Now that the NBA Draft and free agency period are behind us now, the primary method teams will have to shake their roster up is via the trade market. While I believe the Chicago Bulls seem intent on entering the 2023-24 season with the roster as currently constructed, there are still a few holes that will need to be addressed if this team wants to return to playoff contention.
So when Bleacher Report outlined their top three trade targets for each team in the NBA, I was all ears. I may have not been quite so keen on their suggestions for Philadelphia to target LaVine and Toronto to pursue Dosunmu, but hopefully, the Bulls’ platter of options would feel more palatable.
Bleacher Report has proposed 3 ideal trade targets for the Chicago Bulls, but do these deals make sense?
1. Mike Conley
Mike Conley is an interesting player to start things off here, as he’s someone we’ve had pop up on the Bulls’ radar as a player that would make sense for what feels like several years in a row now. For a team that has lacked an above-average and consistently healthy point guard since the days of Kirk Hinrich, I can’t say I’m surprised to have seen Conley’s name on the rumor mill so many times.
Although a trade never materialized in the past, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s too late to act now. Most players would have accepted their inevitable decline after hitting 30 years old, but Conley has only continued to reinvent his game and age like a fine wine. That’s why he received his first All-Star selection in 2021 at the age of 33 and has still managed to average 13.7 points and 6 rebounds while shooting above 40% from deep over the past three seasons.
The primary obstacle preventing the Bulls from trading for Conley has not been his on-court impact, however, it’s his contract. Now in the final year of a $68 million deal he signed with the Jazz back in 2021, Conley is due to be paid more than $24 million this season before hitting free agency this summer.
Not only would it be hard to match that large of a contract in trade negotiations, but it’s also difficult to justify expending assets now when he’ll be available to sign outright in free agency next year. Jevon Carter should be able to hold down the fort until then, so I’m not too keen on the Bulls dealing for Conley at this point in time.
Verdict: Pass
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
3. Doug McDermott
When I first saw Doug McDermott proposed as a potential trade target for the Bulls, I admit I had a little laugh to myself. Haven’t we tried this before? Chicago would infamously trade away the draft picks that became Jusuf Nurkic and Gary Harris at the 2014 NBA Draft to select McDermott 11th overall, a mistake that had long-lasting repercussions for this franchise.
Still, once I came to my senses and noticed McDermott has averaged 10.7 points on 41.7% shooting from deep over the past two seasons with the Spurs, I started to think there might be some traction here. This is especially true when you look at the holes in the Bulls’ depth chart, where it all starts to make a lot of sense. McDermott could slot in right behind Patrick Williams and would do wonders to bolster the spacing for the NBA’s worst three-point shooting team.
A Bulls reunion with Doug McDermott might make sense on paper, but it would be less feasible in reality.
If the Bulls were to deal for a shooter, going for one on an expiring deal like McDermott would make a lot of sense. However, there’s nobody expendable on the Bulls that could match his $13 million salary. Unless Chicago manages to convince San Antonio to take on the dead money of Lonzo Ball’s contract, this deal would be dead in the water before it even began.
To make matters worse, it’s not even a guarantee that McDermott’s shooting offsets his defensive deficiencies in the first place. If McDermott is the only shooter available on the trade market, the Bulls may just be better off running a three-guard lineup off the bench with Alex Caruso defending opposing forwards. I think Doug still has some left in the tank, but I’ll pass on this one.
Verdict: Pass