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Report predicts the Chicago Bulls will do nothing at the trade deadline
Fans, experts, and opposing teams expect the Chicago Bulls to be a player when the trade deadline arrives on February 8. Between Zach LaVine and the Bulls being open to parting ways and the team being mired in the league’s purgatory of being too good to tank but not good enough to contend, there has been plenty of speculation surrounding potential trades.
However, according to a recent report by Bleacher Report’s Zach Buckley, the Bulls may end up not making any moves at the trade deadline.
Tricky dance trading LaVine
The Bulls’ front office has been burning the midnight oil to figure out what to do with LaVine. The 25-year-old guard has already missed 17 games due to a foot injury and is expected to miss a few weeks because of a recently sprained ankle. Add to that that the Bulls are playing better with LaVine on the sidelines, and you have a tricky situation.
“Finding any trade for LaVine—whose trade market was dormant before he rolled his ankle Thursday night—is hard enough. But uncovering a trade for the high-paid, oft-injured guard that makes this club more competitive might be impossible. It might take an asset or two just to unload him,” Buckley wrote.
However, the Bulls don’t have many assets to begin with. Coby White is their best one, but the former Tar Heel appears to be a player who the team can look to build on moving forward. Patrick Williams was the Bulls’ fourth pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, and if the team has learned anything from the Lauri Markkannen trade, giving up too soon on a young player could come back to haunt them.
So, while the Bulls may have their hands tied when making a trade for LaVine, they also don’t have many options to improve their current roster. This puts them in a tough spot as they try to balance competing now with building for the future.
Caught between a rock and a hard place
The Bulls’ front office has some tough decisions between now and the trade deadline. Do they blow this roster up and trade its veterans to start anew, or do they keep treading this path, which, at best, leads them to the NBA Play-in Tournament?
“Outside looking in, the Bulls sure appear crammed into that proverbial crevice between a rock and a hard place. Blowing up this roster feels like their only way out, but if that's off the table, Chicago could wind up doing exactly what it did at the past two trade deadlines: Absolutely nothing,” Buckley added.
