Bulls draft Seraphin to go with Hinrich to Wizards

The Bulls chose French power forward Kevin Seraphin for the Washington Wizards with the No. 17 pick in the NBA Draft.

The trade sending Seraphin and Kirk Hinrich to the Wizards won't be official until July 9. The Bulls might end up with the No. 35 overall pick in this deal.

Seraphin is a powerful athlete with raw skills. He played for the same French club, Cholet, that produced Dallas guard Rodrigue Beaubois, one of the surprise rookies last season. Seraphin injured his knee recently and is not expected to be available to play in summer league games. He could also stay in Europe, but that is Washington's problem.

The Bulls released a statement from general manager Gar Forman acknowledging the trade talk.

"This evening we selected Kevin Seraphin with the 17th overall pick of the NBA Draft," the statement read. "At this time, we are currently in discussions to trade our draft rights to Seraphin; however, we will not be able to compete a trade until after the moratorium period concludes on July 8.

"With that said, we are not at liberty to identify the team that we are talking to or reveal any other specifics of potential trades. Therefore, we will have no comment on this selection until we have completed all trade discussions."