Chicago Bulls: Zach LaVine will be a hotly discussed trade target in 21-22
In what was a very busy offseason thus far for the Chicago Bulls‘ front office, it still looks like the focal point of this team heading into next season will be star shooting guard Zach LaVine. The first-time All-Star and 26-year-old former UCLA Bruin continues to take his game to new heights each passing season for the Bulls.
The difference for LaVine and the Bulls heading into next season will be how much better the supporting cast is around him. Executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley put a lot of extremely talented players around LaVine this offseason to bolster this rotation and finally get over that postseason hump.
LaVine has yet to get into the postseason, or even have a winning season, with any team yet in his seven-year-long NBA career. That should all change as the Bulls look to snap the four-year-long postseason drought in Chicago in 2022.
There is also a major looming question mark as to how LaVine feels about re-signing with the Bulls before next summer. That question is likely to be answered depending on how this new Bulls core unit meshes together, and if there’s a significant postseason run in the works next season.
Chicago Bulls aren’t likely to openly shop Zach LaVine next season
According to a report from Michael Scotto of Hoops Hype this week, LaVine is still likely to be one of the more highly-sought after trade pieces this coming season. There’s no mentioning of how the Bulls won’t want to make LaVine “untouchable” in this Hoops Hype report, but that could be the case.
It feels like the Bulls are going to do the best to re-sign LaVine before he becomes an unrestricted free agent next offseason.
If next season somehow does fall off the rails before the trade deadline, maybe the Bulls try to move LaVine. But it’s hard to imagine a scenario where the Bulls are in a spot by the trade deadline next year that the front office is just willing to ship off LaVine in the final months of his current contract.
The Bulls have a very solid projected starting unit that will be lining up alongside LaVine next season. It is likely to be Lonzo Ball at the one, LaVine at the two, DeMar DeRozan and Patrick Williams in some combination at the three and the four, and Nikola Vucevic at the five.
There are also some exciting pieces that the Bulls have on this rejuvenated bench. Younger players will join the supporting cast, such as point guards Devon Dotson and Ayo Dosunmu, big man Marko Simonovic, center Tony Bradley, etc. And the Bulls added the likes of former Los Angeles Lakers guard Alex Caruso and Portland Trail Blazers small forward Derrick Jones Jr. to help further bolster the bench.
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Head coach Billy Donovan and the Bulls have a very solid roster heading into next season that should easily be able to snap this postseason drought in Chicago, dating back to 2017. The 2021-22 regular season slate is set to begin for LaVine, Donovan, and the Bulls on the road against the Detroit Pistons on Oct. 20.