What I'd do as armchair GM (since we know AKME won't do any of these):
Trade Zach to the Warriors for Wiggins, GP2, Looney, this year's first, and a couple future seconds. Not sure Golden State wants to give up Wiggins but I think they'll get desperate.
Trade Vooch and Lonzo to the Lakers for Rui, Vincent, Vanderbilt, Wood, their 26 first, and their two 25 seconds. I think LAL would be open to this.
Trade Coby to the Magic for Black, Howard, their 25 protected first from Denver, and their 25 second. The Magic don't seem to be interested in adding a shooter, which is incredibly dumb. Coby is cheap (which I think is their big hang-up to begin with) and similar in age to their young core.
Torrey Craig or Javon Carter can be added to any of those if needed. I'd also be open to trading Ayo if a team was willing to part ways with decent draft picks for him.
Those deals bring back some longer term money (Wiggins, Vanderbilt, Black, and Howard all have multiple years left), but I think Wiggins should absolutely be tradeable. Vanderbilt's contract isn't terrible, so even if the Bulls can't get rid of him, at least he wouldn't be taking up a huge amount of cap space. Black and Howard are both still on rookie contracts, so they're not too constricting either.
GP2, Looney, and Wood are all expiring. Rui and Vincent each have a year left on their contracts. The Bulls get a couple of young guys back in Black and Howard. I don't expect either of them to become amazing, but it's at least a couple more young guys on rookie contracts to try and develop.
They also add three first round picks and five second round picks. It doesn't make them the Thunder, but at least they'd have a surplus.
Edit: Forgot to add this would obviously make this team TERRIBLE for the next two or three years, which should help ensure they keep their pick from going to San Antonio. And they should also be picking very high in the draft instead of their usual (un)lucky number 7.
I suppose I should get back to my actual job now...
the Warriors could theoretically get to LaVine's number WITHOUT giving up Wiggins with a bunch of their trash mid-size salaries and the Bulls including a few of their small contracts to make the roster spots work. if the Bulls could squeeze an unprotected or very lightly protected first and maybe a bit more from that, I'd probably do it.
The Lakers idea I've been pushing for a few weeks now and love it. Like the Coby to Magic idea but I've also been pushing a Coby to OKC deal for either a major pick haul OR try to snag Topic plus whatever else. I'm not convinced the Thunder would bail on Topic already but given their title window is right now think it would make some sense to trade 19-year-old coming off a torn ACL to help the title push. and that's the kind of upside gamble the Bulls should be taking here.
Haha I'm listening to the podcast now and see we have a lot of similar ideas. I do like the Topic idea. He doesn't make a ton of sense for OKC now, so I do wonder if they'd consider trading him for Coby who would immediately provide them with some shooting that they desperately need.
without Wiggins, and they can't aggregate Schroder, and assuming no Kuminga either, the Warriors would need to trade at least six players
Bulls could send LaVine and two minimums (THT, Craig), but that still leaves 3 roster spots that would have to either be a third team or Bulls waiving guys (Duarte, and...)
the Warriors would likely use that package and land Butler, right? a better replacement for Wiggins and on an expiring contract
Lakers can't trade their '26 first, only their '29+'31. They may want to hold those for a star, but also have proven to do half-measures before so I could see them doing that trade as it saves them 2025 cap room and they would re-sign Lonzo
maybe on Warriors/Butler, but there's noise out there that they don't really want the Butler headache (know it was reported the other day that Steph/Kerr have "concerns" about the locker room fit). seems like there are some different factions in that front office about Butler vs. LaVine vs. just doing something smaller (Vucevic?)
if they're serious about "competing" with Steph for another season or two before he retires, at least Zach is a decent option to do that if they're fine spending to do it. they just very badly need another scorer/creator given teams just double/triple Steph at will. but unclear how serious they feel about that.
will say that based on what I hear from my guy Brett Siegel at CP there is real trepidation from the Warriors (not Klutch based intel) about trading Wiggins for Butler. maybe they just say fuck it and do it in desperation mode but they've not really wanted to do it to this point...who knows.
my guess is both the Bulls and Warriors stay cowards and nothing gets done heh
The Heat and Warriors have the same dilemma: they are trying to integrate young talent with their old core and it hasn't really meshed, in a way that it's possible it might not ever mesh. The question is if it's because they don't fit together (and so should be broken up), if their core has declined too much, or if the young players aren't good enough.
Both tried smaller moves with limited risk (Schroder in GS, Scary Terry in Miami), neither of which worked out and possibly even backfired.
Miami appears to be addressing the dilemma. These trades for GS really don't approach it at all. LaVine and Vuc would be hilarious bad fits even if they don't part with any important pieces, making them notably worse on defense at the two positions where their defense is presently at its strongest. And it won't solve their real problem, it will probably make it much more complicated!
