Chicago Bulls Rumors: Should Lonzo Ball be a trade target?

Trade season is upon us, and Chicago Bulls fans are getting antsy.

The team is off to somewhat disappointing 7-11 start, and the jury is still out on whether or not this team’s core is even any good.

Now, the scuttlebutt around the league has risen in volume, including rumors for one player that I believe the Bulls should have interest in: Lonzo Ball.

The caveats are (in no particular order): Lonzo Ball is a polarizing player. When he was drafted, his father had more impact on his stock than he should have had.  He’s been on two different teams already (not entirely his fault). He’s shooting 32 percent from long range, and 58 percent from the charity stripe. His true shooting percentage is 50.5 percent.

That’s the bad side of Ball. The good side? His playmaking and defense.

Ball is currently playing the worst basketball of his NBA career. He’s still averaging 4.8 assists, and has an assist/turnover ratio of 2.12. His offensive rating is 110.8, and his defensive rating is 110.5, which means he has a positive net rating (it’s a slim positive, but still positive).

Just for contrast, Coby White has an offensive rating of 108.8, and a defensive rating of 116.5, for a net rating of -7.7. Coby White’s true shooting percentage is 52.7 percent.

So, even though Ball is a worse shooter overall than White, he’s significantly more impactful in winning. Which is just what the Bulls need.

Ball does have a price. He’s on last year of his rookie deal (read this piece for more information on what that means), so he’ll need to be re-signed by any team that deals for him.

Luckily, the Bulls also have a player who needs to be re-signed after season’s end.

Yep, the salaries work. A former number 7 pick for the second overall pick, from four years ago. Both players haven’t actualized their promise yet, so maybe a change of scenery for both could be in the best interest.

Now, there might be some consternation over giving up Lauri Markkanen. “He’s baby Dirk!”, you might say.

If I had to sum up Markkanen’s performance and value to the Chicago Bulls with one stat, one small nugget of information that might shed some light on his role on the team, one paragraph that can double as a heuristical analysis of the former Wildcat and current bovine,  it’d be this:

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53.3 percent of Lauri Markkanen’s shots are behind the arc. 98 percent of those are catch and shoot threes. 52 percent of his shots are threes that are considered “open” or “wide open” according to NBA.com (for those of us at home, I believe that means 1.3 percent of Lauri’s three-point shots are at least tightly guarded, per NBA.com) So on this overwhelming volume of very easy shots, he’s shooting 40.8 percent. NBA.com hasn’t recorded Lauri take a single three-point shot with a defender within two feet of him.

So, that’s a really long and convoluted way of saying that Markkanen is getting almost every shot created for him, and he’s taking “easy” shots, and not converting at a great rate.

I’m not sold on Lauri Markkanen long term. Evidently, neither was the front office, as Markkanen is currently playing without an extension. A deal within this framework gives the Bulls a real playmaker, a positive player to make the rest of the team’s life a little easier.