Come the afternoon of March 25, the trade deadline will officially arrive and any substantiated Bulls rumors will have either played out or fallen flat. In all likelihood, most of the rumor mill discussions occurring right now in the Chicago Bulls camp are going to fall flat. That’s just how it goes each passing year at the trade deadline.
There’s a lot going on right now for first-year executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley. The Bulls are sliding a bit of late in the Eastern Conference standings, and it has become clear that Karnisovas needs to make changes to the current roster at hand.
The current roster for first-year head coach Billy Donovan and the Bulls just won’t get it done over the long haul. A lot of core pieces for the Bulls that looked like they once had promising (even All-Star caliber) futures are starting to fall short as this season moved along.
With that in mind, it makes a lot of sense for the roster shifts to start pouring in for this new Bulls front office regime around the trade deadline this year. And that is likely to continue on into next offseason, when the free agent market will be more fruitful.
Latest Bulls rumors concerning veteran star G DeMar DeRozan
A really intriguing name that popped into the Bulls rumor mill of late is the San Antonio Spurs veteran star combo/shooting guard DeMar DeRozan. The 31-year-old Compton, CA, native and four-time NBA All-Star selection is in the midst of his 11th year in the league. And while this isn’t the most productive campaign for DeRozan thus far in his career, he’s still efficient for the Spurs.
DeRozan is still producing at a high level and would be able to take this Bulls team to a new level.
According to a report from Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report on March 23, there is a “faction of the Bulls front office” that is interested in getting into trade discussions with the Spurs to land DeRozan. That would completely change the face of the starting five for the Bulls down the stretch.
It would likely take Karnisovas and the Bulls parting ways with a significant asset and/or future draft capital to get DeRozan from San Antonio.
Although, DeRozan is currently in the midst of the final year of his current contract. There might be some room for the Bulls to move veteran small forward Otto Porter Jr. to the Spurs for a return of DeRozan and a few other pieces coming from the Windy City to get a deal like this done.
Moreover, DeRozan has averaged 20.6 points per game, 4.5 rebounds, 7.4 assists, 0.9 steals, and 0.3 blocks. And he’s shot 49.8 percent from the field, 31.0 percent from beyond the arc, and 87.9 percent from the free-throw line.
The idea of a combination for the Bulls that includes both DeRozan and star shooting guard Zach LaVine in the starting five is intriguing but could cause problems. In all likelihood, they could be worked into playing oftentimes in different units separate from each other.