I was thinking them trading for Butler without Wiggins
but even with Schroder involved it'd still require 6 players going out, they'd have to expand it with 3rd team taking more minimum guys or include Kuminga
in terms of fit, I'd say Butler is a better scorer/creator than LaVine for the minutes without Steph. But yeah in the Steph minutes not as clean of a theoretical fit. Though it is really all theoretical, we have no idea how LaVine plays with ball-dominant teammates in meaningful games
Well, I read yesterday (don't know if it's Klutch propaganda as you say) that Kerr was impressed with how Lavine played on the Olympic team and - apparently Kerr's words - just understood what his role needed to be and delivered.
YFBB was right to criticize my Kleber/Prosper for Coby trade for not addressing the Mav’s need for a big. Glad to see they addressed your concern.
Looks like Cuban really sold out big D, Adelsons know that organizations win championships (and prioritize $$$ over winning them). I guess the league is happy, since it also prioritizes $$$ over their actual product and having a superstar in LA does that.
The league needs to keep making changes that align making the most money with winning championships. For example, give half of the luxury tax pool to the NBA champion and then split the rest with the under the tax teams. Screw payouts to penny pinching losers.
i swear the bulls have one curse after another. the one that sticks out in reading this article is the history of injuries to three point guards that led to injury laden shortened careers. Jay Williams crashes his motorcycle on LSD and nearly killed himself. and never played another NBA game. DRose and knees-just totally screwed his career for a few years. but finally was able to come back and ultimately retire after a fairly long career. And then there is Lonzo Ball. His injuries may not have originated while on the bulls, but they sure were detrimental and not being able to play/walk/run for a couple years. I guess time will tell on what approach AKME will do.
Those situations were horrible but the last two at least were made worse by the org starving the roster rather than trying to patch it up. They couldn't "replace" Rose but his injury didn't make them reload, instead they used it as an excuse to purge the roster and avoid the luxury tax despite still having a very competitive team.
With Lonzo they signed Goran Dragic, a player that had barely shot his weight from 3 point range the previous season. It wasn't just a cheap move, it was a dumb move. The Lakers signed Schroder for the minimum, more than $1 million less than the Bulls paid Dragic.
I forgot to add this until after I posted, but it is the key above everything: how do the Bulls see themselves?
Horrifyingly, one "person within the organization" told Will Perdue that the win over the Nuggets was "the type of game we need to show fans they can believe and come back to the United Center"
Darnell Mayberry: “What I’m hearing…is that ownership is not happy with the direction of the franchise. And there’s a lot of free tickets, apparently, going around."
It'd be great if ownership was unnerved enough to change management. But no it feeds into our darkest fear that they only care about filling the building and will just take shortcuts to do that bare minimum
love this, maybe Ingram+McCollum for Butler+Rozier? With picks going to Pels.
Heat save $ and are a better team. Doesn't eat into 2026 space. Plus they screw Butler out of his bird rights (or 'force him' to opt in to a place he doesn't want to be)
Pels save $4M next season. But would be $6.6M over tax this year so would have to send several role players somewhere with seconds
Just finished the Cash Considerations trade deadline preview - lots of fun trade slop. There was some drum-banging for Coby to the Thunder, or to Houston for Reed Sheppard. I think if Coby goes to Houston, I think this deal makes sense:
To Rockets: Coby White, Torrey Craig
To Bulls: Cam Whitmore, Jeff Green, 2025 1st (likely swap with PHX)
I think this is a great move for Houston, shoring up their backcourt for this year and next with Coby's very team friendly deal, and dealing from their surplus of athletic wings. Plus, Craig's girlfriend Megan Thee Stallion is from Houston. Too perfect.
The Bulls get Whitmore, a young, explosive wing on this rookie deal who isn't happy with his role in Houston. I think he's got big upside and a rebuilding/tanking team would be a great place to let him loose and see how he develops. A Matas/Whitmore forward pairing would be lots of fun. The pick is solid, currently at #14, but you could see it maybe getting a little worse if the Suns make a push. Green is likely waived or bought out.
I could easily imagine The Trade being Lonzo for an equivalent expiring contract and a 2nd round pick. The problem isn't the money going out but the money coming back: most Lonzo-sized expirings are already on the payroll of teams that aren't competing for anything (Bruce Brown in Toronto, Brogdon in Washington, Bojan Bogdanovic in Brooklyn).
One that works and seems to satisfy both parties:
To Detroit for Tim Hardaway Jr ($16.1 m) - could be done straight up thanks to Detroit being $14 million under the cap, but they obviously will prioritize using that space to acquire a pick of their own.
Beyond that you start having to deal with smaller expirings and grouping up lower-paid players, which gets hard to manage:
To LAC for PJ Tucker's ($11.5), Bones Hyland ($4.1) and Amir Coffey ($3.9). I have no idea what the Clippers think of Coffey. Bones is like Anthony Blanket Pee x 100, hilariously inept but fun in a Jerry Lewis-meets-Nate Robinson kind of way.
