Chicago Bulls: Atlantic Division trade deal possibilities

With the Toronto Raptors competing for the NBA Title now, they could also be competing with other franchises to keep star forward Kawhi Leonard.

In order to keep Kawhi Leonard in Toronto, the Raptors may need to shed salary not only to give him a max deal, but also to re-sign players like Pascal Siakam next summer or add free agents to entice Leonard to stay in Canada. One way to do this is to shed the arguably horrible contract that comes with guard Kyle Lowry.

Lowry is set to make $31 and $33 million over the next two seasons, which is a max-level deal for a player who is not quite a max guy. This amount of salary relief via a trade could be massive in the success of the Raptors in the future, despite the fact that losing Lowry would be a sizable loss for the team.

As for the compensation for him, the Raptors would get two solid young role players with complimentary skills along with what could be a great draft pick in 2020, depending on how the Bulls pan out in the 2019-2020 season. This trade would be more about getting Lowry’s contract off the books than the return, although Toronto could make out quite well in this deal.

As for Chicago, the Bulls would receive an All-Star-caliber point guard without losing a major piece or their 2019 first round pick. Lowry is certainly an upgrade at the point guard position and could be the piece needed to push the Bulls into the playoffs.

On the contrary, GarPax could find themselves in a salary cap mess with the contracts of Otto Porter Jr., Zach LaVine, and Lowry while also having to pay Lauri Markkanen big money soon. This is another unlikely trade, yet one that is far from impossible.