1) Chicago Bulls early season trades for Harden
Getting a third team involved could be the way to go if the Bulls and Rockets did want to make any trade deal work out to get Harden to the Windy City. There’s a plethora of options that are looking for an addition to their young core, or for a contender to add a big third or fourth piece to their current roster at hand.
In the case of this particular trade deal, the Bulls and Rockets also get Houston’s divisional foe, the Dallas Mavericks, involved to make the exchange work easier. The Mavericks would be looking to get a nice piece to form a big three of their own alongside the likes of forward Kristaps Porzingis and superstar point guard Luka Doncic.
The Bulls wind up sending the standout and offensively gifted shooting guard LaVine to take some of the offensive pressure off of Luka. And the Mavericks to get to send the $19 million man and guard/wing Tim Hardaway Jr. to the Rockets to free up some space on their cap sheet. To get that done, though, they also have to ship off two future first round picks to the Rockets.
And what the Rockets also get in return from the Bulls in this trade deal is the frontcourt pairing of WCJ and Markkanen. The Rockets will have a very crowded frontcourt rotation to figure out if they only give up Harden, and then get Markkanen and WCJ in return. But that can all get sorted out if they feel this return is worth it in the end.