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1 Bulls trade candidate entering 2024-25 season

Originally posted on NBA on ClutchPoints
By Scotty White | Last updated Oct 11, 2024 3:34 PM ET

The Chicago Bulls started preseason play earlier this week with a win against the Cleveland Cavaliers, and their regular season will get underway in just a couple weeks. This is a big season for the Bulls as the team made some big changes in the offseason, and the front office is well aware that the fans are ready to see some successful basketball return to the city of Chicago.

At the beginning of the offseason, the team made it clear that they were aware that changes needed to be made. Not all Bulls fans were happy with the changes that the team made, but there were changes nonetheless.

Now, the regular season is close to getting underway, and it’s going to be interesting to see what happens this season. The Bulls are clearly on board with building a young roster as they got rid of a couple talented veterans in the offseason. Chicago traded both DeMar DeRozan and Alex Caruso.

Because of the young players that the Bulls already have and the expected number one prospect for next year’s NBA Draft being Cooper Flagg, some Bulls fans are hoping that the team goes into tank mode this year. Flagg is expected to be a generational talent and he could be the guy for the Bulls to build around. However, the front office shot down those desires as they want to win every game.

The thing is, a team obviously isn’t going to come right out and say that they are tanking. If the Bulls are going to have another mediocre season where they’re a fringe play-in team, they might as well try to get the best player in the draft. However, nothing is a guarantee with the lottery system in place.

As you can see, there’s still a lot of strategy for the Bulls in terms of getting to where they want to be. Another thing to pay attention to right now is in-season trades that the team might make. There is one player that comes to mind that the Bulls might be thinking about.

Zach LaVine

Cleveland Cavaliers forward Evan Mobley (4) and center Jarrett Allen (31) defend a shot by Chicago Bulls guard Zach LaVine (8) in the first quarter at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. © David Richard-Imagn Images

When you think of the Bulls and trades, Zach LaVine comes to mind because of the amount of young talent that this team could get for him, and the fact that there have been trade rumors surrounding him for awhile now. LaVine is by far the highest-paid player on the team as he getting just north of $43 million per year, and the Bulls can get some good young stars to go along with their young core if they traded him, or they could get another big-time player that gels a bit better with the team.

In terms of the key players on this team, Zach LaVine is older than most. Nikola Vucevic is also one of the highest-paid players and he is 33. LaVine is 29. Other than that, most guys are quite a bit younger than LaVine.

It’s honestly a bit surprising that LaVine is still with the Bulls. It obviously could’ve been coincidental, but last season, Chicago started to see better results on the court after LaVine went down with an injury. It seemed like he was definitely going to get traded before the deadline, but he ended up needing season-ending surgery, and nothing happened after that.

It’s going to be interesting to see how LaVine gels with this team for the first month or two of the season. If things aren’t working out, it wouldn’t be surprising at all to see the Bulls make a trade.

This article first appeared on NBA on ClutchPoints and was syndicated with permission.

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