The Chicago Bulls trade up in the 2024 NBA Draft
Teams to watch: Houston Rockets, Detroit Pistons
If the Bulls wanted to do the opposite route and try to add some higher-end young talent, they could try to trade up using their pick and one of their veterans.
The Rockets are definitely a team that could look to move the 3rd pick in search of win-now talent, as they already have six promising young players and are looking to make a leap. Would the 11th pick and Alex Caruso be enough to move up to the 3rd pick? A trade of Caruso/11th pick for Jock Landale/3rd pick works on paper, but which team would walk away?
Given that they have the most cap space and a glaring need to improve, the lowly Pistons are going to be mentioned in nearly every rumor this summer. Like the Rockets, they want to make a leap and might be willing to trade the 5th pick for some more proven talent.
The Bulls could potentially send LaVine and the 11th pick to the Pistons in exchange to move up to the top 5.
That might not be worth it in this draft, but it might represent the best deal the Bulls are going to get for LaVine as they’d get a top-5 talent and a ton of cap relief to add free agents.
The Pistons would get an upgrade of talent without sending out any of their young players and still get a lottery pick to keep adding young projects.
The Bulls have options with this pick and should be exploring them all, as they might be able to get off Zach LaVine’s contract and get something decent in return.