The Chicago Bulls are preparing for the trade deadline in February and are expected to shop around Lonzo Ball
The Chicago Bulls should be active at the NBA trade deadline this season, with the team not being a legit contender and a ceiling of them making the play-in. With the future unclear for the franchise, they have some assets they could trade.
That includes Lonzo Ball as reporter Joe Cowley hinted in his latest piece that the Bulls are shopping him:
A source indicated that the Bulls’ goal is to continue aggressively shopping Ball, Nikola Vucevic and Zach LaVine, as well as any other name that makes sense. That was their focus going into the season, and it remains their focus even while some solid moments of basketball have been played.
The underlying reason is that the Bulls will keep their first-round pick in the loaded 2025 draft if they can land in the bottom 10 of the lottery; otherwise it goes to the Spurs. Karnisovas’ crew entered Sunday in 10th in the draft order.
Ball has come back from a knee injury that no other player in NBA history had recovered from before. The UCLA product essentially received a new meniscus along with a cartilage transplant in his knee that allowed him to return to the NBA.
The team announced in August that Ball was on track to play right off the bat in the 2024-25 season. This incredible news caught the basketball world off guard, as many assumed that Ball would never step foot on the court ever again due to the severity of his knee problems. However, he overcame the odds and has played in nine games so far this season. Ball currently averages 5.4 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 3.4 assists per game while shooting 37.2% from the field.
It is great to see Ball back on the court, and it means the Chicago Bulls can shop him around the league to see what his value is on the market. With Golden State acquiring a fellow veteran guard in Dennis Schroeder on Saturday, the trade market at the guard position is officially beginning to take shape. After seeing the package Brooklyn got for Schroeder, the Chicago Bulls have a bench point to look at when listening to offers on Ball.
Lonzo Ball won’t be the only veteran the Chicago Bulls should look to shop
If Ball is out of the picture in Chicago, one would believe that Zach Lavine and Nikola Vucevic won’t be too far behind. Early talks with Lavine have been rumored to be around the Phoenix Suns and them trying to take advantage of a potential small window with the pieces they have right now.
Moving on from Lavine makes the most sense out of the three assets being thrown around in the trade market. For a team looking to get younger and unload money off the books, dishing out a piece like the two-time all-star to a contender seems like the right thing for the Chicago Bulls to do.
Along with Lavine, Vucevic is having a fantastic season and his value might never be higher in a Chicago Bulls uniform than it is right now. The big man is averaging 21.0 points, 9.8 rebounds, and 3.2 assists per game while shooting a staggering 58.7% from the field.
Vuc’s improvement from beyond the arc is mind-boggling compared to where he was a season ago. Last year the center shot 29.4% from downtown and is now shooting 47.4% from deep in 25 games so far this season.
The offensive production from Vucevic is everything that a contender could want right now. The Lakers are a team that has been thrown out there as a possible suitor for the 15-year veteran.
The new era of Chicago Bulls basketball could be just a couple of months away
With young faces galore on the current Chicago Bulls roster, a new era is on the horizon. Even for a couple of guys who have been around the organization for a few seasons, their chance to take on a bigger role will only be possible if management decides that it is finally time to ship off the veterans under contract and start fresh.
Ayo Dosunmu can finally get his chance to be the floor general for this team alongside Coby White, who has taken massive leaps forward in his game over the last year. Matas Buzelis, the Chicago Bulls 2024 first-round pick, has shown glimpses of promise in the early going of his NBA career. He would be another young Bull to reap the benefits of these veterans being shipped off to contenders.
The Chicago Bulls have been stuck in their usual mediocre ways the last few seasons. Trading Ball, Lavine and Vucevic gives them an opportunity to rebuild from the ground up, which could lead to a more interesting future.
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