Implausible star target for Bulls in proposed Zach LaVine trade

Why this trade isn’t happening 

“Ambitious” may be a euphemism here for “delusional.” 

In this trade, the Bulls get off of LaVine’s deal while taking back a former All-Star in Ingram, who is three years younger and has just one year left on his deal. The Bulls would have to throw in another contract to make the money work, but they’d not only be getting a very good player, but one who isn’t a massive financial burden. 

My first question is why on earth would the Pelicans do this? They are trying to cut money, which is the whole reason Ingram is in trade rumors to begin with. This deal would have them taking on a ton of long-term money and giving up an asset to do it. 

We’ve swung wildly from “the Bulls may have to attach assets to move LaVine” to “wow, they are somehow getting a valuable player on a cheaper deal!” pretty quickly. 

Even if the Bulls were somehow able to get the Pelicans to agree to this (no chance), they’d then have both Ingram and DeMar DeRozan, two similar players who like to operate in the same area. 

Don’t get me wrong, the Bulls would still do this in a heartbeat and just figure it out, as even if it didn’t work, they’d have a big expiring contract to deal or could just let Ingram walk and take the cap space to start over. 

The Bulls may be able to find a home for LaVine that yields a return they can live with, but it’s unlikely to be New Orleans, a team trying to cut money, not add another oft-injured player on a huge deal to their roster.