The Chicago Bulls are still—at least according to some reports—trying to trade Zach LaVine.
But despite the 29-year-old already playing more games this season than he did in all of 2023-24, averaging 23.6 points and shooting a career-high 44.4 percent from beyond the arc, the three years and $137 million left on his contract are making him essentially untradeable.
Any NBA title contender that could use LaVine’s bucket-getting as the final piece to their puzzle has already passed the second apron of the league’s new salary cap or is close enough that the math is nearly impossible to make work without third or fourth teams getting involved.
This season, however, could be the ideal one to take advantage of franchises that aren’t sure-fire championship contenders but are finally playoff contenders for the first time in half a decade (or more).
One deal proposed by Zach Buckley of Bleacher Report has one of those desperate organizations taking a major swing on Chicago’s leading scorer.
Detroit Pistons make win-now (ish) trade for Bulls’ Zach LaVine
Buckley’s mock deal looks like this:
The Pistons haven’t made the playoffs since the 2018-19 season. They haven’t won a postseason game since 2009.
As of Jan. 11, Detroit is 19-19 and eighth in the Eastern Conference standings. It’s not ridiculous to say this is the best season the franchise has had in 15 years.
However, they lost guard Jaden Ivey, who was in the midst of a breakout season under new head coach J.B. Bickerstaff, for the rest of the season due to a broken leg. With that, the Pistons lost a starting two-guard who was scoring 17.6 points per game and shooting 40.9 percent from three.
LaVine would be a major boost to a team that has a chance at a top-six spot in the East and a guaranteed playoff berth without having to fight through the play-in tournament.
It’s easy to see why Detroit would be attracted to a player like LaVine.
Grading this LaVine trade for the Bulls
It’s also easy to see why this deal would be attractive to Chicago: LaVine’s contract comes off the books and the Bulls begin to lose games and gain a better chance at keeping their first-round pick. (It’s owed to the San Antonio Spurs but is top-10 protected.)
Harris just signed a three-year deal with Detroit, but his $25.4 million salary would be needed to make the money work. He’s not a bad role player, especially now that he’s not earning max money, and could be a flippable asset for Chicago at some point. Hardaway Jr. is on a $16.2 million expiring contract.
The prizes here, other than some cap relief, are Klintman and the future first-rounder.
If the Bulls are finally, actually, legitimately, for real going to enter a rebuild, a lightly protected first two summers from now is a solid asset.
Klintman is a 6-foot-9, 225 pound wing/forward who was the 37th overall pick in last year’s draft. The 21-year-old is averaging 12.4 points, 6.4 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game across five G League contests this season while shooting 50.0 percent from the floor and 46.7 percent from three on 3.0 attempts per game.
Heading into last summer’s draft, Bleacher Report‘s Adam Wells compared Klintman to Atlanta Hawks forward De’Andre Hunter: a big wing that can defend multiple positions and knock down open threes.
The Bulls could use one of those.
Any trade Chicago can find for LaVine would be a win, but grabbing a few assets for the future makes this a solid deal.
