First-year head coach Billy Donovan and the Chicago Bulls didn’t get off to the start they desired out of the gates for the second half of the regular season schedule on the night of March 11 as they took on the Philadelphia 76ers. Donovan and the Bulls were doing pretty well heading into the All-Star Break, as they won their last game before the off time over the talented New Orleans Pelicans.
Out of the gates for the second half of the season for the Bulls will have a lot of emphasis on a few major marks on the timeline. The first is literally right out of the gates for the second half, as the Bulls face the team with the best record in the Eastern Conference right after the All-Star Break in the Sixers at home at the United Center on March 11.
Then there’s a difficult schedule (one of the toughest roads in the Central Division) for the month of March. And it all adds up to the landmark event for first-year executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley as they try to configure a plan for the looming March 25 trade deadline.
The Bulls have a plethora of trade chips to work with ahead of the deadline later this month. Two that stick out in trade rumors of late are veteran forward Thaddeus Young and small forward Otto Porter Jr. But it feels like the rumors are going in opposite directions between Young and OPJ. The latter of those two Bulls players is reportedly getting interest from multiple teams around the NBA, including the Golden State Warriors and Portland Trail Blazers.
And if the Bulls are to look into a trade with a team in the Western Conference ahead of the March 25 deadline, there might not be one more desperate for wing/forward help in the playoff picture right now than the Blazers.
With that in mind, here’s a look at three trades with the Blazers for the Bulls ahead of the deadline.