Chicago Bulls: 3 trades to consider with Dallas Mavericks

Trade No. 1

The first trade involves the Mavericks pairing a potential All Star to go along with one of the NBA’s best players in Doncic. The Bulls would send Zach LaVine to Dallas, giving the Mavs one heck of a back court. Not to mention, they still have Porzingis for opposing teams to deal with. That, right there, could be a championship team in the West.

Why would the Bulls trade LaVine, though?

As much as I’ve enjoyed seeing him take his game to another level, he still doesn’t get it done defensively. He’s also a byproduct of being on a bad team, thus taking the reins as the number one guy, offensively. Now, don’t get me wrong. He’s talented. But, the Bulls may end up needing to start yet one more rebuild here, sooner or later.

In exchange, the Bulls get Courtney Lee, Seth Curry and a first-round pick.

Note: The Mavericks wouldn’t be able to give up a first-round pick for a few years, most likely until 2025.

By netting Lee, the Bulls aren’t getting a guy they will throw out there much. The reason for taking on the veteran guard is because his contract is set to expire this summer — a $12 million number. By opening up that money, and the difference between Curry and LaVine’s deals, the Bulls will have around $24 million more to work with over the free agency period.

Curry, meanwhile, has a fairly friendly contract paying him about $24 million over the next three seasons. As a sharpshooter (39.0 percent from three this year) giving the Bulls a lift off the bench, I don’t mind that deal over three years. Obviously, the first-round pick is the bigger part of this deal as a whole.

Now, to convince free agents to come and play in Chicago — that’s the tough part.