1) Chicago Bulls trades with the Blazers ahead of the deadline
This trade deal is mostly made up of players that really could use a change of scenery in the near future. While that can’t fully be said for the likes of Sato, the other three have their various reasons why a trade would be a really good thing. Sato is playing really well off the bench for the Bulls this season, but a trade wouldn’t surprise many.
To start off with the reasons why a few of the players in this particular trade deal could use a change of scenery, third-year small forward Chandler Hutchison has to be wanting a shift in roles. Hutch has seen his importance with the Bulls steadily drop in each of the last two seasons. And he missed a lot of time this season due to personal reasons over the last few weeks.
On the Blazers side, they could use the boost in depth on the wing rotation. Sato and Hutch could be nice additions to the Blazers bench. They don’t have that much size and two-way ability as they could get out of Sato and/or Hutch when they’re truly on.
And the Blazers do have to send a few pieces in return including the former elite five-star recruit and Duke big man Harry Giles and uber-athletic small forward Derrick Jones Jr. There was interest that Karnisovas and the Bulls had in pursuing Jones Jr. last offseason and Giles would surely add a nice boost to an otherwise inconsistent frontcourt rotation.