Chicago Bulls: Blazers wouldn’t have made sense for LaVine trade, anyway

The Chicago Bulls are all but shopping All-Star guard Zach LaVine ahead of the 2023 NBA Draft and one team that has been commonly mentioned in a potential deal with the Bulls is the Portland Trail Blazers.

The Trail Blazers were among the teams that expressed interest in LaVine last summer prior to the guard re-upping with the Bulls on the maximum contract extension but it appears that Portland does not want to revisit that interest this summer.

Jake Fisher of Yahoo Sports reports on Tuesday that LaVine does not appear to be a realistic target for the Trail Blazers as they look to move their No.3 overall selection in the draft for a veteran star to pair with Damian Lillard.

"Zach LaVine, the Bulls All-Star guard who flirted with Portland as he reached unrestricted free agency last June, also does not appear to be a legitimate target for the Blazers.-Jake Fisher via Yahoo Sports"

Although it made sense for the Chicago Bulls, trading for Zach LaVine didn’t make sense for Portland

For Bulls fans, the interest in the Trail Blazers being the team to covet LaVine made all the sense in the world.

With the Bulls looking for either a top draft pick or a young star, the Trail Blazers No.3 overall selection in the draft would have paved the way for the Bulls being able to select one of Scoot Henderson or Brandon Miller.

In terms of trade partners for the Bulls and LaVine, the Trail Blazers would have been a perfect fit. The issue is, however, LaVine is not a perfect fit for the Trail Blazers despite the previous teases from Lillard about wanting to play with the Bulls’ star.

Fischer went on to note that someone like Miami’s Bam Adebayo would be a great target for the Blazers and would play well off of someone like Lillard. We’ve seen how another ball-dominant guard works next to Lillard, in CJ McCollum, and the Blazers never made it over the hump with those two.

The team to watch in the LaVine sweepstakes are the New York Knicks. The Knicks do not have a pick in the 2023 NBA Draft but appeared to be willing to part with their young talent at the trade deadline in a potential move for LaVine.

Those talks could revisit this summer if the Bulls are willing to forgo getting 2023 draft pick compensation for LaVine.