Grade the trade: Bulls continue to botch everything with DeRozan deal

The Chicago Bulls continued their goofy offseason over the weekend by orchestrating a sign-and-trade for DeMar DeRozan to the Sacramento Kings. 

DeRozan to the Kings was something we wrote about a few times, as it seemed like they were the only team with real interest and the ability to add him. 

The Bulls took back Chris Duarte and two second-round picks for DeRozan, as they continue to mismanage assets worse than any team in the NBA. 

It’s been quite a summer when it comes to Chicago taking peanuts on the dollar for guys they could have traded for assets. 

Chicago Bulls having a frustrating offseason 

The Bulls have now traded Alex Caruso and DeMar DeRozan and allowed Andre Drummond to walk for nothing. 

Their big return is Josh Giddey, Chris Duarte, a couple of second-round picks and a paltry amount of cap space. 

Wasting assets and throwing potential draft capital into the trash has been the theme of the offseason for the Bulls, which is why I have to give the DeRozan trade two grades, one for the deal as a whole and one for the current context. 

Grade for Demar DeRozan trade: The Chicago Bulls blew it big time 

We know the Bulls turned down draft capital for Caruso as well as Drummond and certainly left a lot on the table by not trading DeRozan sooner. 

I’ve seen some pundits praising the Bulls for “at least getting something” in return for DeRozan, who could have just left as a free agent. 

But the Bulls were the ones who put themselves in this position by not trading DeRozan sooner, a baffling mistake that looks even more indefensible after trading Caruso and letting Drummond walk. 

Did the Bulls really fancy themselves as contenders last season? If so, everyone involved should get their heads checked. 

If not, and you knew this offseason was going to start a rebuild anyway, then why in the name of all that is good in this world did you wait until you had zero leverage to trade Caruso and DeRozan? 

The return at the deadline would have been much larger and the Bulls could be armed with a multitude of draft picks to go along with the same team they have now anyway. 

It was a “I’m going to mortgage my house to invest in meme coins” level of stupid asset management, so when you look at the whole picture, there is only one grade to give. 

Grade: F 

But if we are looking at the trade in context, does it look any better for Chicago? 

The Bulls got practically nothing for DeMar DeRozan 

The Bulls didn’t trade DeRozan at the deadline but that’s the past. 

It may not have been Arturas Karnisovas’ desire to keep all of those guys and he was clearly under pressure to try and make the playoffs for some reason. 

So, he can only make the trade that is front of him now with the current context. 

But even that doesn’t look great. 

Yes, it’s good the Bulls did get something for DeRozan, but it wasn’t much. Chris Duarte is hurt more often than Zach Lavine and has played 160 games in three seasons in the NBA. After a promising rookie season in which he averaged 13 points on decent shooting splits, Duarte has fallen off the face of the earth. 

He’s shot less than 40 percent from the field the last two seasons, averaged three points per game last year and barely played. 

Did I mention he’s already 27 years old?  

Luckily, he’s only on a one-year deal, but the Bulls didn’t even get the best player in this trade as DeRozan went to the Kings and Harrison Barnes went to San Antonio. Chicago couldn't have squeezed the Kings for Kevin Huerter instead? At least he's a rotation player.

It’s possible the Bulls just wanted the extra cap space, as Barnes makes more and is on a longer deal, but at least he plays and contributes, more than you can say about Duarte. 

Two second-round picks are fine, but as we know, they aren’t great assets on their own, and given the Bulls complete lack of draft capital, aren’t going to move the needle much. 

I commend the Bulls for getting something, but it wasn’t much, even given the context. 

Grade: D+