Pass or Pursue: Chicago Bulls top 3 proposed trade targets

2. Tyus Jones

If you’ve been reading Pippen Ain’t Easy, you’d know I’ve been advocating for the Bulls to trade for former Grizzlies point guard Tyus Jones for quite some time now. The Bulls have lacked an exceptional playmaker and competent shooter at point guard ever since Lonzo Ball went down, and Tyus is one of the very few players who tick both of these boxes and could be acquired for a reasonable price.

Jones is coming off his most successful season to date, averaging 16.4 points, 8.1 assists, 4 rebounds, and 1.8 steals in 22 games as a starter this year. Having to sporadically compensate for the loss of Ja Morant, Tyus truly stepped up and proved he deserves to be a starting shooting guard in this league.

Tyus Jones continues to evade the Bulls as potentially the perfect point guard for their system.

I originally believed Jones would be viewed as an untouchable asset while Morant serves his 25-game suspension this season, but that proved to not be the case. When the news broke that the Grizzlies were actively looking to move Jones to get him to a team that could offer a starting role, I was shocked.

And I was even more shocked when the Wizards beat Chicago to the punch, landing Tyus in a three-team deal that sent Kristaps Porzingis to Boston and Marcus Smart to Memphis. Although Washington will likely want to see what they’ve got with Tyus first, he is still a 27-year-old veteran in a contract year. If the Wizards don’t believe Jones will wish to re-sign with a rebuilding team, trading him at the deadline to a team in need of point guard help like the Bulls is still entirely plausible.

Verdict: Pursue