Chicago Bulls: Three trade packages for Zach LaVine

The Denver Nuggets could very much use a player like Zach LaVine on the roster, and they have the assets to make a deal with Chicago work.

Letting go of top high school prospect Michael Porter Jr. may be a tough pill to swallow for the Denver front office, but this could come away as a phenomenal deal for Denver. Porter was on Chicago’s radar during the 2018 NBA Draft, but a back injury suffered during his time at Missouri caused him to slide all the way down to the final pick in the lottery, which happened to be the slot in which the Denver Nuggets were selecting.

Porter was considered by many to be the steal of the draft that year, and the argument in favor of this was very strong. In spite of a missed first season due to that same back injury that caused his draft stock to plummet, Porter has had a solid ‘rookie’ season in 2019-2020, in limited minutes. If he is able to stay healthy, there is no reason why he cannot be the player he was once thought to be, Drawing comparisons to Kevin Durant out of high school.

Having just turned 22 in June, Porter without a doubt still has time to establish himself as an elite NBA player. The issue here is that Denver also understands that Porter could develop into one of the game’s top players, and that trading him prematurely could be a grave mistake.

However, going into the third year of his contract and struggling to find consistent minutes on a title contender, it may be the smarter play for Denver to move him to Chicago for a sure-fire star in LaVine. Additionally, Zach is not significantly older than Porter, so he would still fit the timeline of this young Nuggets team very well.

Despite his immense talent, MPJ alone is not enough to convince Chicago to ship out LaVine. Will Barton is also included in this deal, and although he is a very solid player, his main purpose here is to balance out salaries between the two teams.

Perhaps Chicago could move Barton at the deadline or use him as a replacement for LaVine at the two. Throwing in the Rockets’ first rounder this year would probably be enough to make this more risky deal worth it for the Bulls, as Houston is outside of the lottery but in solid position in the first round to acquire a formidable piece for the future.

Again, this trade is incredibly risky for both sides, perhaps even more so for Chicago than Denver. LaVine is probably worth more than Porter, Barton, and a first round pick, but the ‘what if’ factor surrounding the high school class of 2017’s best player will subsequently lower the amount that Chicago would get in return for their star shooting guard.

As for Denver, it may be smarter to take the sure-thing in LaVine rather than crossing their fingers in hopes that MPJ returns to player he was once thought to be.