LeBron James Trade Rumors: Chicago Bulls path remains alive?

With the LeBron James trade rumors continuing to run rampant in the media, could the Chicago Bulls jump into the conversation?

The LeBron James trade rumors got a little out of hand around the end of the 2018-19 regular season and on into the NBA Playoffs. The Chicago Bulls were also one of the teams mentioned among the places where LeBron could land if he was traded out from the Los Angeles Lakers organization.

Bleacher Report’s Ric Bucher mentioned that Lakers owner Jeanie Buss had a certain level of pressure to turn away from LeBron James if the unsuccessful tenure continued to mount. Bucher also mentioned in that piece that the Lakers wouldn’t get “as much as you think” in a return for a LeBron trade deal. That piece from Bucher came back on March 14.

Since then, the rumored pressure continued to mount on Buss to get the turmoil and dysfunction in the Lakers front office calmed down. The departure of the former Lakers president of basketball operations Magic Johnson didn’t help anything for the organization either. Former Lakers head coach Luke Walton also received the out after Magic stepped down.

Walton was only to be replaced by the former Indiana Pacers and Orlando Magic head coach Frank Vogel. Jason Kidd came in as the assistant coach to Vogel too. The Vogel-Kidd coaching dynamic will be one to watch in and of itself.

However, the rumors re-emerged concerning a potential LeBron James trade if the Lakers aren’t able to upgrade with stars around him. That rumor came from a piece that Dan Feldman of NBC Sports Pro Basketball Talk released with Bill Plaschke of the LA Times.

Plaschke stated that: ‘I’m hearing that, if they whiff on free agency, and if they whiff on a trade – which I don’t know how likely that is, but if that happens, they’ve got big trouble with LeBron. Why would LeBron – I mean, the LeBron era could be over before it starts here.’

https://twitter.com/incarceratedbob/status/1126986704949321733

Less than two months ago, the Chicago Bulls were mentioned among the teams that had the best odds to get LeBron James in the 2019-20 regular season opener. The Lakers were obviously the favorites. The New York Knicks, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Miami Heat were also mentioned on that list.

All in all, whenever LeBron’s name is mentioned among trade rumors, all big market teams could come into play. LeBron mostly seems like he wants to land in a big market now since he is trying to grow his brand at the back end of his career.

There’s little to no clarity whether the Lakers have a good shot at getting any of the big names set to hit the free agent and trade market this summer. Could the Chicago Bulls jump into the group of teams that would be pursuing LeBron James if the Lakers aren’t able to get a superstar to town like Kawhi Leonard or Anthony Davis?