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Chicago Bulls: Utah Jazz now best trade option for Nikola Mirotic?

By Khari Thompson

(Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)
(Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images) /
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With the NBA trade deadline drawing nearer, would the Utah Jazz help out a Chicago Bulls team eager to trade Nikola Mirotic?

Thanks a lot, Detroit.

If you had any notions of the Chicago Bulls swinging a trade with the Detroit Pistons for Stanley Johnson, Avery Bradley or some draft picks, your dreams got torpedoed when the somewhat shocking Blake Griffin-to-Pistons trade went through.

Not only does Detroit no longer really need/have room for Mirotic now that they have Griffin, but they just gave up a 2018 first-round pick and a 2019 second-round pick to get him.

With the Bulls desperate for another first-round pick in the 2018 NBA Draft in return for Mirotic, that won’t work.

And in general, the proposed returns for Mirotic right now don’t look as good as some of us optimistically projected when he came back from injury lighting the world on fire.

Sure, we probably all knew that Mirotic wouldn’t fetch the Chicago Bulls a first-round pick by himself. That part, at least, shouldn’t surprise Bulls fans. They were going to need to package him up with Robin Lopez and perhaps Jerian Grant/Justin Holiday to squeeze a first-rounder out of someone. And even then, it would depend on who the other party was.

But with Mirotic on the trade block for 15 days now, (seemingly) nothing worth pulling the trigger on has materialized.

Could this change in the next few days? And might the Utah Jazz be the ones to pull the trigger on a deal for Mirotic and Co.?

For one thing, Mirotic-to-Jazz trade rumors have been cropping up for more than a month now. On the flip side, the Bulls reportedly have interest in both Utah’s Rodney Hood and Derrick Favors. As such, a match might make sense.

Also, in a grander Western Conference scheme, Utah could start targeting the playoffs sooner than later. With Blake Griffin gone and DeAndre Jordan possibly following, the Los Angeles Clippers have waved the white flag on 2018.

And LA’s detonation, both right now (though the Jazz don’t stand any real chance if they made the playoffs now) and in the immediate future, opens the door for the Jazz to sneak into the playoffs soon.

And if they wanted to pursue that, grabbing Mirotic could help.

After all, they still need a starter-caliber player that can shoot the 3 to help out Donovan Mitchell. And Mirotic is still young enough to contribute meaningfully for several years. That, and he reportedly really likes the idea of playing for Quin Snyder.

That said, the Jazz are currently in a position, like the Chicago Bulls, where losing serves them better right now. Better to lose and grab a high draft pick than stay stuck in bbasketballpurgatory, right? Sound familiar?

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Also, by that token, they might not be wholly willing to give up a first-round draft pick in a trade. The Bulls would probably have to settle for a second-rounder with Hood and/or Favors in exchange for Mirotic. If they want a first-round pick, they probably won’t get one in any two-team trade, truthfully.

Could the Chicago Bulls accept that: a couple solid players and a developmental pick to get Mirotic off your hands?

Ultimately, neither Hood nor Favors would probably throw off the tanking plans, so it could be worth it there. As such, the Bulls could get back on a top-five pick trajectory and get that much closer to accelerating their rebuild.

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It might not be what Gar Forman and John Paxson want, but that move could be a strong one for the Bulls in the long run. And as the trade deadline inches closer, the Jazz could represent one of the few options they have left to deal Mirotic.

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