I question any of these Detroit trades where they are treating THJ as salary flotsam. He plays nearly 30mpg for them, hitting 38% from three, and by all accounts is a good 'locker room guy' or whatever
I'd throw the Magic in the mix here, too. They've got potential expirings in Harris and Mo Wagner (both have club options), but also younger guys like Jett Howard and Cole Anthony. You could do some mixing and matching and maybe sneak a 2nd out. Given how much money the Magic are going to have to pay their guys coming up, I could see the value in getting Lonzo in as a short-term boost.
for Lonzo I'm trying to think of "Rich Paul Teams", where he'd steer a trade somewhere that can sign Lonzo over the MLE with bird rights
the Bulls are one of those teams
Klutch has a lot more clients now than just a couple years ago, but I think I can comfortably put in Lakers (of course), Warriors, Cavs, Hawks, Pelicans?
Interesting if this is the price for dumping salary. Clippers cut about $6.5 million off their payroll at the price of "a future 2nd" (no idea which) and cash, presumably a large amount. Eubanks' 2026 salary is non-guaranteed and doesn't fully vest until January, which seems more useful than usual. That's not much.
Funnily enough it was a pick they already had swap rights on
I guess the lesson is 2nd round picks are indeed not that valuable, so get some to make these kind of moves. Like dumping Dalen Terry and Jevon Carter may only require a bad 2nd rounder
It's sad that the Bulls aren't even mentioned as a possibility. Maybe there's Intel that they are actually doing an aggressive tear down? If not then extra pathetic the 'integrity competition Boyz' are ignored
Why couldn't the Bulls have the best offer? There's the picks, but more tantalizing to SAC would be a win-now player in Coby
Coby+Lonzo+Giddey
for
Fox+Huerter
Also saves them a ton next season. It'd then take two FRP? As long as it's not next two drafts I'm OK with no protection, but could make it top-4 protected.
Still try to do LaVine and Vuc trades. Definitely need a new center or PF, I figure still need the LaVine contract better dispersed in the frontcourt then
Randle is an actual PF and they end up with a somewhat balanced roster. I dont think theyre a contender, but i like the Bulls having a full set of not quite superstars
I guess I mean I don't see the urgency to also balance the roster, instead go get Fox now and build around him in the offseason. Besides, no balance truly achieved with Vuc still here Vuc-ing up the joint
Ohhh baby, would also love this pivot. Skip the Randle part and go with something like Giddey, Coby, Pat, pick(s) for Fox and Lyles. Would be a coup if you could get Murray instead of Lyles.
Don't look now but the Hawks have lost 7 straight and won't have Jaylen Johnson the rest of the season. They're also over the tax so will more likely be selling versus buying at the deadline
Currently Bulls 1.5 games from 9th. That's a home game for the best fans (customers) in basketball, how can we expect the Bulls to do a step-back trade under those circumstances?
Wow. #ThisLeague is back! The Mavs OFFERING Luka Doncic to the Lakers is just incredible.
maybe devil's advocate is he can be a free agent after next season, and he's always out of shape and hurt. But you know who else is always hurt, Anthony Davis. And Davis is six years older
I want to say the Mavs could've shopped Luka and done a lot better, but maybe not? Considering they weren't interested in the picks+assets package. Lakers the right intersection of good enough but not too good to where they were worried about ruining the current team. Like would the Bucks trade Giannis, Knicks Jalen Brunson, Cavs Donovan Mitchell...maybe not. OR at least they'd really pause because it'd fuck up their current season whereas the Lakers have less to lose.
Welp, put an X through the Lakers as #LongingForLavine.
Though I think Lebron is now their best "big man," so maybe, at long last... Vuc?
Couldn't happen to a bunch of more loathsome people than the Adelsons. They traded a guy that will be the subject of folklore in the future for a 31 year old center (32 in a few weeks) who has 1 all star appearance in the last 4 years.
yeah, nice league we have here. I suppose it's tough to find any good billionaires, but the Lakers family are more likeably buffoonish so that is better than most!
I’m wondering if LeBron asks out. Could see Zach ending up in LA in a multi-teamer with GS. Otherwise Vooch to LA would be pretty funny as an all O, no D swing.
as for how this Luka-to-Lakers blockbuster affects the Bulls...well it doesn't. Bulls aren't even competing in the same league as these teams. They're in a race among the 17th-22nd best teams in basketball to get a postseason home game and not pay the tax.
