Chicago Bulls Rumors: Local insider predicts DeMar DeRozan trade

The 2023 NBA Draft is on Thursday and chances are that if the Chicago Bulls are going to trade one of Zach LaVine or DeMar DeRozan, it will occur before the draft on Thursday as the Bulls are reportedly looking for ways to get involved in this year’s event.

As a reminder, the Bulls currently do not hold a pick in the 2023 NBA Draft. The Bulls’ first-round pick, 11th overall, was sent to the Orlando Magic to complete the Nikola Vucevic trade, and the team was forced to part with their second-round pick as a result of the NBA’s investigation into the team tampering with Lonzo Ball prior to the start of free agency during the summer of 2021.

Given the financial restrictions that the Bulls may have this summer given their reluctance to go into the luxury tax threshold, the 2023 NBA Draft seems like one of the few realistic paths to major improvement for the team.

Expect plenty of Bulls’ trade rumors before the start of the draft on Thursday. We saw those rumors start on Friday with news that the team may be quietly gauging the interest in LaVine throughout NBA circles.

It would seem that if the Bulls are going to make a major shakeup and take a wrecking ball to their current core, it would be through trading either LaVine or DeRozan. Despite the rumor of the Bulls potentially shopping LaVine, local Chicago Sports insider David Kaplan predicts that the team will move DeRozan this summer.

Kaplan was a guest on Stacey King’s “Gimme The Hot Sauce Podcast” and the full episode can be accessed by going to the show’s page on Audacy. Kaplan’s reasoning for DeRozan being the one to be traded makes sense from the perspective of the Bulls needing to tear down their current core and rebuild.

The Chicago Bulls are approaching decision time between moving forward with Zach LaVine or DeMar DeRozan.

DeRozan is entering his final season with the Bulls before becoming an unrestricted free agent next summer. Meaning, if the Bulls are not going to trade DeRozan, chances are an extension would be in the works. DeRozan will be 34 at the start of next season and for a team that is in desperate need of a shakeup, re-signing an aging veteran does not make sense from a basketball perspective.

At the very least, the Bulls need a pick a lane this week and it likely will come through one of three decisions: trade DeRozan, trade LaVine, or remain in the holding pattern that they have been in and find comfort in basketball purgatory.