Is this trade worth it for the Chicago Bulls?
The Bulls do need depth and defense at the center position and Carter Jr can provide both either as a starter or coming off the bench. He’s still relatively young at 25 years old and is on a value contract that goes down from $11.9 to 10 million over the next two seasons.
So, the Bulls would be getting a rotation player at a position of need while cutting a ton of future payroll from the LaVine deal and freeing up around $20 million in cap space right away. This seems like a no-brainer for Chicago, who might be better with this deal even if they did nothing more but keep everyone they have.
LaVine is the best player in this deal, but when you can’t count on him to play, taking back a lesser player and cap relief may be the best option.
This isn’t going to be an easy call for the Bulls, who are never going to get full value for LaVine and will have to decide how much is too little.