Bulls Get Even More Bad News on the Trade Front
By Jovan Alford
The Chicago Bulls have signaled to their fan base this offseason that they are in the early stages of a rebuild.
The Bulls took the first steps by trading Alex Caruso to the Oklahoma City Thunder for former first-round pick Josh Giddey and sending All-Star DeMar DeRozan to the Sacramento Kings in a sign-and-trade.
With the Bulls moving on from Caruso and DeRozan and the roster getting younger, many fans expect the team to trade Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic next. LaVine has seen his name pop up in trade rumors over the last few weeks, but there hasn’t been any momentum toward a deal.
As a matter of fact, the latest reporting out of Windy City suggests that LaVine and Vucevic may be going nowhere any time soon.
Bulls Rumors: No Trade Market Reportedly Available for Zach LaVine, Nikola Vucevic
Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times reported on Sunday that the possible trade destinations for LaVine have “seemingly dried up,” and there’s no market for Vucevic.
The main reason why both of these players are not receiving much interest from other teams in the trade market is because of their contracts.
The 29-year-old LaVine is scheduled to make $43 million next season and owed $137.9 million over the last three years. It’s hard to convince a team to take LaVine and his contract after only playing 29 games due to season-ending right foot surgery.
Even if Chicago were to throw in second-round picks with LaVine in a trade, that still isn’t reportedly getting teams’ attention.
As for Vucevic, the 33-year-old center is scheduled to make $20 million next season and $21.4 million in the 2024-25 season. Vucevic had another stellar season, averaging 18 points and 10.5 rebounds per game.
In a perfect world, the Bulls would want to trade LaVine and Vucevic this offseason, but their best chance to move these veterans might be next season’s trade deadline.
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