For years, the Chicago Bulls relied on Zach LaVine to be their scoring punch.

That didn’t always work out as intended.

LaVine scored a lot of points but the team didn’t win a lot of games, and he didn’t seem to be on the same page with his coach most of the time.

The Bulls reportedly tried to trade him last season, but yet another injury took a massive toll on his trade value.

Now, the former UCLA player is doing a great job of driving that value back up.

As pointed out by Evan Sidery on X, LaVine is currently averaging 26 points per game on 45.7% from beyond the arc and a 69.8% true shooting percentage.

He adds that the team is still looking to move him, although there were no takers in the summer.

Truth be told, it’s easy to understand why no team is currently interested in trading for LaVine.

As good a scorer as he is, he’s struggled with injuries throughout the course of his career.

Even so, the actual issue is his contract.

He’s owed $43 million this season and almost $46 million next year.

Then, he has a player option for north of $48 million.

Even with an ever-growing salary cap, the new CBA makes it difficult for any team to absorb his big salary without incurring in steep fines and penalties.

The Bulls will most likely have to give up multiple first-round picks to get someone to trade for him, and that’s the last thing a rebuilding team wants to do.