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

Building out Bulls trade with Mavs for depth

Simply trading Zach LaVine for role players isn’t valuable to the Chicago Bulls unless those role players represent a real chance to improve the team around DeMar DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic. One partner with plenty of pieces to trade and a need for a co-star is the Dallas Mavericks, and this trade idea from the website Fanspo sees one way to make it work:

This is a lot to digest. Tim Hardaway Jr. has developed into a high-volume 3-point bomber, a crucial piece to spacing the floor around DeRozan. Reggie Bullock is having a cold year but is a great on-ball defender and when he is hot is the perfect 3-and-D archetype. Josh Green is having a breakout year as a rotation wing, while Davis Bertans is salary-filler as a stretch-4 unlikely to survive for long stretches in the postseason.

The Dallas Mavericks will be hurting for wing depth if they pull the trigger on this deal, especially until Maxi Kleber returns, but it’s the kind of deal they have to go after to build a real contender around Luka Doncic. They may have many of the same issues as the Bulls have with LaVine and DeRozan, but their lack of ball-handling and playmaking behind Doncic is stark, and they need more juice on the perimeter after letting Jalen Brunson walk.