3 trades Bulls can make without giving up Patrick Williams or Coby White

For weeks now, we’ve been hearing about how the Chicago Bulls are in play for someone who can bolster the team’s perimeter defense and also hold down the power forward slot. With the team suffering from a wide array of injuries to the starting five and bench alike, the pressure to make a move and preserve their early success is mounting with each passing day.

However, while the fanbase appears to agree that making a trade is in the best interest of the team, deciding just exactly who should be available in trade negotiations has been a trickier problem to solve. If the Chicago Bulls do end up actively participating in the 2022 NBA trade deadline, they’ll have a lot to think about when it comes to building a roster that can contend not only this season, but for years to come.

If Chicago wishes to build a winning culture, their success is going to rest largely on the shoulders of the young core. While DeMar DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic are essential pieces to this year’s rendition of the Bulls, they are also the only players on the squad north of 30 years old.

While superstar Zach LaVine is set to turn 27 years old in March, many of this team’s core pieces have much room to grow. In fact, the Bulls currently have six players that are 24 years old or younger and still managing to log at least 15 minutes per game on this contending team. That list includes Lonzo Ball, Patrick Williams, Coby White, Ayo Dosunmu, Derrick Jones Jr., and Troy Brown Jr.

As it currently stands, Williams and White would almost certainly be the most desirable moveable contracts in any trade negotiations. If Chicago wants to make a huge move, any trade to acquire an All-Star level talent would almost certainly have to involve one of if not both promising players.

If the Chicago Bulls wish to improve via trade without giving up either Patrick Williams or Coby White, they’ll have a select few options to choose from.

But taking into consideration the success this team has found when healthy, perhaps making a big move that could disrupt the team’s chemistry is not in the Bulls’ best interest. Receiving a heavily paid piece could also significantly prohibit the Bulls’ financial flexibility in this summer’s free agency period when the team will look to re-sign LaVine.

Chicago has benefitted from getting players to buy into the system of this new-look team, and could perhaps find a quality reclamation project for cheap. For instance, Jones Jr. was seen as a throw-in just to match salary in the Lauri Markkanen trade but has proven to be a quality rotation piece for these Bulls. Looking for a similarly undervalued player should be the top priority for Chicago’s head honcho Arturas Karnisovas.

In order to properly maximize the Chicago Bulls’ window of contention, making trades that keep Coby and Pat in town is in the team’s best interest. Here’s a look at a few options Karnisovas will have to explore during February’s trade deadline.