Plenty of executives around the league thought the Bulls should have started to break up this core and begin their rebuild at the trade deadline last February. It didn’t happen. Then those same execs thought the Bulls would take steps in that direction last offseason. Instead, they extended Nikola Vucevic (three years, $60 million), re-signed Coby White, brought in Jevon Carter and ran it back with Zach Lavine and DeMar DeRozan as their alphas.
The Bulls are 3-6 with a bottom-10 defense, an unimpressive offense and no real path forward. Around the league, other front offices are thinking, “Will they break it up now?”
If there is going to be a blockbuster trade at this deadline, it very likely includes Chicago starting to move key players. Here is how ESPN’s Brian Windhorst put it on NBA Today (hat tip Real GM):
“In talking to some people around the league, the scouts are jamming themselves into Bulls games because they realize that at some point, the Bulls may break this team up. And they’re all gathering intelligence like, ‘What’s gonna happen with the Bulls?'”
This is more than a VP of basketball operations Artūras Karnišovas decision, it is an ownership decision. And the Reinsdorf-era ownership has always been comfortable with being just good enough and watching the money roll in. It may even be time for them to buy into the
rebuild.
If the Bulls pull the trigger, DeMar DeRozan is the most likely star to be traded at the deadline because he is a free agent next summer and the sides are reportedly not near an extension. The Bulls need to move him or risk losing him for nothing come July.
There also will be considerable interest from playoff teams in Alex Caruso at the deadline. The market for Zach LaVine — an All-Star and elite scorer who does little else and is owed three years and $138 million after this season — is limited and that is more likely a trade for the offseason. It’s the same with Vucevic, who is on a reasonable contract but not one many teams will take on now.
Of course, all of that depends on the Bulls actually making a trade. The league has been waiting on that for nearly a year, but it might be time.