I suppose it means the Lakers are less likely to trade certainly for LaVine but likely Vucevic as well. Sure they have no center, but who cares they have Luka Doncic's entire prime, why pay >$20M for a 34 year old no-defense center.
maybe they could use Maxi Kleber's salary (who they acquired with Luka) but Bulls would have to get in this trade as Kleber can't be re-aggregated. And Arturas Karnisovas is very likely literally asleep.
yeah even if you can twist yourself into dealing Doncic at all, let alone needing it to be for another superstar (and not the prospects package), how does Dallas not get BOTH Lakers unprotected firsts? Did AK consult on the fine points here?
“I believe that defense wins championships,” Mavs GM Nico Harrison told ESPN regarding his motivation to trade Luka Doncic for Anthony Davis. “I believe that getting an All-Defensive center and an All-NBA player with a defensive mindset gives us a better chance. We’re built to win now and in the future.”
Interesting, cause up to this point I thought Harrison had actually done a great job with the Mavs, building and putting the right pieces around Luka. I wasn't sure about the Klay thing this summer, but this now definitely points toward him now losing the plot for good.
Word is new Mavs forward Anthony Davis is good with going to Dallas and has a solid relationship with team president Nico Harrison’s dating back to the latter’s Nike days. Now Davis also has centers to play next to him in Dallas.
Mavs do not have much flexibility at all for a win-now move, they have a pretty balanced roster and it doesn't help they can't aggregate Max Christie
They could use another playmaker, but they'd have to be cheap. Coby White, come on down? Even if Mavs were skittish on dealing away picks (they already have 2027 outgoing, and getting 2029 from Lakers only got them back to neutral as their own pick was already gone), maybe they would trade Derrick Lively considering he may be out for the season?
This is fascinating wrt LeBron's "legacy", The Lakers feel no urgency to maximize LeBron's twilight years. They just went and got the next LeBron without considering the current one. This doesn't increase their 2025 playoff odds (currently middling)
just another indicator that LeBron himself didn't care about that too much, just wanted to go to the Lakers to be a good dad. You know who didn't care about family in the pursuit of greatness? Michael Jeffrey Jordan
Shams is reporting that the Bulls got back their own pick back, Zach Collins, Tre Jones and Kevin Huerter. The Bulls also sent their 2025 second round pick to the Kings.
I hope so. This FO seems to be allergic to draft picks. The Kings getting 6 draft picks out of this and the Bulls just getting their SAS one back is crazy.
Man I wanted them to dump Zach, but getting the 2025 pick "back" is so ominous. They're gonna trade for Trae Young or something and lock in 5 more years as a play-in
NEW POST on LAVINE TRADE https://www.blogabull.com/p/breaking-news-zach-lavine-has-finally
What I'd do as armchair GM (since we know AKME won't do any of these):
Trade Zach to the Warriors for Wiggins, GP2, Looney, this year's first, and a couple future seconds. Not sure Golden State wants to give up Wiggins but I think they'll get desperate.
Trade Vooch and Lonzo to the Lakers for Rui, Vincent, Vanderbilt, Wood, their 26 first, and their two 25 seconds. I think LAL would be open to this.
Trade Coby to the Magic for Black, Howard, their 25 protected first from Denver, and their 25 second. The Magic don't seem to be interested in adding a shooter, which is incredibly dumb. Coby is cheap (which I think is their big hang-up to begin with) and similar in age to their young core.
Torrey Craig or Javon Carter can be added to any of those if needed. I'd also be open to trading Ayo if a team was willing to part ways with decent draft picks for him.
Those deals bring back some longer term money (Wiggins, Vanderbilt, Black, and Howard all have multiple years left), but I think Wiggins should absolutely be tradeable. Vanderbilt's contract isn't terrible, so even if the Bulls can't get rid of him, at least he wouldn't be taking up a huge amount of cap space. Black and Howard are both still on rookie contracts, so they're not too constricting either.
GP2, Looney, and Wood are all expiring. Rui and Vincent each have a year left on their contracts. The Bulls get a couple of young guys back in Black and Howard. I don't expect either of them to become amazing, but it's at least a couple more young guys on rookie contracts to try and develop.
They also add three first round picks and five second round picks. It doesn't make them the Thunder, but at least they'd have a surplus.
Edit: Forgot to add this would obviously make this team TERRIBLE for the next two or three years, which should help ensure they keep their pick from going to San Antonio. And they should also be picking very high in the draft instead of their usual (un)lucky number 7.
I suppose I should get back to my actual job now...
the Warriors could theoretically get to LaVine's number WITHOUT giving up Wiggins with a bunch of their trash mid-size salaries and the Bulls including a few of their small contracts to make the roster spots work. if the Bulls could squeeze an unprotected or very lightly protected first and maybe a bit more from that, I'd probably do it.
The Lakers idea I've been pushing for a few weeks now and love it. Like the Coby to Magic idea but I've also been pushing a Coby to OKC deal for either a major pick haul OR try to snag Topic plus whatever else. I'm not convinced the Thunder would bail on Topic already but given their title window is right now think it would make some sense to trade 19-year-old coming off a torn ACL to help the title push. and that's the kind of upside gamble the Bulls should be taking here.
