The Chicago Bulls handed Josh Giddey a four-year, $100 million contract and solidified his place as their starting point guard through 2029. His running mate, Coby White, will be an unrestricted free agent at the conclusion of this season, which has triggered trade speculation surrounding the 25-year-old. If that's the route the Bulls decide to take, a deal with the Houston Rockets makes sense.
Houston will be without its own floor general after Fred VanVleet tore his ACL and is expected to miss all of 2025-26. After acquiring Kevin Durant this summer, it's championship or bust for the Rockets. Losing a title-winning point guard is a significant bump in the road.
A trade for White would help fill that gap.
Bulls trade Coby White to Rockets for Sheppard, Eason in proposed deal
Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times offered up White as trade bait for a Houston team that will now have to rely on a playmaking jump from second-year guard Amen Thompson or for Reed Sheppard (who barely saw the floor last year as a rookie) to immediately step in as the lead ballhandler of a championship-caliber team. Unless, of course, they trade for a combo guard with six years of NBA experience.
White's status as a free agent at the end of the year aligns perfectly with what the Rockets need. VanVleet should be ready to step back into his role as Houston's heart and soul next season; meanwhile, the former North Carolina star can function as a primary or secondary ballhandler and floor spacer around Durant, Alperen Sengun, Jabari Smith and Thompson.
Sheppard is skilled, tough and a sniper from 3-point range, but he's almost certainly not prepared to help lead a team with title aspirations.
Grading the trade for the Bulls
The best option is to hold onto White, who became Chicago's top scorer last season after the Zach LaVine trade, and has proven he's a perfect fit for this version of the Bulls. The franchise is projected to have the most cap space in the league next summer, so it shouldn't be impossible to keep him in the Windy City, even if he's said publicly he won't sign an extension during the season. Nor should he.
But if the Bulls choose not to pay him the $30 million per year or so that he's asking for, they could do worse than Sheppard and Eason.
Sheppard, 21, was the third overall pick in the 2024 draft after a standout season at the University of Kentucky. It's impossible to judge him on a rookie season in which he played 654 total minutes, but his numbers from this past Summer League are impressive: 23.0 points, 5.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 4.0 steals and 1.5 blocks. His shooting splits weren't great, but his 52.1 percent 3-point shooting in Lexington, coupled with his flawless form, should help quell any concerns.
And Eason is far from a throw-in. Like White, he'll be a free agent at season's end, but he would bring a much-needed skill set to Chicago as a defensive menace. The 24-year-old is a burly 6-foot-8 and plays with an intensity level that would surely excite Bulls head coach Billy Donovan, who doesn't have a defender of that caliber on the roster.
If executive VP of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas does decide to move White, he could do a lot worse than this.
Bulls grade: B+