Bulls are ‘coveting’ their backcourt players ahead of trade deadline

The Chicago Bulls and second-year head coach Billy Donovan are currently struggling along through a bad wave of injuries that has the team in a tough spot of late. This Bulls team went from winning nine straight games at one point a couple of weeks ago to sliding down the Eastern Conference standings in what seems like the blink of an eye.

And the cause of these issues in terms of ending up on the right side of the win column in the last couple of weeks is clear. The Bulls essentially saw more than half of the players in the key portion of their rotation miss some period of time due to various injury reasons since the turn of the calendar year from 2021 to 2022.

This includes the likes of star shooting guard Zach LaVine, point guard Lonzo Ball, forward Derrick Jones Jr., wing Javonte Green, forward Patrick Williams, and point guard Alex Caruso, among a few others. Even star forward DeMar DeRozan entered the league’s health and safety protocol at one point last month.

Now, the Bulls are looking for ways to survive this wave of injuries to maintain their seeding in the Eastern Conference standings. That should at least hold true through the beginning of March when some of the players that are out for longer periods of time can return to the lineup.

Chicago Bulls might want to hang onto Coby White with the likes of Lonzo Ball and Alex Caruso out long-term

And that brings into focus the looming trade deadline next month. On Feb. 10, the Bulls will have their last opportunity of the season to make moves on the trade block. And according to a report from Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times, one of the areas of the rotation that the Bulls’ front office is valuing the most is the backcourt unit.

This likely means that the Bulls aren’t planning on moving players like third-year point guard Coby White, rookie point guard Ayo Dosunmu, and even potentially sharpshooting guard/wing Matt Thomas. Knowing that the Bulls are going to be shorthanded in the backcourt unit before the trade deadline next month, that really makes the guard duo of Coby and Ayo more valuable to Donovan and his staff.

Lonzo and Caruso both missing extended periods of time in the weeks and months ahead due to various injury issues really hurts the Bulls. And there’s not really an easy short-term answer to fill the void left in the backcourt unit by those two.

All in all, there’s really no way I would expect the Bulls to consider parting ways with either Lonzo or Caruso at the trade deadline next month either.

The narrative that a report like this from the Sun-Times does present creates more confusion around the availability of Coby. For most of the regular season so far, Coby was the most commonly-discussed trade chip in the Bulls’ camp.

This recent wave of injuries might change that narrative. Granted, it likely depends on what the Bulls would be getting in return for any hypothetical trade discussions involving White.

Following their tough one-point win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on the road on the night of Jan. 24, the Bulls are sitting on a record of 29-17. Next up for the Bulls is a meeting with the Toronto Raptors on Jan. 26.