Haha I'm listening to the podcast now and see we have a lot of similar ideas. I do like the Topic idea. He doesn't make a ton of sense for OKC now, so I do wonder if they'd consider trading him for Coby who would immediately provide them with some shooting that they desperately need.
without Wiggins, and they can't aggregate Schroder, and assuming no Kuminga either, the Warriors would need to trade at least six players
Bulls could send LaVine and two minimums (THT, Craig), but that still leaves 3 roster spots that would have to either be a third team or Bulls waiving guys (Duarte, and...)
they can aggregate Schroder on Feb. 5/6
ah, ok that makes it a lot easier
the Warriors would likely use that package and land Butler, right? a better replacement for Wiggins and on an expiring contract
Lakers can't trade their '26 first, only their '29+'31. They may want to hold those for a star, but also have proven to do half-measures before so I could see them doing that trade as it saves them 2025 cap room and they would re-sign Lonzo
maybe on Warriors/Butler, but there's noise out there that they don't really want the Butler headache (know it was reported the other day that Steph/Kerr have "concerns" about the locker room fit). seems like there are some different factions in that front office about Butler vs. LaVine vs. just doing something smaller (Vucevic?)
I think that noise is Klutch pushing LaVine
and while I agree with them on those concerns with Butler, his contract is expiring whereas you now have Zach for 2 additional seasons.
if they're serious about "competing" with Steph for another season or two before he retires, at least Zach is a decent option to do that if they're fine spending to do it. they just very badly need another scorer/creator given teams just double/triple Steph at will. but unclear how serious they feel about that.
will say that based on what I hear from my guy Brett Siegel at CP there is real trepidation from the Warriors (not Klutch based intel) about trading Wiggins for Butler. maybe they just say fuck it and do it in desperation mode but they've not really wanted to do it to this point...who knows.
my guess is both the Bulls and Warriors stay cowards and nothing gets done heh
The Heat and Warriors have the same dilemma: they are trying to integrate young talent with their old core and it hasn't really meshed, in a way that it's possible it might not ever mesh. The question is if it's because they don't fit together (and so should be broken up), if their core has declined too much, or if the young players aren't good enough.
Both tried smaller moves with limited risk (Schroder in GS, Scary Terry in Miami), neither of which worked out and possibly even backfired.
Miami appears to be addressing the dilemma. These trades for GS really don't approach it at all. LaVine and Vuc would be hilarious bad fits even if they don't part with any important pieces, making them notably worse on defense at the two positions where their defense is presently at its strongest. And it won't solve their real problem, it will probably make it much more complicated!
I was thinking them trading for Butler without Wiggins
but even with Schroder involved it'd still require 6 players going out, they'd have to expand it with 3rd team taking more minimum guys or include Kuminga
in terms of fit, I'd say Butler is a better scorer/creator than LaVine for the minutes without Steph. But yeah in the Steph minutes not as clean of a theoretical fit. Though it is really all theoretical, we have no idea how LaVine plays with ball-dominant teammates in meaningful games
Well, I read yesterday (don't know if it's Klutch propaganda as you say) that Kerr was impressed with how Lavine played on the Olympic team and - apparently Kerr's words - just understood what his role needed to be and delivered.
YFBB was right to criticize my Kleber/Prosper for Coby trade for not addressing the Mav’s need for a big. Glad to see they addressed your concern.
Looks like Cuban really sold out big D, Adelsons know that organizations win championships (and prioritize $$$ over winning them). I guess the league is happy, since it also prioritizes $$$ over their actual product and having a superstar in LA does that.
The league needs to keep making changes that align making the most money with winning championships. For example, give half of the luxury tax pool to the NBA champion and then split the rest with the under the tax teams. Screw payouts to penny pinching losers.
Yeah, Jason basically said what I would have. I don't think GS really wants Butler, but it sounds like they may want LaVine.
I think Draymond and Buckets would kill each other at the first practice.
Absolutely. Would make for great entertainment though!
FWIW a straight up 6 for 6 trade of Lavine, Vuc, Terry, Craig, THT, Phillips
for
Wiggins, Schroder, Payton, Anderson, Hield, Looney
works for everyone.
I think the Bulls could reasonable expect to spin off several of those guys (Wiggins, Schroder and Hield) as well
i swear the bulls have one curse after another. the one that sticks out in reading this article is the history of injuries to three point guards that led to injury laden shortened careers. Jay Williams crashes his motorcycle on LSD and nearly killed himself. and never played another NBA game. DRose and knees-just totally screwed his career for a few years. but finally was able to come back and ultimately retire after a fairly long career. And then there is Lonzo Ball. His injuries may not have originated while on the bulls, but they sure were detrimental and not being able to play/walk/run for a couple years. I guess time will tell on what approach AKME will do.
