder Chandler Hutchison to the Washington Wizards in 2021.
That deal brought forward Javonte Green to Chicago from Boston – Dallas’ opponent in these Finals – while sending big man Luke Kornet to the Celtics.
Daniel. Gafford.
There were plenty of Bulls ties throughout this postseason.
Former head coaches Tom Thibodeau (New York Knicks) and Jim Boylen (Indiana Pacers) led playoff teams, the latter with former Bulls draft picks Doug McDermott and James Johnson.
Ex-first-rounder Wendell Carter Jr.’s Orlando Magic made it. Bulls executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas (Denver Nuggets), general manager Marc Eversley, and head coach Billy Donovan’s (Oklahoma City Thunder) old teams had extended stays.
Collectively, however, the current Bulls have just one postseason appearance in four seasons.