This offseason the Bulls have made a lot of changes within the front office. It started by bringing on Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations Artūras Karnišovas. Shortly after Karnišovas was brought in, he hired General Manager Marc Eversley. After a couple of months of rumors and speculation, they fired former Bulls head coach Jim Boylen. All of the major changes concluded with the hiring of Head Coach Billy Donovan. With all of these front office changes it begs the question, will we see any major player changes with this team?
The Bulls are in a great position with the 4th pick in the 2020 NBA Draft. There are a lot of options in this draft but none seem to be a sure thing. That puts the Bulls in an interesting position going into the draft. There are a lot of options for this team and Karnišovas and Eversley are ready to “re-tool” this team. Let’s take a look at some possible trade packages ahead of the draft.
LaVine and Buddy
In the first of many speculated trades, the Bulls would be reaching out to Sacramento. This trade package would be centered around Sacramento Kings shooting guard Buddy Hield. In case you forgot back in 2018 the Kings tried to swipe Shooting Guard Zach LaVine from the Bulls but they matched the offer sheet. This trade would include the Bulls getting Buddy Hield and the 12th overall pick while sending LaVine to the Kings. Since LaVine is viewed as a better player than Hield in most regards the 12th pick would be what’s needed to sweeten the pot. Earlier this month there was a report around Hield’s relationship with Kings head coach Luke Walton.
Buddy Hield has "soured" on Luke Walton and won't answer his calls, per @mr_jasonjones pic.twitter.com/leLUMGVN3x
— Bleacher Report NBA (@BR_NBA) October 2, 2020
This is a big reason why the Kings dealing Hield is realistic. One of the negatives of this trade would be Hield’s contract. He’s tied down for 4 years at over $86 million. That’s a lot of money to be tied into. At this stage, it seems like Karnišovas and Eversley would like to keep the Bulls young core together and build on that. We haven’t been given any insight as to who is apart of the “core” that they speak of. This trade could yield the Bulls the 4th and 12th pick in this year’s draft which could then be used to move around the draft or potentially bring in another player. This trade is all speculation at this point but it could be interesting if the Bulls wanted to go in this direction.
Bulls shake up the lottery
There’s been speculation whether the Bulls will remain at pick #4 or try and move up. In this scenario, the Bulls make a deal with the Golden State Warriors for the #2 pick. This trade gives the Warriors Center Wendell Carter Jr. while the Bulls receive Forward/Center Kevon Looney and the 2020 #2 overall pick. With the Warriors far from being a rebuilding team this would make sense. They would get a young up-and-coming center in Carter Jr. who will help them in an area where they struggle. The Bulls would then have two top 4 picks which could be used on the top center in the NBA Draft James Wiseman. They could then allow Wiseman to build on his game while having Looney take over in the beginning.
This trade obviously can only work if the Warriors are okay with letting the #2 pick go. For a team that certainly isn’t going to rebuild I don’t see that being an issue. However, this trade also would mean that Karnišovas and Eversley don’t see Carter Jr. as a long term piece of the Bulls young core. That is all speculation at this point. This trade is an interesting one that would be hard to pull off. If it were to happen I could see the Warriors wanting something else to sweeten the pot.
The Bulls bring in some vets
This next trade would have the Bulls bringing in some veteran players to help round out the young squad. This trade would have the team reaching out to the San Antonio Spurs. In this proposed trade the San Antonio Spurs would receive Forward Otto Porter Jr., Forward Chandler Hutchison, and the 2020 44th pick. The Bulls would receive Forward/Guard DeMar Derozan and Point Guard Patty Mills.
In this scenario, the Bulls add a veteran presence to the team without sacrificing much talent. Porter Jr. had issues remaining healthy as did Hutchison. While the potential is there for Hutchison it’s unsure how he will blossom as a player. This trade brings in a proven player in DeRozan. He may not space the floor but he has averaged 20 points, 5 rebounds, and five assists per game in each of the last two seasons. Bringing in these two guys would allow for an immediate plug and play scenario. These two will help the team win games while also giving the young core the time it needs to develop. as a unit.
This appears to be one of the best case trade scenarios ahead of the draft for the Bulls. Barring a blockbuster trade, this one makes sense and doesn’t require giving up too much.
Will it happen?
At this stage, it’s hard to know whether the Bulls will make a move. Karnisovas and Eversley have kept that info close to the chest. Whether they do or not I think Bulls fans have a strong trust in this new front office duo. There’s a little over a month until the draft. Buckle in Bulls fans things could change quickly.
