4 biggest fleeces AKME have gotten away with for the Bulls

3. Thaddeus Young and picks for DeMar DeRozan

When this trade was first announced, it didn’t receive the raving reviews that I’m about to give it. For starters, critics were upset that fan favorite Thaddeus Young had to be dealt away instead of Markkanen, seeing as Lauri refused to accept San Antonio’s offer sheet. This put the Bulls in a tight place, but a deal had to get done.

Many were also uncomfortable with giving up so much draft capital — one first-round pick, and two second-round picks, for those of you who are counting — after just having forked over another two first-rounders for Nikola Vucevic at the trade deadline.

It turns out the market was shallower for DeMar DeRozan than anyone could have imagined, as few teams were willing to cough up more than the MLE to sign him. In fact, the three-year, $82 million deal the Bulls offered DeRozan was seen as an unnecessary overpay by reporters.

The Chicago Bulls secured a true star player by trading for DeMar DeRozan.

Despite all of that, this trade ended up being a massive fleece in Chicago’s favor. The reason? Nobody knew just how incredible DeRozan was going to be for the Chicago Bulls. He’d go on to have the best season of his career at 32 years old and make several media talking heads look very silly in the process.

He averaged a career-high 27.9 points per game and single-handedly kept a battered and bruised Bulls team afloat for several months. DeRozan would reward Chicago’s faith in him, leading the team to 46 wins, the most they’ve had as a team dating back to 2015.

For his efforts, DeRozan earned his fifth All-Star and third All-NBA selection along the way, even receiving votes for MVP and February’s Player of the Month honors. While 2022-23 was a successful year for DeMar, something tells me he’s just getting started making that deal he signed look like one of the best value contracts in the NBA.