Proposed Bulls Trade Takes Drastic Measure to Move Zach LaVine

Getty Zach LaVine #8 of the Chicago Bulls.

Chicago Bulls guard Zach LaVine signed an offer sheet with the Sacramento Kings as a restricted free agent in 2018.

The Bulls ultimately matched that offer and would ink the two-time All-Star to a five-year, $215 million contract four years later. But the relationship between the two sides never truly recovered and they agreed to find him a new home this season.

The Bulls began their efforts last offseason. But LaVine’s willingness seemingly paved the way for a deal to be completed at some point before the deadline.

His season-ending foot surgery altered those plans. But perhaps it created an opportunity.

“LaVine would be the perfect second offensive option to [De’Aaron] Fox, taking pressure off the All-Star guard to carry the scoring load,” Bleacher Report’s Greg Swartz wrote on April 11. “He’d feast on cutting opportunities and wide-open threes off passes from [Domantas] Sabonis as well.”

Swartz suggests a hypothetical trade package to send LaVine to the Kings. But it would come at a steep cost.

Bulls get:

– Davion Mitchell
– Harrison Barnes
– Kevin Huerter
– Sasha Vezenkoff
– 2028 first-round pick (top-10 protected)
– 2030 first-round pick (top-10 protected)

Kings get:

– Zach LaVine
– Alex Caruso

Bulls ‘Should Be Happy’ to Move Zach LaVine in Costly Proposed Trade

“The Bulls should be happy to get off LaVine’s contract and can plug Huerter and Barnes into their rotation or shop them for additional draft picks if the team pivots to a rebuild. Mitchell still carries a lot of defensive potential as the No. 9 overall pick of the 2021 draft and Vezenkov, the EuroLeague MVP last year, could thrive in a bigger role,” Swartz wrote.

“Getting future first-round picks gives Chicago more trade ammo if it wants to go star chasing over the next few years.”

This would be a sizeable haul for LaVine, who would be open to teaming with Fox.

The Bulls wouldn’t be getting back any expiring contracts in this hypothetical trade scenario, with all four players under team control through at least the 2025-26 season. It’s also risky to bank on future lottery-protected picks.

They are still waiting on the lottery-protected Portland Trail Blazers pick from a three-team trade that included the Cleveland Cavaliers that was completed in 2021.

But it is Caruso’s inclusion that truly complicates matters.

Moving Alex Caruso ‘Would Be Painful’ for Bulls

“There’s … a scenario in which, in order to trade LaVine, [Alex] Caruso may have to be included,” NBC Sports Chicago’s K.C. Johnson wrote on December 6. “But Caruso is arguably this regime’s greatest success story and he is the perfect embodiment of the culture the franchise wants to project. Trading him would be painful for this management team; I can assure you that.”

Caruso is heading into the final year of a three-year, $36.9 million contract. The Bulls have rejected offers for him in the past, including from the Golden State Warriors who have been linked to him for some time.

LaVine’s contract and injury history are the driving factors in his continued tenure. The Bulls have opted against moving LaVine in a salary dump scenario.

Swartz’s hypothetical trade scenario would be that and then some for the Bulls.