As you all know by now the Bulls added center Nikola Vucevic at the NBA trade deadline. That now gives the team two All-Stars with guard Zach LaVine and Vucevic. This duo has played in ten games together and is continuing to get better with one another. While this duo is great to have in Chicago, the team should be looking for one more piece to create the next “big three”. You may be asking yourself, who would this missing piece be? Well, there’s a pretty great player there who has ties to Bulls head coach Billy Donovan.
Un B E A L ievable pic.twitter.com/lbDUxNEkjY
— Washington Wizards (@WashWizards) April 13, 2021
Washington shooting guard Bradley Beal could be exactly what the Bulls need to create a high-powered big three. Let’s dive into this a bit more and see if this is even possible or what it would look like for this team.
Is this possible?
If you look at Bradley Beal’s contract situation this is absolutely possible. Beal’s contract is up after this season and it’s obvious that his time with the Wizards is most likely over. Beal appears to want to move to a team that has a better chance to contend. His situation with the Wizards doesn’t make him want to stay in the current scenario. Beal is playing out of his mind and the Wizards and continuing to lose games.
Beal is averaging 31 PPG, 4.8 RPG, 4.8 APG, & 1.2 SPG. The Wizards have a record of 20-33 and are on the outside looking in for the playoffs. If that doesn’t change and the Wizards miss the playoffs you can be sure that Beal will want to move on from Washington. The Bulls certainly need to find themselves in the playoffs to be a desirable location for Beal. By all accounts this is possible. The Bulls would need to do some maneuvering to free up cap space but they could make it work.
Bradley Beal’s Bulls connection
One thing that bodes well for Chicago is the fact that Beal already has a connection within the organization. Beal played college basketball at the University of Florida under head coach Billy Donovan. He played one year with Donovan where the team made it to the Elite Eight. So clearly his time playing under Donovan went well. Could this be enough for him to head to Chicago? Sports Illustrated’s Michael Pina thinks the Bulls absolutely should go for it.
Bradley Beal, who played for Donovan in college (Did you know that, Bulls fans? It’s true!) and can opt out of his contract would be a grand slam addition.
If the Bulls find themselves in the playoffs this season and end up winning a few games that would certainly help the team’s cause. This is all a possibility if Beal has an interest in bringing Chicago back to greatness. But would it work?
Would he fit in Chicago?
The short answer is yes. Simply because Bradley Beal is an elite player in the league. He would elevate this team offensively immediately. But how would he fit in with the two additional All-Stars on the team?
This would depend on if the Bulls can bring in a point guard who can distribute the ball. The team could easily run a three-guard lineup with the firepower of Zach LaVine and Bradley Beal. if you put someone in place who can distribute the ball then just these two alone would be hard to beat. But the Bulls have the luxury of having Vucevic at the center already. Combining all three of these players would be extremely hard to stop.
If the Bulls can’t bring in a veteran guard capable of facilitating the offense then this trio might be hard to figure out. Having two scorers like LaVine and Beal with no true facilitator could cause some trouble.
For now, this is all just a dream for Bulls fans. The current Bulls team has been underachieving this season and looking to the future is most likely what we have left. The Bulls will certainly find themselves in the playoffs this year due to the addition of the play-in tournament. But it’s clear that this team needs to look towards the future.
