3) Trades the Chicago Bulls could offer for Chris Paul:
Any scenario where the Bulls are trying to configure a deal with the Thunder to get a contract as big as Paul’s, they’ll have to do some work to make the salary match happen. The two biggest contracts that the Bulls have to throw at the Thunder are with 25-year-old former UCLA Bruins shooting guard Zach LaVine and veteran former Washington Wizards small forward Otto Porter Jr.
With LaVine in the mix, the Thunder would get another guard that they could build around along with a solid young core in that part of the rotation. LaVine would be joining up with the likes of combo guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, former undrafted free agent and rookie guard Lu Dort, and wing Terrance Ferguson. Darius Bazley is another intriguing part of their building young core.
Adding OPJ to the mix would also give the Thunder some valuable and much needed pick-and-roll and outside shooting presence on the wing. The Thunder don’t really have a capable three-and-D wing on the roster now that brings a similar skill set to the table like OPJ does. They would just need him to stay consistently healthy moving forward.
Since giving up LaVine and OPJ is a lot for the Bulls to take on the contracts of CP3 and Schroder, the Thunder also throw in a future first round draft pick. That might be valuable to the Bulls too since getting rid of CP3 could throw the Thunder into full on rebuild move, and that pick could very well move into the lottery.