The potential rumor that the Dallas Mavericks inquired about a Zach LaVine trade with the Chicago Bulls could present a lot of different roads for a deal.
The idea of the Chicago Bulls formulating a trade with the Dallas Mavericks this offseason does bring a lot of excitement and intrigue to the table for both sides at first thought. The Mavericks are one of the true up and coming powers in the Western Conference, behind the rise of stars like point guard Luka Doncic and forward Kristaps Porzingis.
Meanwhile, the Bulls would really like to be in a spot at the moment where the Mavericks are at heading into the 2020-21 season. Heading into the fourth year of the rebuild, the Bulls do have some promising pieces in place, but nothing like the optimism in the Mavericks outlook for next season.
The Bulls have to be hoping that someone in the group of shooting guard Zach LaVine, power forward Lauri Markkanen, point guard Coby White, center Wendell Carter Jr., etc. steps up as the face of this rebuild in the very near future. The two names that usually come to mind at this point are LaVine and White, though.
But one recent report that was mentioned in the latest 2020 NBA Mock Draft from Kevin O’Conner of The Ringer was really intriguing that concerned the Bulls and the Mavericks. O’Conner of The Ringer noted that the Mavericks are one of multiple teams that have inquired into the trade status of LaVine with the Bulls.
That doesn’t necessarily mean that there are concrete trade talks for the Bulls and Mavericks involving LaVine. But that does at least mean that there are teams out there around the NBA landscape that could be interested in seeing what LaVine brings to the table for them.
And since the Mavericks have more of a motivation to trade for LaVine to truly complete their Big 3 alongside Doncic and Porzingis, they might be willing to give the Bulls more in return. Here’s a look into three potential trade packages that could be pieced together between the Bulls and Mavericks involving LaVine.
3) Chicago Bulls trades with Mavs for LaVine
The problem with any potential trade packages between the Bulls and Mavericks involving LaVine is the lack of a true valuable trade chip among the players on Dallas’ current roster. Salary matching is not much of a problem between the Bulls and Mavericks in these hypothetical trade discussions, but there’s going to have to be future draft capital included in almost any deal.
In this particular trade package, the salaries are matched for LaVine by the Mavericks including the 28-year-old volume scoring 6-foot-5 and 205 pound shooting guard/wing Tim Hardaway Jr. Hardaway is just about the only player that the Mavericks are likely willing to easily part ways with that matches salaries almost directly with LaVine (just north of $20 million in salary annually).
Hardaway Jr. did show some signs of life to at least live up closer to the billing of the sizable contract he’s on, during the shortened 2019-20 regular season. He averaged 15.8 points per game, 3.3 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 0.6 steals, and 0.1 blocks. And Hardaway shot 43.4 percent from the field, 39.8 percent from beyond the arc, and 81.9 percent from the free-throw line.
The rest of this trade package sees the Mavericks send their 18th overall pick in the first round of the 2020 NBA Draft to the Bulls, along with two unprotected future firsts. Stacking that much future draft capital could be enough for newly hired executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas and the Bulls to part ways with LaVine.
2) Chicago Bulls trades with Mavs for LaVine
There is still a good bit of draft capital instilled in this particular hypothetical trade package between the Bulls and Mavericks involving LaVine. In this trade deal, the Bulls ship off just third-year former Boise State Broncos small forward Chandler Hutchison and LaVine to the Mavericks for three players and two picks.
The two picks that the Bulls get from the Mavericks are the 18th pick in the first round of the 2020 draft and the No. 31 pick in the second round of this year’s draft. That should be enough to at least get Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley to the table for discussions to ship LaVine off to Dallas.
The Bulls also get big man Dwight Powell, guard Jalen Brunson, and shooting guard Seth Curry from the Mavericks. That could really help Karnisovas and the Bulls start to round out their bench. They need more shooting off the bench in the backcourt rotation, which both Brunson and Curry could help with. And Powell adds much needed solid veteran depth to the frontcourt rotation.
Stacking two more valuable draft picks for the night of Nov. 18 also gives the Bulls a lot more capital to work with to potentially move up in the lottery. There’s a lot of flexibility that this potential trade package would offer the Bulls. It really helps both sides with the point that each is at entering the 2020-21 season.
1) Chicago Bulls trades with Mavs for LaVine
The possibility that the New Orleans Pelicans part ways with the veteran standout point guard Jrue Holiday this offseason are starting to look more and more likely the closer we move to draft night next week. With the Pelicans new front office regime around David Griffin and the retooled coaching staff in place, they might not see Holiday as part of their future alongside Zion Williamson.
A team that really needs that solid two-way veteran point guard presence to build around, like the Bulls, would be the perfect team for the Pelicans to get into trade talks with in this scenario. What makes this situation so great for the Bulls and the Mavericks is that the Pelicans are a very good third team to get into talks with.
There’s a lot of moving pieces here. But to break it down, the Bulls get Holiday from the Pelicans and then multiple pieces from the Mavericks. From the Mavericks, they receive Curry, power forward Maxi Kleber, and their two draft picks in this year’s draft. All that the Mavericks receive are center Luke Kornet and LaVine.
What the Pelicans are getting in this trade package is pretty appealing for Griffin. They get WCJ and veteran small forward Otto Porter Jr. from the Bulls. This trade deal has the salary matching working out for all three teams, and each of the parties get a lot of what they’re looking for heading into the 2020-21 season.