There are very few players around the NBA landscape right now that are as hot as the Chicago Bulls star shooting guard and 25-year-old former UCLA Bruin Zach LaVine. First-year head coach Billy Donovan and LaVine are starting to look like one of the potent up-and-coming coach-star duos in the Eastern Conference this season.
The combination of Donovan and LaVine as a really good coach-player relationship is helping this Bulls team reach a new level. The Bulls have achieved a three-game winning streak in the last week or so, following their Feb. 24 home win at the United Center in overtime over the Minnesota Timberwolves, by the final score of 133-126.
But there was a school of thought around the NBA landscape for most of the season to date that the Bulls might be willing to part ways with LaVine ahead of the March 25 trade deadline for the right asking price. That possibility seems to be becoming less and less likely of late.
And according to a report from K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago on Feb. 25, it sounds like the likelihood of first-year executive vice president of basketball operations and general manager Marc Eversley part ways with LaVine at the trade deadline are increasingly slight. This piece from Johnson on NBC Sports Chicago also mentioned that the idea of trading veteran forward Thaddeus Young could be a “perilous” one that comes with its fair share of risks.
Should the Chicago Bulls trade LaVine and/or Young?
That certainly makes sense since Young is likely the best Bulls player coming off the bench so far this season. LaVine is also the best player in the Bulls starting five, by a good bit. That is why he was able to earn his first career All-Star nod this year.
The Bulls would be giving up a lot of value, no matter how you look at it, if they were to part ways with LaVine and/or Young next month come the trade deadline.
LaVine leads the Bulls by a sizable margin in a number of counting stats and advanced metrics. Some of those advanced metrics include box plus/minus rating (4.0), value over replacement player rating (1.7), total win shares (3.7), and player efficiency rating (22.8).
The same could be said for Young, who ranks second on the team among regular rotation players in box plus/minus rating (2.7), along with second in total win shares (2.3), and player efficiency rating (19.9).
Unless Karnisovas and the Bulls got a really nice offer in return for either LaVine or Young at the trade deadline, it wouldn’t make much sense to part ways with them. Young would likely be the first to go among these two, since LaVine could very well be a building block for this rebuild for the significant future.
There’s still some time that the Bulls new front office regime has to plan out their deadline strategy. But figuring out what the plan is for LaVine might take a bit longer than a veteran emerging role player like Young.