Former Chicago Bulls: Kris Dunn could be traded again by the Celtics

It wasn’t all that long ago that the Chicago Bulls new front office regime (at least at the time) tried to figure out what to do with then impending restricted free agent and defensive stopper point guard Kris Dunn. Executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley elected to let Dunn walk in free agency last offseason.

Dunn would go on to sign with the Atlanta Hawks out of restricted free agency last offseason. The Hawks signed Dunn to a two-year deal worth a total of around $10 million. But the second year of that contract included a player option for the 2021-22 season.

Last month, Dunn exercised the player option on the final year of his current contract ahead of the start of the 2021-22 season. But he wouldn’t be able to stick around with the Hawks to see how the latter portion of that contract he signed last fall would go.

The Hawks traded Dunn to the Boston Celtics this offseason just a few weeks after Dunn exercised his player option. Dunn was included in a three-team trade that also saw big man Bruno Fernando and a second-round draft pick go to the Celtics from the Hawks.

Former Chicago Bulls defensive stopper Kris Dunn could be traded multiple times this summer

Also as part of this deal, the Celtics sent big man Tristan Thompson to the Sacramento Kings. Then, the Kings sent guard Delon Wright to the Hawks to complete this three-team trade.

The Celtics do now have a pretty deep backcourt unit, that features a number of defensive stopper guards. Namely, the Celtics have two All-Defensive Team-caliber guards in the mix in the duo of Marcus Smart and Dunn.

Both Smart and Dunn are incredible defensively, but are often offensive liabilities.

That is why the Celtics might be looking to have Dunn on the move again ahead of next season. According to a report from the Boston Globe this week, the Celtics are considering flipping Dunn again this offseason to avoid a potential logjam at guard.

Since the Celtics also landed the former Dallas Mavericks and Philadelphia 76ers shooting guard Josh Richardson this offseason, there’s a lot of new faces in this backcourt unit. Moving someone like Dunn does make sense for Brad Stevens and new head coach Ime Udoka.

Maybe the next stop for Dunn will be where he finds a solid home really for the first time in his career to date. Dunn was supposed to be the point guard of the future for the Bulls when the former front office regime of John Paxson and Gar Forman traded for him, power forward Lauri Markkanen, and shooting guard Zach LaVine, back during the 2017 offseason.

Heading into next season, likely the only player that will be left with the Bulls from that big trade with the Minnesota Timberwolves back in 2017 will be LaVine. Lauri will likely be on the move this summer in a sign-and-trade as he is currently a restricted free agent.