The Chicago Bulls are in a tough spot as the offseason gets underway. Last season proved that their current core isn’t a championship-caliber group, and they may not even be a guaranteed playoff team. If Arturas Karnisovas wants to avoid a rebuild, he needs to add talent around Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan, and Nikola Vucevic.
Chicago just re-signed Vucevic to a three-year deal, but rebuilding the roster, or at least reshaping it, would be in their best interest. Rather than tear down the entire roster, the Bulls could instead choose to shift around parts, changing the core pieces of their team.
Andy Bailey of Bleacher Report suggested a three-team trade with the Golden State Warriors and Portland Trail Blazers that would ditch DeRozan in exchange for a bright young star.
Mock 3-team trade sees Bulls ditch DeMar DeRozan for 24-year-old guard: The trade
Here’s the full outline of the trade:
Bulls receive: Anfernee Simons, Jonathan Kuminga, 2020 first-round pick (via POR)
Warriors receive: Jusuf Nurkic, Patrick Williams, Shaedon Sharpe, 2026 first-round pick (via POR)
Trail Blazers receive: DeMar DeRozan, Draymond Green (S&T starting at $27 million)
Mock 3-team trade sees Bulls ditch DeMar DeRozan for 24-year-old guard: Bulls perspective
This was Bailey’s reasoning for the Bulls:
“News of a three-year extension for center Nikola Vučević makes a shakeup for the Bulls feel a lot less likely than it did a few days ago, but this move still makes some sense for Chicago.
“For one thing, Simons is almost 10 years younger than DeRozan. And for a team that finished 29th in threes per game in 2022-23 (and 16th in three-point percentage), the addition of Simons’ high-volume (and highly accurate) outside shooting has to be intriguing.
“He may not be a point guard, but he’s still young enough to potentially be molded into that too. And with Lonzo Ball’s health still a massive concern (and mystery), the Bulls should be in the market for help at that position.
“The Williams-for-Kuminga aspect of this deal isn’t quite as easy to explain, but the latter is about a year younger. And Chicago, which isn’t as close to title contention as the Warriors, can justify the extra development Kuminga may need a bit easier,” Bailey wrote.
Mock 3-team trade sees Bulls ditch DeMar DeRozan for 24-year-old guard: Should the Bulls make this trade?
If the Bulls saw this trade come across their table, they should make it yesterday.
DeRozan is entering the final year of his contract, and Patrick Williams is a solid young player, but they would be getting back better pieces for their future.
Anfernee Simons would be a solid young point guard to pair with Zach LaVine, and Jonathan Kuminga still has a very high ceiling. He just needs more minutes.
Add in the first-round pick, and this deal would give the Bulls’ future a massive boost.
Potential Bulls starting lineup: Anfernee Simons, Zach LaVine, Alex Caruso, Jonathan Kuminga, Nikola Vucevic