Those situations were horrible but the last two at least were made worse by the org starving the roster rather than trying to patch it up. They couldn't "replace" Rose but his injury didn't make them reload, instead they used it as an excuse to purge the roster and avoid the luxury tax despite still having a very competitive team.
With Lonzo they signed Goran Dragic, a player that had barely shot his weight from 3 point range the previous season. It wasn't just a cheap move, it was a dumb move. The Lakers signed Schroder for the minimum, more than $1 million less than the Bulls paid Dragic.
I forgot to add this until after I posted, but it is the key above everything: how do the Bulls see themselves?
Horrifyingly, one "person within the organization" told Will Perdue that the win over the Nuggets was "the type of game we need to show fans they can believe and come back to the United Center"
https://www.youtube.com/live/GibUlq90AU4?t=275s
"Believe and come back to the United Center." Why do I feel like I'm visiting Jonestown in 1978 when I read that phrase?
Oh no. This franchise is so dumb.
Oh brother, I missed this (bc it was in Twitter I guess)
https://ontapsportsnet.com/nba/bulls-on-tap-tasting-flight-ownership-unrest-williams-dunk-drama-and-trade-whispers
Darnell Mayberry: “What I’m hearing…is that ownership is not happy with the direction of the franchise. And there’s a lot of free tickets, apparently, going around."
It'd be great if ownership was unnerved enough to change management. But no it feeds into our darkest fear that they only care about filling the building and will just take shortcuts to do that bare minimum
off-topic since no Bulls involved (though they could take Javonte Green?)
Rumor Pelicans want to try Ingram for Butler -> http://dlvr.it/THhzGq
love this, maybe Ingram+McCollum for Butler+Rozier? With picks going to Pels.
Heat save $ and are a better team. Doesn't eat into 2026 space. Plus they screw Butler out of his bird rights (or 'force him' to opt in to a place he doesn't want to be)
Pels save $4M next season. But would be $6.6M over tax this year so would have to send several role players somewhere with seconds
Just finished the Cash Considerations trade deadline preview - lots of fun trade slop. There was some drum-banging for Coby to the Thunder, or to Houston for Reed Sheppard. I think if Coby goes to Houston, I think this deal makes sense:
To Rockets: Coby White, Torrey Craig
To Bulls: Cam Whitmore, Jeff Green, 2025 1st (likely swap with PHX)
I think this is a great move for Houston, shoring up their backcourt for this year and next with Coby's very team friendly deal, and dealing from their surplus of athletic wings. Plus, Craig's girlfriend Megan Thee Stallion is from Houston. Too perfect.
The Bulls get Whitmore, a young, explosive wing on this rookie deal who isn't happy with his role in Houston. I think he's got big upside and a rebuilding/tanking team would be a great place to let him loose and see how he develops. A Matas/Whitmore forward pairing would be lots of fun. The pick is solid, currently at #14, but you could see it maybe getting a little worse if the Suns make a push. Green is likely waived or bought out.
I could easily imagine The Trade being Lonzo for an equivalent expiring contract and a 2nd round pick. The problem isn't the money going out but the money coming back: most Lonzo-sized expirings are already on the payroll of teams that aren't competing for anything (Bruce Brown in Toronto, Brogdon in Washington, Bojan Bogdanovic in Brooklyn).
One that works and seems to satisfy both parties:
To Detroit for Tim Hardaway Jr ($16.1 m) - could be done straight up thanks to Detroit being $14 million under the cap, but they obviously will prioritize using that space to acquire a pick of their own.
Beyond that you start having to deal with smaller expirings and grouping up lower-paid players, which gets hard to manage:
To LAC for PJ Tucker's ($11.5), Bones Hyland ($4.1) and Amir Coffey ($3.9). I have no idea what the Clippers think of Coffey. Bones is like Anthony Blanket Pee x 100, hilariously inept but fun in a Jerry Lewis-meets-Nate Robinson kind of way.
These are not inspiring moves.
I question any of these Detroit trades where they are treating THJ as salary flotsam. He plays nearly 30mpg for them, hitting 38% from three, and by all accounts is a good 'locker room guy' or whatever
I'd throw the Magic in the mix here, too. They've got potential expirings in Harris and Mo Wagner (both have club options), but also younger guys like Jett Howard and Cole Anthony. You could do some mixing and matching and maybe sneak a 2nd out. Given how much money the Magic are going to have to pay their guys coming up, I could see the value in getting Lonzo in as a short-term boost.
for Lonzo I'm trying to think of "Rich Paul Teams", where he'd steer a trade somewhere that can sign Lonzo over the MLE with bird rights
the Bulls are one of those teams
Klutch has a lot more clients now than just a couple years ago, but I think I can comfortably put in Lakers (of course), Warriors, Cavs, Hawks, Pelicans?
