DeMar DeRozan was a rock for the Chicago Bulls for three seasons. From 2021 to 2024, DeRozan averaged 25.5 points, 4.7 rebounds and 5.1 assists on 49.6 percent shooting from the field. He played 76 games in the 2021-22 season when Chicago briefly held the top seed in the Eastern Conference.
Even when things fell apart after Lonzo Ball went down with a serious knee injury, DeRozan held the team together. He played 74 and 79 games the next two seasons, respectively. He made two All-Star teams in Chicago and was a member of the All-NBA Second Team his first season with the franchise.
Zach LaVine arrived in The Windy City prior to the 2017-18 season in the trade that sent Jimmy Butler to the Minnesota Timberwolves. LaVine's Bulls tenure was rocky at times and filled with injuries, but when he was healthy, he was one of the most talented and explosive scorers in the NBA.
Like DeRozan, he made a pair of All-Star teams and had a resurgent 2024-25 season before being traded to the Sacramento Kings shortly before the trade deadline.
Both players were pillars of the organization during their time with the Bulls, and although it never translated to team success, they combined to form one of the best offensive duos in the league.
Now, both are teammates once again, this time in Sacramento. DeRozan has been with the Kings for the entirety of this season, while LaVine has played seven games with his new franchise but figures to remain in Sacramento through at least 2026-27.
The Bulls, meanwhile, are better off without both of them, at least in the long term. Neither brought back much in their respective trades—DeRozan fetched Chris Duarte, who's no longer with Chicago, along with a pair of second-round picks, while LaVine netted a trio of players and the Bulls' own first-round pick that was sent to San Antonio in exchange for DeRozan in 2021.
Curiosity has to win out a bit for Bulls fans, though. How is the organization's former backcourt faring now that it's together again on the West Coast?
How former Bulls Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan are doing with the Kings
As a team, Sacramento is in the exact same spot as Chicago—10th in the conference standings and barely clinging onto a spot in the play-in tournament. The Kings, however, want to make the postseason; despite what the Bulls' front office says publicly, Chicago does not. Or at least has far less motivation to.
(Sacramento has a record of 28-28 while the Bulls are 22-35, showing the wild gap there is in the competition level in each conference.)
As the longest-tenured former Bulls guard turned Kings star, DeRozan has been his usual self, albeit on a more talented team with a lesser role. Now 35 years old, he's started all 51 games he's appeared in and is playing nearly 36 minutes per night with averages of 22.1 points, 3.9 rebounds and 3.8 assists.
He's having one of his most efficient seasons, shooting 49.1 percent from the field and 35.1 percent from three.
The jury is far from being out on LaVine's tenure in Sacramento, as he's only seven games into his Kings career. The 11-year vet is averaging 20.3 points, 3.3 rebounds and 4.7 assists on 43/26/94 shooting splits. That production is way down from what LaVine was doing in Chicago this season, but in his defense, he's getting used to a new team, a new city, a new role and a different level of competition.
That begs two questions, one that likely can't be answered yet: Was it the right decision for the Bulls to trade their two best players? Given the stale state of the franchise, yes.
Were the trades themselves the right moves? Again, the jury is still out on LaVine, but it doesn't appear Chicago got fair value for either player.