The Chicago Bulls have had a interesting offseason following Arturas Karnisovas saying there would be roster changes. Alex Caruso was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Josh Giddey, Andre Drummond left for the Philadelphia 76ers, and DeMar DeRozan joined the Sacramento Kings via a sign-and-trade that would bring Chris Duarte to Chicago.
The Bulls cannot embrace a true rebuild without moving on from two-time All-Star Zach Lavine. Only playing 25 games and saying say he was open to a trade, Lavine would get a season-ending surgery before the trade deadline. The Bulls have not been able to find a trade partner for the former All-Star, with his $40+ million annual salary being the biggest issue.
Are the Clippers desperate enough to trade for Zach LaVine?
The Bulls may have some leverage if they remain patient, as there are teams around the league who struck out on their first options and may turn to LaVine as a backup.
LaVine has his red flags but is good enough to move the needle for a competitive team that is desperate enough to take that risk.
One team that may be willing to take that risk is the LA Clippers, who lost Paul George and have not made impact additions to replace him. Here is a proposed trade that could help both teams.
Chicago Bulls trade Zach LaVine to the LA Clippers
The Bulls have limited options when it comes to trading LaVine, but as two of the big losers of the offseason, Chicago and LA have a way to salvage something and get closer to where they want to be. For LA, that means competing for the Western Conference and for Chicago it likely means bottoming out to keep their 2025 pick and have a shot at Cooper Flagg.
This proposed trade from ClutchPoints helps both teams towards their respective goals:
With the Clippers letting star Paul George leave for the Philadelphia 76ers, they are lacking a third star alongside Kawhi Leonard and James Harden in a stacked Western Conference. Seeing PG leave while multiple teams in the conference have gotten better, the Clippers could be on the outside looking in come playoff time.
Landing Lavine would be a high-risk, high-reward move for the Clippers. While Lavine has had a history of injuries, he is still a two-time All-Star that put up 24.8 PPG, 4.5 RPG, and 4.2 APG on splits of 48.5 percent from the field, 37.5 percent from three, and 84 percent from the free throw line in his last healthy season. Lacking the scoring of Paul George, Lavine could slide in as the third option behind Leonard and Harden. With the fear of the Clippers falling out of the playoff picture with PG gone and Kawhi known to miss games, trading for Lavine would be best bet to keep them in the playoff picture.
But what about the Bulls? Would this trade help them?
This trade gets the Bulls closer to where they want to be
For the Bulls, the goal would be to get off of Lavine's contract and fully embrace the rebuild. While they would not be receiving immediate salary cap relief, three of the four players they would be receiving in the return are on expiring deals. Bones Hyland, P.J. Tucker, and Amir Coffey all become free agents following the 2024-25 season. Norman Powell remains under contract through the 2025-26 season.
Chicago could use the first half of the 2024-25 season to build the trade value of the players involved in the trade in hopes of flipping them to contenders for draft picks. Not having much of a choice in what they can get back for Lavine, trading him to the Clippers would be the best bet for Chicago to enter a rebuild. With reports saying Lavine is expected to be fully healthy by the time training camp arrives, there is a possibility the Bulls could move on from him before the start of the season.