Grade the Trade: Would Bulls trade LaVine to Mavs for depth?

It’s a difficult task to take two on-ball stars and form a humming NBA offense from the two. It certainly can work, but much of NBA history is littered with teams who struggled to do so and found the sum of their parts greater than the eventual hole. The Chicago Bulls are likely one of those teams.

DeMar DeRozan has been an All-Star since arriving in Chicago, and his ability to create his own shot against any defense and to hit big-term clutch shots has certainly helped propel the Bulls to wins they otherwise wouldn’t have. With that being said, the fit with Zach LaVine has not been seamless, and the Bulls’ homegrown All-Star has struggled this season to thrive alongside DeRozan.

The Chicago Bulls could look to trade Zach LaVine and clarify the offense.

The Bulls have notched a few big-time wins in the last month, and it may be enough to convince them not to tear things down but to lean into what they have and try to make the Play-In Tournament this season. The middle option, however, is to trade just one of their stars to reform the roster around the other.

Trading LaVine for high-end role players who can better fill the slots in an NBA pecking order is one way to try and get this Bulls offense out of the mud. Is such a trade something Chicago would say yes to? Let’s build out a trade and see what it looks like.