Chicago Bulls Rumors: 5 bold trades to acquire a 2023 first-round pick
By Ryan Heckman
The 2022-2023 NBA season is officially in the books, as the Denver Nuggets took home the championship on Monday night. Now, it’s truly time to look forward to the offseason for the Chicago Bulls.
Arturas Karnisovas and company might end up running it back with mostly the same team they’ve held for the past couple of years, although a lot of fans would be thrilled with change.
Should the Bulls decide to surprise us and actually make some changes, entering another rebuild might be in their best interest. In order to do that, they’ll need some draft capital and to unload some future salary.
If Chicago wanted to net some draft capital in the 2023 NBA Draft, as they’re without a pick, they could try one of the following deals.
Trade Number 1: The Chicago Bulls send Zach LaVine to the Brooklyn Nets
The first trade we propose is for the Bulls to try and get Zach LaVine off the books. His contract is looking less than ideal, the more time that goes by, and if this team really wanted to try and rebuild, then getting his money off the books is a priority.
The deal starts with Chicago netting guard Spencer Dinwiddie and wing Joe Harris, to help make the financials match up. But, the Bulls will also get three picks in the deal in exchange for the All Star, LaVine.
The Brooklyn Nets have a couple of first rounders in this year’s draft, but they come quite a bit later in the first round. Because of that, the Bulls will not only get both firsts this year, but a top-5 protected first rounder in 2025.
Now that Brooklyn has two bigger names in LaVine and Ben Simmons, maybe they’ll be able to attract another free agent name to help launch them back into contention; assuming Simmons can be healthy going forward, of course.