Chicago Bulls: Three trade packages for Bobby Portis

No. 2: Deal Portis to the Philadelphia 76ers

The Bulls and Philadelphia 76ers are no strangers to making trades.

In fact, they just made one a couple of day ago. Albeit a small trade, the 76ers sent Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot to the Bulls in exchange for a heavily protected second round draft pick.

However, that’s not exactly the impact trade that the Bulls and Sixers would be making here.

This time around, the Bulls would send Portis to Philly in exchange for Zhaire Smith and a first round pick.

Smith was the 16th-overall pick in last year’s draft. A rookie out of Texas Tech, Smith has missed the entire season with a foot injury, but is expected to return soon.

Would the Sixers be willing to part with a player that they haven’t even seen play in a regular season game yet? Maybe not. But Smith isn’t a core piece for Philly, and if it means bringing Portis into the mix, I’m sure its a risk that the Sixers would be willing to take.

Since the Bulls would be getting a recent first rounder in Smith, their first round pick in return would be pushed back a year. Another reason for the pick being in 2020 would be to advantage the Sixers, as their upward trend will likely continue next year, and in turn, make the first rounder less and less valuable.

For the Sixers, in Portis they get the high-octane bench production that they’ve been lacking. Portis would add a three point shooting big man that the Sixers could pair with Joel Embiid, making a formidable group of jump shooting big men.

The trade likely hinges on the Sixers willingness to part with a player as young and as unknown as Smith. The Bulls interest in Smith would be clear, as he would add to next year’s young coupe of players. The Bulls and Sixers could resort to a smaller trade like this, or……