This might be the diciest moves in the eyes of the fan base of the Chicago Bulls. Giving up the former Arkansas Razorbacks rookie big man Daniel Gafford would be a pretty unpopular move to Bulls fans. The former 2019 second round draft pick (No. 38 overall) is having a solid rookie season, but spent a good portion of it either out of the rotation or injured.
The Bulls could get a still good piece in return by trading for the former Texas A&M Aggies big man Robert Williams if they wanted to slot someone new in once Gafford was gone. Williams was solid in his limited playing time with the Celtics this season. In just 19 games played this season, Williams is averaging 3.9 points per game, 4.6 rebounds, 1.1 assists, 0.9 steals, and 1.1 blocks.
Williams is also posting a player efficiency rating of 18.2 and he has an impressive 1.1 win shares in his limited minutes thus far. His career 126 offensive rating and 98 defensive rating shows how useful he can be on both ends of the floor. There’s plenty that Williams offers to the Bulls that softens the blow of losing Gafford.
The problem for Williams to the Celtics is the fact that he’s been injured for a good portion of the regular season. He missed their last game in a win over the Golden State Warriors. And he’s likely to be out until early February. But the Bulls might be able to snag him as soon as he gets healthy.
Chicago gets a future first round draft pick in return to make the best use of how much value they got out of selected Gafford in the second round of the 2019 NBA Draft.