NEWSLETTER
Zach LaVine is the house that sits on a busy road with a leaky roof, DIY kitchen renovation, and some jaw-dropping property taxes. The Chicago Bulls have repeatedly dropped the price and updated the listing. Yet – despite today’s seemingly booming market – there are no takers.
The first week of free agency has underscored how bad things have gotten for the two-time All-Star. One report indicated that the Bulls have attempted to attach first-round draft capital to find a suitor. Another report stated that the Golden State Warriors opted to waive Chris Paul instead of using his expiring salary in a deal to acquire Zach LaVine. Teams appear absolutely terrified to touch the 29-year-old, who has averaged 25.0 points per game on 47.7 percent shooting from the field and 38.7 percent shooting from downtown over the past five years.
I suppose the Chicago Bulls shouldn’t be too shocked, though. The organization showed they were ready to move on from LaVine over a year ago. Rumors about trading his max contract popped up during the summer of 2023. Of course, this is what ultimately led to LaVine’s camp making it known that they would welcome a change of scenery.
Still, the inability to move LaVine is proving to be a thorn in the Chicago Bulls’ side. As long as this trade saga looms over the organization, it’s going to be hard for them to fully embrace the youth movement they started this offseason. Not to mention, it’s already contributing to the challenge of finding the right sign-and-trade deal for DeMar DeRozan. With LaVine’s salary on the books, the Bulls are only a little over $13.0 million away from the luxury tax. Remove him from the equation, and they wouldn’t need a third team to take back salary to pull off a DeRozan deal (where they may also be able to get a pick or young player for taking on salary).
While it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world to welcome LaVine back to see if he can recuperate some value, it’s surely not something the Bulls or LaVine would prefer. The best-case scenario would be finding a trade partner at some point over the next couple of weeks. But is anyone out there going to budge?
Will a Zach LaVine Market Arise?
The one thing we know about the NBA offseason is that things can happen fast. The further we get into free agency, the more pressure builds. Contending teams are going to become desperate to stay in the hunt, and this could open new doors for Zach LaVine.
Perhaps this is why NBC Sports Chicago’s K.C. Johnson continues to mention two Western Conference teams as possible landing spots. Here’s what the long-time Bulls beat reporter said on a recent episode of the Bulls Talk Podcast:
“I’ve been led to believe there are two teams that are still at least having conversations with – glimmer of hope – however you want to phrase it, I don’t want to be aggregated poorly, I’m grasping for the best way to phrase it myself. I’ve written the Kings and Warriors … Those are the two teams I’m still monitoring,” Johnson said.
As to satisfy Johnson’s hope of avoiding poor aggregation, I wanted to stress how carefully he was wording this. Many have insisted that there has been zero market over the last handful of days, but Johnson is telling us there are at least a couple of teams worth keeping an eye on. Does that mean he expects a deal to get done? No, but the Warriors and Kings are two playoff hopefuls who have previously been linked to LaVine. It wouldn’t be shocking to hear either re-enter the conversations at any point.
So does anyone else make sense? Well, the Pistons still have a fair amount of financial flexibility and could be looking for some veteran talent to help out their youngsters. The franchise just signed Tobias Harris to a big two-year deal. This current front office regime isn’t the one that previously expressed interest in LaVine, but does that mean the new one couldn’t see taking a flyer on him as valuable?
What about the Utah Jazz? They are still sitting on nearly $37.0 million in cap space and could perhaps view Zach LaVine as an asset in their rebuild. Would they consider taking him on for a year, boosting his value, and turning him into something down the road? They were able to turn his former co-star in Chicago, Lauri Markkanen, into a very attractive asset.
I fully recognize that I’m reaching for straws, but I also know how unpredictable the NBA can be. We never thought DeMar DeRozan would be a Bull until Chicago shockingly pulled off the sign-and-trade for him in 2021. All it takes is one phone call to completely change things, and we know the Bulls haven’t hesitated to pick up the phone.
Again, it may take some time, but somebody always buys the fixer-upper.
