Without Zach LaVine, the Bulls get a pair of nice wins against quality opponents
To start, this is a very small sample size. LaVine last played on Tuesday, he has missed the Bulls’ last 3 games due to a foot injury. In those games, the Bulls have a win-loss record of 2-1. It may be too early to say that LaVine is related to the Bulls’ struggles, it is something to think about.
It has been well-documented that Zach LaVine no longer wants to be in Chicago. Dating back to last season, Zach LaVine has been at odds with the Bulls front office and coaching staff. Then the Bulls shopped LaVine during the offseason. The team didn’t receive any offers that they liked so LaVine stayed.
Most recently LaVine has come under fire from the Bulls front office for pushing a Bulls PR person after a game. LaVine is mentally checked out, it is pretty clear he does not want to be here.
With LaVine out, the Bulls have put together an impressive 2-game win streak.
The Bulls have won B2B games for the first time this season. Beat two above-.500 teams in Bucks and Pels.
They dished 32 assists in both games. Easily the most motivated they have looked all year … and LaVine has been on the sideline.
Could be unrelated … could be related.
— Bleacher Nation Bulls (@BN_Bulls) December 3, 2023
Coby White is showing flashes of his first round talent
The Chicago Bulls drafted Coby White back in 2019 with the seventh overall pick. He has not lived up to his status as a top ten pick up to this point. He has averaged less than 15 points and 5 assists in his NBA career thus far. He also has a career field-goal percentage of .419 as well as a .368 3-point-field-goal percentage. Those stats are not ideal from someone who was drafted to be a scoring guard.
Coby White was a top high school player in North Carolina, finishing his career as the top prep scorer in state history.
In the Bulls win over the Pelicans on Saturday, Coby White showed off that first round talent. White dropped 31 points on 58 percent shooting and an excellent 61 percent from three point range. He added 6 assists and 9 rebounds and one steal for good measure.
Coby White is still only 23-years-old he still has a chance to become a foundational piece for the organization. Now we have to see if White can create some consistency for himself and the team. If he can, he might be worth keeping around.
LaVine may be around a little while, according to NBA insider
New reports suggests that there is currently no trade market for Zach LaVine. NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski confirmed this information on NBA Today on Friday.
You can find an article we already have published on Wojnarowski’s comments about LaVine here.
These last two Bulls games is actually bad news if he wants to be traded. The last two games saw the Bulls play the best they have all season, against good teams. And LaVine was absent, which points to the “impact on winning,” Wojnarowskis says teams looking to trade for Zach LaVine are searching for.
This could mean the Bulls are stuck with Zach LaVine. Unless he can get healthy and lead the Bulls to some wins, teams may stop calling about him all together. He has to put together a string of performances that convince teams like Philadelphia and the Lakers that LaVine can take them to the next level.
This situation could keep the Bulls in a stagnant position even longer. Everything seemed to point to a big Zach LaVine and possibly DeMar DeRozan trade coming after December 15th. Those plans may have to be put on hold, or they may not even happen.
The Bulls will surely keep searching for trade options, but they won’t get any great offers right now, if any.
The Bulls will have to wait on trading LaVine for now and see how things play out. There is a lot of basketball left to be played, the Bulls can possibly still save their season. Which would be much more preferred over another total rebuild.
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