Clippers no longer a likely Lonzo destination, they just dumped their big expiring contracts on Utah
Interesting if this is the price for dumping salary. Clippers cut about $6.5 million off their payroll at the price of "a future 2nd" (no idea which) and cash, presumably a large amount. Eubanks' 2026 salary is non-guaranteed and doesn't fully vest until January, which seems more useful than usual. That's not much.
Funnily enough it was a pick they already had swap rights on
I guess the lesson is 2nd round picks are indeed not that valuable, so get some to make these kind of moves. Like dumping Dalen Terry and Jevon Carter may only require a bad 2nd rounder
Just to do something completely different,
Bulls trade Giddey, Ball, Pick(s)? for Fox
Bulls trade Coby, Pat for Julius Randle
New Bulls
1 Fox,
2 Zach, Ayo
3 Matas,
4 Randle,
5 Vuc, Smith
I would love this pivot. As long as one of those picks isn't 2025 or 2026 unprotected
Fox is with Klutch so could see him being convinced (somehow) Chicago is a place to... Win?
It's sad that the Bulls aren't even mentioned as a possibility. Maybe there's Intel that they are actually doing an aggressive tear down? If not then extra pathetic the 'integrity competition Boyz' are ignored
Why couldn't the Bulls have the best offer? There's the picks, but more tantalizing to SAC would be a win-now player in Coby
Coby+Lonzo+Giddey
for
Fox+Huerter
Also saves them a ton next season. It'd then take two FRP? As long as it's not next two drafts I'm OK with no protection, but could make it top-4 protected.
Still try to do LaVine and Vuc trades. Definitely need a new center or PF, I figure still need the LaVine contract better dispersed in the frontcourt then
I just really don't like Randle, but I'd actually be okay with this. It would be nice if we could replace Vooch with a better defensive center though.
I don't really know the point of the Randle part though. And Coby would likely be of interest to Sacramento and maybe keeps a pick out
Randle is an actual PF and they end up with a somewhat balanced roster. I dont think theyre a contender, but i like the Bulls having a full set of not quite superstars
I guess I mean I don't see the urgency to also balance the roster, instead go get Fox now and build around him in the offseason. Besides, no balance truly achieved with Vuc still here Vuc-ing up the joint
Ohhh baby, would also love this pivot. Skip the Randle part and go with something like Giddey, Coby, Pat, pick(s) for Fox and Lyles. Would be a coup if you could get Murray instead of Lyles.
Don't look now but the Hawks have lost 7 straight and won't have Jaylen Johnson the rest of the season. They're also over the tax so will more likely be selling versus buying at the deadline
Currently Bulls 1.5 games from 9th. That's a home game for the best fans (customers) in basketball, how can we expect the Bulls to do a step-back trade under those circumstances?
Wow. #ThisLeague is back! The Mavs OFFERING Luka Doncic to the Lakers is just incredible.
maybe devil's advocate is he can be a free agent after next season, and he's always out of shape and hurt. But you know who else is always hurt, Anthony Davis. And Davis is six years older
I want to say the Mavs could've shopped Luka and done a lot better, but maybe not? Considering they weren't interested in the picks+assets package. Lakers the right intersection of good enough but not too good to where they were worried about ruining the current team. Like would the Bucks trade Giannis, Knicks Jalen Brunson, Cavs Donovan Mitchell...maybe not. OR at least they'd really pause because it'd fuck up their current season whereas the Lakers have less to lose.
Welp, put an X through the Lakers as #LongingForLavine.
Though I think Lebron is now their best "big man," so maybe, at long last... Vuc?
Couldn't happen to a bunch of more loathsome people than the Adelsons. They traded a guy that will be the subject of folklore in the future for a 31 year old center (32 in a few weeks) who has 1 all star appearance in the last 4 years.
yeah, nice league we have here. I suppose it's tough to find any good billionaires, but the Lakers family are more likeably buffoonish so that is better than most!
Just read that this deal puts the Mavs under the luxury tax this year. GrinningReinsdorf.jpeg
I’m wondering if LeBron asks out. Could see Zach ending up in LA in a multi-teamer with GS. Otherwise Vooch to LA would be pretty funny as an all O, no D swing.
as for how this Luka-to-Lakers blockbuster affects the Bulls...well it doesn't. Bulls aren't even competing in the same league as these teams. They're in a race among the 17th-22nd best teams in basketball to get a postseason home game and not pay the tax.
I suppose it means the Lakers are less likely to trade certainly for LaVine but likely Vucevic as well. Sure they have no center, but who cares they have Luka Doncic's entire prime, why pay >$20M for a 34 year old no-defense center.
maybe they could use Maxi Kleber's salary (who they acquired with Luka) but Bulls would have to get in this trade as Kleber can't be re-aggregated. And Arturas Karnisovas is very likely literally asleep.
