The Chicago Bulls turned down at least one trade offer for Andre Drummond per a new report
The Chicago Bulls are running it back, again. After an offseason in which the team opted to re-sign Nikola Vucevic, they made their decision to run it back with a team that reached the play-in round last year.
And they decided to do the same thing at the 2024 NBA trade deadline.
The Chicago Bulls stood pat at the deadline despite rumors of them potentially moving some pieces for draft picks. Players like Alex Caruso, Andre Drummond and even DeMar DeRozan were mentioned in rumors of players that could be moved. With Chicago sitting in the play-in round again right now, it would make sense for them to try and acquire draft picks or even a player or two.
Instead, they did nothing and reportedly turned down a trade package for a player that many consider not to be a part of their future core.
Per Michael Scotto of Hoops Hype, the Chicago Bulls pulled out of a trade deal that would have sent three second-round picks from Philadelphia for Drummond. Here is what Scotto wrote on Friday:
The 76ers believed they had a trade done to acquire Bulls center Andre Drummond before Chicago pulled out of talks hours before the deadline, league sources told HoopsHype. The Bulls wanted three second-round picks for Drummond, league sources said. For context, the Nets acquired three second-round picks in the three-team Royce O’Neale trade.
Drummond was considered Chicago’s top trade candidate ahead of the deadline and also drew trade offers from the Celtics and Mavericks before both organizations went in other directions, league sources told HoopsHype.
The Los Angeles Lakers, Phoenix Suns, and Houston Rockets also expressed interest in acquiring Drummond at the deadline. The Chicago Bulls did have some potential suitors for a trade and could have added some picks for a rebuild down the line.
Chicago decided to stand pat and pulled out, instead of receiving draft picks for Drummond who has an expiring contract at the end of this season. Now, it could be a move that they look back on as a mistake or it could be one in which they were not comfortable moving on from Drummond and instead would want to keep him in the mix for the future.
So what is the Chicago Bulls plan?
The first half of the season had an interesting storyline surrounding Zach LaVine and reports that he wanted to be traded. LaVine has since been ruled out for the season with an injury and was not traded this year. But in the offseason, I imagine the Bulls will look to work a deal to send LaVine elsewhere and instead build around DeRozan, Vucevic and Coby White who has emerged as a legit scoring threat with his career year.
But what about Drummond?
As mentioned above, Drummond is on an expiring deal and while he’s still just 30-years-old, is he really a piece to build around? The Bulls make think so.
Drummond has proven he can still play, averaging 13.8 points and 17 rebounds in 28.6 minutes per game in nine starts. He’s primarily been a backup but has also started some games, filling in when the Bulls have needed him to.
The future of the Chicago Bulls franchise is certainly in question as they are headed for the play-in tournament again and with needs on the roster to build for the future, taking the picks may have been smart. Or if they see that Drummond is a key piece to a rebuild for depth, keeping him and re-signing him makes sense as well.
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