As they ought to, the Chicago Bulls seem to be busy this summer. Following two seasons in which the team failed to make the playoffs, adjustments are necessary. If any changes are coming to Chicago in the upcoming weeks, Zach LaVine appears to be the first to go. Prior to the trade deadline, Chicago and the Detroit Pistons had failed trade negotiations involving the former UCLA guard. According to reports, the Bulls have made 15 distinct trade offers involving LaVine to teams, including the Sacramento Kings and Orlando Magic.
The Magic would be an interesting landing spot in a trade for LaVine. Not only do they have over $36 million in cap space to help facilitate a potential deal, but they could really use LaVine. They don’t really have a guard who can score and create his own shot the way LaVine can. There seems to be a path to a potential deal. The question then becomes: what does the deal look like?
The Chicago Bulls trade Zach LaVine and Jevon Carter to the Orlando Magic for Cole Anthony, Caleb Houstan, and a 2024 first-round pick (18th overall).
The Bulls are not only not good enough to qualify for the postseason, but they will soon get pricey. The Bulls would be subject to the luxury tax if they were to resign Patrick Williams and DeMar DeRozan and return the same squad. In any case, the Bulls dislike being in the tax, much less for a subpar club like this one.
Chicago’s brass would avoid paying the luxury tax and cap this season by almost $34.6 million thanks to this move. They wouldn’t face much of a danger from the tax if they wanted to keep DeRozan and Williams.
The Bulls wouldn’t be getting a marquee player in this trade. Cole Anthony is a fine sixth-man type, but he shot 31.7% from the field in his first playoff series. Caleb Houstan can shoot and stretch the floor, but that’s about it. There will be an intriguing prospect available with the 18th overall pick, but no one that should knock the Bulls’ socks off.
However, they would gain a lot of flexibility with this trade. They could package the 18th pick with the 11th pick they have and potentially move up. Matas Buzelis is reportedly someone the Bulls are trying to trade up into the top five of the draft to acquire according to ESPN’s Jonathan Givony. 11 and 18 would not be a bad starting point to do so.
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