These 3 trades involve Zach LaVine leaving the Chicago Bulls

Trade Package One: Chicago Bulls send Zach LaVine to the Mavericks

With Zach LaVine now set to leave the Bulls in this imaginary thought experiment, the finances of his new deal are important to consider. The Mavericks are one of the teams reported to have interest in LaVine, but to acquire him they’d need to execute a sign and trade with the Chicago Bulls.

The max contract Zach LaVine could be signed to via a sign and trade is 4 years/157M, a far cry from the 5 years / 212M the Bulls can offer (yet again why I don’t believe he’s going anywhere). These contracts start at 30% of the cap in the first year, with five percent raises each year after (Max contract rules here).

This means that the Mavericks would need to match 30 percent of 122M, i.e., 36.6M in salary in order to acquire LaVine.

Here’s a potential trade, the Mavericks and Bulls could execute should Zach LaVine desire to pair up with Luka Doncic, with projected salaries.

Jalen Brunson is expected to fetch around 25M AAV in restricted free agency this summer, and as such would be the main piece coming back to the Bulls. At only 25 years old, Brunson would join Lonzo Ball in the Chicago Bulls’ starting backcourt. It’s unclear whether he can be the long-term answer as no one knows how much of his success is tied to the attention Luka draws, but if LaVine forces himself out, Brunson is an interesting prospect to get back in return.

In addition to Brunson, the Bulls would also get back the 26th pick in this year’s NBA draft (worth about 1.75M) that they can either use on another young prospect or package to acquire someone else. They also get Reggie Bullock, a solid wing who can provide decent minutes off the bench and hit from three.