One move that would be really difficult to see GarPax pull off with the Chicago Bulls at the deadline is a trade involving shooting guard Zach LaVine.
There’s a handful of key players for the Chicago Bulls that would just be really hard to see the front office be willing to part ways with ahead of the 2020 trade deadline. One of those players will be competing in the Three-Point Contest (at a bare minimum) in the 2020 NBA All-Star Weekend at the United Center in Chicago later this month. And that player is rising Bulls star shooting guard Zach LaVine.
According to Zach Lowe and Brian Windhorst of ESPN, the Bulls don’t seem to be open to any actual trade discussions for LaVine. But teams are reportedly still calling about LaVine, and the Bulls tend to “throw the phone out the window” whenever that conversation is apparently brought up from other front offices.
This discussion pertaining to the Bulls ahead of the 2020 trade deadline, which arrives on Feb. 6, from Windhorst and Lowe came on the “Lowe Post Podcast” on Feb. 2. The two ESPN NBA insiders discussed the lack of traction surrounding a possible LaVine trade package with the Bulls and what the conversation is looking like for fourth-year shooting guard Denzel Valentine.
Lowe Post podcast: @WindhorstESPN and I preview the upcoming NBA trade deadline: https://t.co/Wp1nmAEJ5c
— Zach Lowe (@ZachLowe_NBA) February 3, 2020
But apparently if anyone is to be moved, at least according to Lowe and Windhorst, from the Bulls it would be Valentine. Other names that keep popping up for the Bulls in trade discussions are point guard Kris Dunn and power forward Thaddeus Young.
Here’s what Lowe and Windhorst discussed specifically pertaining to the Bulls trade deadline.
"I know teams have called the Bulls about Zach LaVine — recently. Good teams. The Bulls typically throw the phone out the window when people call about Zach LaVine, just don’t even bother. I assume that is still their stance, in part because Wendell Carter Jr. is injured, Markkanen’s injured, Porter’s injured. You traded Jimmy Butler in a defining pivot of your franchise, what, three years ago now? If you trade Zach LaVine for picks, that’s a hard sell for your fans, especially after you’ve now promoted Zach LaVine’s All-Star candidacy."
It does seem like Young and Valentine would be the first two names on the list for John Paxson and Gar Forman if any two Bulls players are getting shipped out at the trade deadline later this week.
The Bulls will take a rather poor record of 19-33 into the trade deadline. They will also be facing Zion Williamson and the very hot New Orleans Pelicans at home at the United Center on Feb. 6 (NBA trade deadline day) to try and get their 20th win of the season.
The strategy should be clear at this point for GarPax and the Bulls heading into the trade deadline, which is now just two days away. They should be sellers since they now sit pretty far behind the Orlando Magic for that eighth and final spot in the Eastern Conference playoff picture.