1) Chicago Bulls pre-deadline trades involving Markkanen
It was hard to tell what we would see out of the Sacramento Kings in a tightly packed Pacific Division heading into this season. But the Kings have actually stood as one of the more consistent teams out in the Western Conference early in this season. The Kings do have one win over the Bulls already on the season, in one try.
Now that the Kings are a bit healthier up and down their rotation, the potential of this intriguing but injury prone young core is starting to come together in a more fruitful fashion. The Kings also made the move to had a max contract extension to the star guard De’Aaron Fox and are seeing the game of underrated center Richaun Holmes continue to blossom.
The two players in particular that the Bulls get from the Kings in this hypothetical trade deal are the sharpshooting former Oklahoma Sooners shooting guard Buddy Hield and former Duke Blue Devils big man Marvin Bagley. This would be quite the haul for the Bulls to get in return from the Kings, if what they had to give up was a lottery protected future first round draft pick along with some other player capital.
Bagley is actually remaining healthy for the Kings for the first time in a while this season. And he’s starting to both extend his range offensively and become a more well-rounded defender. He needs to continue to shake off the rust as the season moves along, though.
And Hield isn’t off to his best start this season, but he’s still a very lethal shooter that would serve a lot of utility in this Bulls rotation from the get go.