Chicago Bulls: 3 stars that are realistic trade targets this offseason

3) Realistic star trade targets for Chicago Bulls: Chris Paul

The thought of the Bulls piecing together a potential trade with veteran star point guard Chris Paul with the Oklahoma City Thunder brings about a lot of different reactions. While landing a veteran like CP3 could likely vault the Bulls into playoff contention in the Eastern Conference almost immediately, it comes with its downside risks.

The first is that Paul has one of the more sizable contracts of any point guard in the NBA this year. He’s due north of $40 million per year for the remaining life of his current contract. While he earned that dollar amount a bit more during the 2019-20 season with the Thunder, than he did during the 2018-19 campaign with the Houston Rockets, that’s still a lot to pay a 35-year-old point guard.

On the positive end of this hypothetical trade scenario, it likely wouldn’t take the Bulls all that much to get CP3 to the Windy City comparatively to the other stars on this list. Since his contract is so large and it looks like the Thunder are soon going to tear it all down and then rebuild, it makes sense that they would look into what the Bulls could offer them.

Paul got his 10th career NBA All-Star selection during the 2019-20 season. To get that All-Star nod, he stood out for the Thunder playing in 70 games during the 2019-20 regular season (starting in all of them). He averaged 17.6 points per game, 5.0 rebounds, 6.7 assists, 1.6 steals, and 0.2 blocks. And Paul shot 48.9 percent from the field, 36.5 percent from beyond the arc, and 90.7 percent from the free-throw line.