Chicago Bulls: 5 realistic 2019 draft night trade partners
Minnesota Timberwolves
The Chicago Bulls and Timberwolves made one of the most notable draft night trades back in 2017 dealing Jimmy Butler to Minnesota in return for Zach LaVine, Kris Dunn, and the seventh pick that turned into Lauri Markkenen.
That deal turned out to be a steal for the Bulls and a highlight trade for the front office as Butler didn’t even make it two seasons in Minnesota. The Timberwolves are desperately trying to avoid a rebuild and losing franchise players Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins.
Trading up to No. 7 and grabbing a potential starter alongside the two of them is possible as the Wolves just took a $19 million hit as 30-year-old Jeff Teague exercised his player option at the end of the season.
Jeff Teague opting into his $19M player option pushes the Timberwolves team salary $108.7M for eight players (Wiggins, Teague, Dieng, Covington, Towns, Saric, Okogie, Bates-Diop).
— Dane Moore (@DaneMooreNBA) April 12, 2019
If KAT makes All-NBA that number grows to $114.1M.
The 2019-20 salary is projected to be $109M.
Teague will be an unrestricted free agent in 2020, so if the Bulls draft night trade included Teague there would be a chance it would be a one-year rental. Chicago would also have to clear space to take the contract which would include trading Valentine, Hutchinson, or Felicio.
At 30-years-old Teague had a career-high in assists at 8.2 per game in the 41 games before going down with a foot and ankle injury. Prior to last year, Teague in 70 games or more in all but one season (2011-12).