PORTLAND, Ore. _ When the Bulls pulled him off the practice floor early Tuesday, Nikola Mirotic admitted he thought a trade to the Pelicans was close.
"I said to myself, 'It's happening. It's happening. It could happen.' That's the only thing that popped into my head," Mirotic said Wednesday. "I said, 'OK, be calm. Wait. Do what they told you to do. Step off the court.'
"I was doing some calls to my agent and my family. That's all. The thing I want is the best for me and my future in the NBA. And I'm sure the Bulls are doing what's the best for them too."
Mirotic, who multiple sources said used his ability to veto the trade based on the structure of his contract, didn't admit to much else. He wants not only the $12.5 million team option guaranteed for next season, but also to keep his Bird rights _ which allow a team to exceed the salary cap to re-sign its own free agents _ at a time cap space is shrinking around the league.
"I'm not going to talk about the trade. You have to talk with my agents," Mirotic said. "We're discussing. We're thinking. I'm sure they're going to make the best decision for me. I'm just doing my job, which is playing good. My representatives, they're doing their job. I have confidence they're going to do the best they can and they'll do what's best for me."
Sources said the Bulls and Pelicans negotiated terms of a proposed deal that would have sent Omer Asik back to Chicago with a protected first-round pick and more salary-cap filler the Bulls would have waived, but the deal did not include Mirotic's team option being exercised. The Pelicans, who want to re-sign DeMarcus Cousins this summer, have luxury-tax concerns.
Mirotic and his representatives have been consistent about having Mirotic play elsewhere since Bobby Portis broke two of Mirotic's facial bones and concussed him with an Oct. 17 punch in practice. Asked where he wants to be, Mirotic smiled.
"I just want to enjoy playing basketball," he said. "That's all I want, all I need. So far I've been enjoying playing basketball. It's been really fun for me, the best basketball in my NBA career so far, and that's my only goal."
While it has been reported that Mirotic is intrigued with playing for the Jazz, sources said there's only one unknown team that Mirotic made clear he didn't want to be traded to. The Pelicans weren't that team, which is why Mirotic was asked if it's his or his representatives' decision to agree to the trade.
"It's both of us. We're the team," Mirotic said. "The good thing, I have the option, but I'm making it together with my team. They've been fighting for me all this year. We're going to do what's best for the team, for me. We're not sure yet what we're going to do. Until then, let's play basketball."
After sitting the last two days with a minor lower left leg strain, Mirotic will come off the bench Wednesday night against the Trail Blazers. With Lauri Markkanen back in Chicago for a personal issue, coach Fred Hoiberg surprisingly said Paul Zipser would start.
"Part of it was looking at lineup combinations and wanting to keep Niko in his role right now," Hoiberg said. "Lauri hopefully will join us at some point on this trip. And Paul Zipser, we wanted to give him an opportunity to get back in the lineup because of the way he's practiced. He's been really good.
"Niko has been out the last couple of days and Paul has been excellent out there at the four. Part of it had to do with the way that we're starting and keeping that bench together."
