Chicago Bulls: Trade packages with the Northwest Division
Now that Chris Paul has gotten his trade value up a bit, he is a candidate to be moved at the deadline.
Although it may not be extremely likely that the Thunder are willing to move on from Chris Paul right now, OKC will certainly be willing to listen to offers on CP3. Not even a full season into the rebuild, the Thunder find themselves in the playoff mix out West, much to the surprise of many. However, Oklahoma City is very much still rebuilding and would likely like to get Paul’s contract off of their hands, especially if they can get something out of it.
Acquiring Coby White for Paul would be massive for the Thunder, as White was a top-ten pick in last year’s draft and still has a very high ceiling. White would excel in Oklahoma as a scoring-minded guard, while Shai Gilgeous-Alexander can facilitate the offense. It is ultra-rare to have the opportunity to acquire a top-ten pick in his rookie season, and a rebuilding franchise would have to be all over this.
Otto Porter Jr. is a solid player who has a player option for the 2020-2021 season, but is likely to opt-in. Even in a worst-case-scenario, Porter could play out the final year of his contract with the Thunder and the team would then have a max slot available for the Summer of 2021. OKC could also try to flip Porter for more assets come this summer to get even more out of this deal. Chicago is also able to unload Cristiano Felicio‘s atrocious deal, but also take on Chris Paul’s monstrous contract as well. Lastly, the Bulls would forfeit their 2020 2nd round pick to the Thunder.
Chris Paul to the Bulls could be exactly what the team needs to get to the playoffs. As one of the best facilitators of all time, Paul could be a fantastic asset to a Bulls offense that has struggled mightily outside of Zach LaVine this season. Additionally, Paul is a veteran presence who can help some of this young team to mature into a winning unit.
The biggest downside of this deal is taking on CP3’s enormous contract. The Bulls would be financially obligated to Paul for what is likely to be until the Summer of 2022. This would mean that the Bulls would be highly unlikely to land any of the big time free agents in the Summer of 2021, assuming that Paul opts into the final year of his deal.
On another note, Darius Bazley is a solid young player who hasn’t had much of a chance to showcase his talent in OKC. As a former highly-rated high school recruit, Bazley certainly has the upside to be a very good NBA player, but his game will more than certainly take some time to develop.
Giving up on Coby White after under half of a season is also a very risky play, but the chance to get a player like Chris Paul does not come around very often, and Chicago would certainly have to consider it. Chris Paul would without a doubt make the Chicago Bulls a better team, but it is just a matter of numbers and asking price for him.