Bulls shopping All-Star guard to literally half the league

LaVine signed a five-year max contract extension with the Bulls in the summer of 2022, but after an injury-plagued campaign, he and the Bulls seem to have soured on each other. This past season, LaVine was rumored to be available in trade before his season-ending foot surgery ended those talks, as did team ownership’s desire to make the play-in tournament.

LaVine was the centerpiece of a team that started the 2021-22 season 27-13, before Lonzo Ball suffered a knee injury that has kept him out for two and a half years. The veteran-heavy squad featuring DeMar DeRozan, Alex Caruso and Nikola Vucevic ultimately won a single playoff game in three seasons, losing in the play-in the last two years. To start the 2024 offseason, the Bulls have made what might be the first step in rebuilding their roster by sending Caruso to the Oklahoma City Thunder for former first-rounder Josh Giddey.

The Bulls’ aggressiveness in dealing LaVine shows how far his star has fallen. He’s still only 29 years old, but he’s owed $46M per season for the next three years. That’s a tough sell for a player who missed 57 games last season, even if he was an All-Star in 2021 and 2022. The new, more restrictive CBA also makes it more difficult for teams looking to add high-priced stars and LaVine may or not still be a star.

What are the Bulls going to get back for him if they do trade him? It’s not likely to be a lot beyond salary relief. There’s reportedly interest from the Sacramento Kings, who could come close to LaVine’s salary numbers by dealing Harrison Barnes and Kevin Huerter, along with disgruntled forward Sasha Vezenkov. Back in 2018, the Kings signed LaVine to a big offer sheet which the Bulls eventually matched.

Most likely, LaVine isn’t any team’s Plan A – including the Bulls themselves. But if one of the teams with cap space like the Orlando Magic and Philadelphia 76ers fall short in a shrinking free-agent market – Pascal Siakam and Malik Monk have already agreed to deals with their current teams – LaVine could be a flawed-but-enticing fallback option.

Until then, the Bulls will continue to shop LaVine. After all, it appears that there are 14 teams left for the Bulls to reach out to or beg to take LaVine off their hands.