Trades to get DeRozan from the Spurs No. 3
Really the only piece on the current Bulls roster that Karnisovas can use to salary match straight up with the Spurs in any trade deal is the veteran 27-year-old small forward Otto Porter Jr. In this particular hypothetical trade deal, the Bulls ship off OPJ along with the second-year former Arkansas Razorbacks center Daniel Gafford for a two player return.
That return that the Spurs give to the Bulls is DeRozan and third-year small forward Keita Bates-Diop. The Bulls get to plug some depth on the wing here after shipping off OPJ by getting a younger piece like Bates-Diop in the mix. And that could add some nice depth to the wing rotation for the foreseeable future since Bates-Diop is currently just 25 years of age.
The value add for the Spurs in this trade deal is clearly the addition of the rim-running big man Gafford. With three years left on his bargain of a rookie contract, Gafford could come in handy for the Spurs frontcourt rotation for a long time. He could fill out a specified role coming off the bench for legendary head coach Gregg Popovich behind the likes of Jakob Poeltl.
DeRozan still can bring a lot of value to the table, and either he or star shooting guard Zach LaVine would be able to take more minutes at the three instead of the two. If the Bulls did want to somehow run a starting backcourt that includes DeRozan and LaVine, and then use someone like rookie forward Patrick Williams on the wing, Donovan would have a taller task to figure out the schematics.