Zach LaVine cowardly evades Chicago Bulls trade rumors

Much like when he is on the court for the Chicago Bulls, when faced with real pressure, Zach LaVine fails to live up to the expectations of being the max player on an NBA basketball team.

Reports throughout the past couple of days have suggested that the Bulls and LaVine are exploring trade possibilities with the biggest difference being that LaVine’s camp has informed the team’s front office that they would not be against the idea.

In other words, it was a roundabout way for LaVine to essentially request a trade from the Bulls.

Rather than own up to his intentions and admit that he is interested in playing elsewhere, LaVine took the cowardly way out when asked about the rumors on Wednesday.

"“My camp [Klutch Sports] talks to them all the time,’’ LaVine said. “It’s not like we’re not in a good relationship or a good talking space. We understand the business of basketball; I do more than most people. People talk. I’ve been in trade talks for a long time, so I understand the situation. But once news is broken, it’s a big thing.‘‘It’s not like it’ll be the first or last time it’s going to happen with my name. As of right now, I’m excited to still put this jersey on and play, try to get this win tonight.’’-Chicago Sun Times"

Even in his handling of wanting to be traded away from the Bulls, LaVine proves that he falls short of being a true superstar. It’s been clear that LaVine has had one foot in and out foot out of the Bulls’ organization for much of the past two seasons. As refreshing as it is to think about the idea of the Bulls moving on from their current core by trading LaVine, it would have been equally as refreshing had LaVine just admitted that he wants to be traded.

And, it should be made clear that LaVine is not the main problem for what has gone wrong with the Bulls. The Bulls’ front office still deserves the blame for trying to bring back a core that has failed since the second half of the 2021-2022 season.

To that end, it would seem that a trade of LaVine would not ignite a rebuild for the Bulls. The Bulls remain interested in signing DeMar DeRozan to a contract extension and it would seem that the team wants to have a new core around DeRozan and center Nikola Vucevic as they look to reframe their contention window.