The Chicago Bulls have made it clear they want to stick with their core roster and do not plan to make any significant trades before the NBA deadline. According to Shams Charnia from The Athletic, the Bulls are actively trying to improve their team by adding a guard, but KC Johnson from NBC Sports Chicago gave another hint that a trade will unlikely take place. That leaves the Bulls with the buyout market players. One player who is rumored to be traded and bought out instantly is Russell Westbrook. Perhaps the Bulls could take a swing on the former MVP.

How Does Russell Westbrook Fit With The Bulls?

Russell Westbrook is a significant upgrade over Goran Dragic as the third point guard off the bench. At the very least, Westbrook would be improving the team rather than taking minutes from a player more worthy of being in the rotation. Westbrook was once a triple-double king as he dominated the league with his ability to score, rebound, and pass during his days in Oklahoma City, Houston, and Washington. Since joining the Lakers, he’s been scapegoated to cover LeBron James’ failures.

Let’s focus on the Bulls’ needs to see if Westbrook fills any of those categories. The Bulls need three-point shooting, playmaking, rebounding, and interior defense. The Bulls can acknowledge that Westbrook doesn’t bring much scoring or defense to the team. However, his ability to rebound, especially from the backcourt, could bring significant relief to Nikola Vucevic, who is often tasked with the lion’s share of rebounds.

Russell Westbrook, like Zach LaVine, has questionable decision-making at times. Unfortunately, most of those times come in the last two minutes of a close game. Outside of that, Westbrook is a significant upgrade of a playmaker over Alex Caruso and Ayo Dosunmu. As long as the Bulls aren’t relying on Westbrook to make a game-winning play or rescue them down the stretch, he can provide a lot of relief in spot minutes off the bench.