USC Basketball: Former All-Pac-10 Trojan Fights Coach, Team After Opening Night Loss

An ugly beginning to the year.

Current Bulls center and former USC standout Nikola Vucevic made headlines for all the wrong reasons to start the 2023-24 NBA season. 

The Montenegrin international suffered a 20-point loss to OKC on opening night and allowed his frustration to boil over at the entire roster. 

Vučević’s blow-up came during the third quarter after he received a technical foul for throwing the ball against the basket stanchion in frustration following a team defensive breakdown. But it also followed a long stretch in which he barely touched the ball; he went 12 minutes between field-goal attempts bridging the second and third quarters. “In certain moments, I felt we were a little stagnant and running similar things and I think we could’ve involved myself in certain situations that could’ve helped the team,” Vučević said. “I’ll look at the film again and see. Maybe some of the things I saw were wrong and I overreacted. I’ll see. “Just unhappy in some of the stuff we’re doing. Obviously, I expressed it a little bit more aggressive than I should’ve in the moment. Those happen in the heat of the moment. You’re trying to win and do what you can to help the team. I didn’t like what was going on. We talked it out. And it’s over with.”

via K.C. Johnson, NBC Sports Chicago

Chicago's potential as a recent contender has been stymied significantly thanks to multiple injuries and a lack of cohesion throughout their roster. 

Vucevic, DeMar DeRozan and Zach Lavine all played great together thanks to stable point guard Lonzo Ball fitting in seamlessly in the 2021 season. 

A knee injury to their floor general has now left the Windy City scrambling for answers and the end of this current core may be on the way for Vucevic and possibly more. 

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