De’Aaron Fox’s unofficial trade demand has mercifully supplanted the Jimmy Butler-Miami Heat drama as the lead story heading toward the NBA trade deadline on Feb. 6.
Fox’s representation has made the Sacramento Kings aware that the 27-year-old has no plans on re-signing with the franchise once his current deal expires, meaning the one-time All-Star is available on the market for the right price.
Whether or not Sacramento deals its franchise player in the span of barely a week remains to be seen, but interest is high across the league; although Fox’s most desired destination is reportedly the San Antonio Spurs.
Who wouldn’t want to rack up 15 assists a night just tossing up lobs to Victor Wembanyama?
If a Fox-to-San Antonio deal does come to fruition, it will be a blockbuster trade of the highest order, and the Kings will be losing a massive piece of their franchise. They, of course, would want something close to equal value in return.
What if part of that return involves one of the Chicago Bulls’ own available stars?
De’Aaron Fox to Spurs, Zach Lavine to Kings in intriguing trade proposal
Once the Fox rumors broke, Sam Vecenie of The Athletic clearly went to work on the trade machine and came up with an interesting three-team deal that could satisfy all parties involved, at least relatively.
Vecenie’s proposal looks like this:
This accomplishes goal No. 1: Get Fox to the Spurs and pair him with Wembanyama. San Antonio also, for salary purposes, gets a veteran 3-and-D wing in Craig via Chicago.
In return, the Bulls send LaVine and Horton-Tucker to the Kings as the leading player pieces of the deal. Sacramento has shown interest in LaVine in the past, and in this scenario, the Kings reunite the pair of him and DeMar DeRozan.
Most important to Sacramento, though, are the three unprotected first-round picks: two this season and one in 2027. That’s not a terrible haul for a franchise point guard heading out the door at some point, one way or another.
Where this proposal gets really interesting is what it means for Chicago.
Grading the trade for the Bulls
Jones is on a $9.1 million expiring deal, so that’s a wash for Chicago. Huerter and Barnes are both under contract for one more season at just south of $20 million each. Both are useful veterans who could either help lead a young, rebuilding Bulls team or be flipped as expiring contracts for even more assets next season.
Chicago can also take a flier on Branham, a 21-year-old former first-round pick who’s flashed when given legitimate opportunities with the Spurs. He’s been limited to a bench role this year, but in his first two seasons averaged 9.7 points, 2.3 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 22.3 minutes per game.
More encouragingly, his 3-point shooting has risen in each of his three campaigns, from 30.2 percent as a rookie to 34.7 percent last year and now 38.5 percent this season. If Chicago’s roster skews younger, Branham should have an opportunity to show what he can do with more opportunity.
But perhaps the most attractive part of this mock trade for the Bulls is the chance to recover the pick they still owe the Spurs from the DeRozan trade in 2021.
That pick is top-10 protected this season and then top-eight protected in 2026 and 2027. Chicago will have to hope for some lottery luck to keep the pick this summer, and it will be even more difficult to hold onto it for the next two years.
Getting this pick back from San Antonio would take a massive weight off the front office’s shoulders. Dealing LaVine would mean the Bulls’ franchise reset officially begins, and no matter where their pick lands in a loaded 2025 draft, it would be theirs to keep.
If Chicago were to find a way to offload LaVine, this is as close to an ideal scenario as it gets. No long-term money (the Bulls would save more than $20 million), a young player with some potential and a first-round pick that’s even more valuable than a “normal” first-rounder.