We aren't the worst FO anymore! Another win for AKME.
yeah even if you can twist yourself into dealing Doncic at all, let alone needing it to be for another superstar (and not the prospects package), how does Dallas not get BOTH Lakers unprotected firsts? Did AK consult on the fine points here?
Seriously, San Antonio is sitting there with 15,000 pick (7,000 coming from Chicago) like... bro you didn't even call?
yeah this is AK-level nonsense:
“I believe that defense wins championships,” Mavs GM Nico Harrison told ESPN regarding his motivation to trade Luka Doncic for Anthony Davis. “I believe that getting an All-Defensive center and an All-NBA player with a defensive mindset gives us a better chance. We’re built to win now and in the future.”
Nico Harrison a former Nike executive like Marc Eversley
Interesting, cause up to this point I thought Harrison had actually done a great job with the Mavs, building and putting the right pieces around Luka. I wasn't sure about the Klay thing this summer, but this now definitely points toward him now losing the plot for good.
If Rob Pelinka thinks you're joking with your trade proposal, don't you have to rethink it? Apparently not.
I saw the chyron on espn "Davis for Doncic" and I honestly thought it was an intern fuckup. It's ludicrous from the Mavs perspective.
Finally a Jerry Krause for this generation!
LMAO
@marcjspears:
Word is new Mavs forward Anthony Davis is good with going to Dallas and has a solid relationship with team president Nico Harrison’s dating back to the latter’s Nike days. Now Davis also has centers to play next to him in Dallas.
"I've been waiting for a long time to play next to Daniel Gafford. It's a dream come true." —Anthony Davis
Mavs do not have much flexibility at all for a win-now move, they have a pretty balanced roster and it doesn't help they can't aggregate Max Christie
They could use another playmaker, but they'd have to be cheap. Coby White, come on down? Even if Mavs were skittish on dealing away picks (they already have 2027 outgoing, and getting 2029 from Lakers only got them back to neutral as their own pick was already gone), maybe they would trade Derrick Lively considering he may be out for the season?
Coby+Craig
for
Lively+Exum+Powell
keeps Dallas under the tax
This is fascinating wrt LeBron's "legacy", The Lakers feel no urgency to maximize LeBron's twilight years. They just went and got the next LeBron without considering the current one. This doesn't increase their 2025 playoff odds (currently middling)
just another indicator that LeBron himself didn't care about that too much, just wanted to go to the Lakers to be a good dad. You know who didn't care about family in the pursuit of greatness? Michael Jeffrey Jordan
Zach to Kings in the Fox to Spurs trade. Why would Sacramento do this? Zach and DeMar just don't work together.
https://x.com/ShamsCharania/status/1886225429272387803
L the fuck OL
Apparently Kings are receiving three firsts. If any of those are from the Bulls, I am going to lose my mind.
I wonder what the Bulls got back. Probably not much.
San Antonio probably gave them their pick back and that's it.
Probably.
That's it apparently. And Zach Collins, Tre Jones and Kevin Heurter. Yuck.
Shams is reporting that the Bulls got back their own pick back, Zach Collins, Tre Jones and Kevin Huerter. The Bulls also sent their 2025 second round pick to the Kings.
You weren't wrong
Harrison Barnes? :)
Do they get their 2025 pick no matter what (from San Antonio agreeing to it)?
This way AKME can do what they love the most: pursue the Play-In without any limitations.
Plus the right to say they didn't sit another deadline!
Any details on the Zach trade ??
From Shams
Spurs: De'Aaron Fox, Jordan McLaughlin
Kings: Zach LaVine, Sidy Cissoko, three first round picks (2025 CHA, 2027 SAS, 2031 MIN), three second round picks (2025 CHI, 2028 DEN, 2028 own back)
Bulls: Zach Collins, Tre Jones, Kevin Huerter, their own 2025 pick via SAS
Just wow....
other reports had the bulls getting 2 picks from SAS
I hope so. This FO seems to be allergic to draft picks. The Kings getting 6 draft picks out of this and the Bulls just getting their SAS one back is crazy.
i think they are sending a second to SCK, vooch could still be dealt.
Well well well well well well well!
Man I wanted them to dump Zach, but getting the 2025 pick "back" is so ominous. They're gonna trade for Trae Young or something and lock in 5 more years as a play-in
No, this feels like finally the true start of the Josh Giddey era in Chicago. Max contract coming this summer.
Jesus that is grim.
The bulls are going to end up with the 9th pick because thats just what happens.
But hey when Luka doncic only nets you what will be a middling first round pick, what can you expect in a return for Lavine.
Forget the bulls. I might just be done with the NBA all together man. What a terrible 24 hours
Not so terrible for Lakers fans I guess. Or San Antonio too.