Should Chicago Bulls extend or trade Bobby Portis?

Should the Chicago Bulls keep Bobby Portis around as a core bench player, or is it better to use him as a trade chip for a bigger talent?

Despite all the madness surrounding Bobby Portis at the start of last season, the now-fourth-year forward out of Arkansas certainly proved himself a capable player for the Chicago Bulls last season.

Beginning his season late after his fist ultimately punched Nikola Mirotic‘s ticket out of town, Portis averaged 13.2 points and 6.8 rebounds in 22.5 minutes per game, playing largely off the bench with a few spot starts.

Furthermore, he also saw a slight uptick in his 3-point percentage, up to 35.9% last year after shooting 33.3% in 2017. In particular, that portion of his game has trended upward in each of his first three seasons.

Not bad for a guy many of us thought could end up gone himself in the immediate aftermath of him breaking Mirotic’s face.

And given his energetic, impactful play last season in a bigger role, the Bulls have started looking into a possible contract extension for Portis as revealed by the forward himself.

Portis may not look like your standard sixth man off the bench — perhaps he wouldn’t be on a better team — but he’s a young, homegrown player that is clearly growing into his role in the NBA with time. If he can keep his hands to himself, it certainly makes sense for the Chicago Bulls to keep him around and see what he can do for this rebuilt roster in the future.

That said, with Portis’ value increasing, could his time with the Bulls have a shorter lifespan than anticipated?

Though nothing suggests that the Bulls have this in mind at the moment, fans have started expressing a desire to potentially use Portis, along with the seventh and/or 22nd picks in this year’s draft, in a trade package to either move up in the draft or make a move for the possibly available Karl-Anthony Towns.

Considering Portis’ age and upward trajectory, he could have a good deal of value as a trade chip. And truthfully, if he could fetch a franchise-changing talent like Towns in a trade, perhaps he’s worth more to the Chicago Bulls that way than as a bench player going forward.

Though he made very good contributions last year, what happens when this team hopefully competes for a title? Will he continue to ascend as a player, or where his numbers due largely to being one of the least bad players on a bad team? If that’s the case, isn’t it better to move him soon while his value is high?

These are just questions to ask, not a declaration that the Bulls should definitely deal Portis. And chances are that these discussions have happened/are happening behind closed doors in some capacity. That’s just how you prepare yourself for every possible outcome.

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Still, as it stands, I see no reason to doubt the fact that the Chicago Bulls really like Bobby Portis and want to keep him around. And that feeling isn’t without reason.

Portis is yet another late-first-round pick that has proven himself a solid NBA player and proves much-needed energy and value off the bench. And you must have players like that on your team if you want lasting success and have title aspirations. Make no mistake: the Bulls likely view Portis as part of their core as much as Kris Dunn, Zach LaVine and Lauri Markkanen right now.

And at just 23 years old, Portis has all kinds of room to grow. In addition to the stretch game he has added, he can still improve greatly as an interior scorer and get better on the defensive end. In that aspect, he unfortunately has gotten a little worse each year, with his defensive rating (points allowed per 100 possessions) climbing to 110 last year. That’s…not good. But there’s still hope that he can figure things out there or at least that his offense can outweigh that.

Plus, Portis probably won’t break the bank with an extension at this point anyway. Working on locking him up now could save the Bulls money later.

Next: Should Bulls trade for KAT?

So unless Portis is definitely fetching Towns (or someone like him) in a trade, count me in the “keep him around” camp. If he’s as good a sixth man going forward as the Chicago Bulls hope, that’s not always an easy thing to just go find elsewhere.

Then again, it might be a year or two before we find out what Portis and these Chicago Bulls are really made of. If they do extend him, they’ll have to hope he’s up for the challenge.