Monday Jul 6, 2026, the NBA moratorium on free agency transactions will expire at 11 a.m. CT.
However, a key detail in Bulls center Zach Collins' new two-year, $17 million contract emerged from a column published on Friday by The Athletic’s John Hollinger (subscription required). In Hollinger’s column, he revealed that due to the value of his new NBA contract, relative to his previous NBA contract, Collins is immediately trade-eligible.
"Collins wasn’t worth $8 million, but because he signed an extension that wasn’t more than a 5 percent raise, he is trade-eligible immediately."John Hollinger
The revelation of Collins' trade eligibility status underscores Bulls lead front office executive Bryson Graham’s chorus message of seeking flexibility in his early Bulls roster decisions. Collins’ $8.5 million average annual value salary in isolation likely won’t fetch a game-changing trade return for the Bulls.
Yet, the prospect of packaging Collins' salary with one or more of the other active roster Bulls with tradeable contracts could arm Graham with subtle rebuild ammo to acquire an impact player before the start of the Bulls’ 2026 training camp in September.
Framing the realm of trade possibilities
In this emerging realm, the NBA’s new anti-tanking lottery rules, the trade opportunities that NBA teams are prioritizing may look different than the conventional wisdom of seeking binge trade returns of multiple first-round draft picks.
NBA teams seeking surplus draft capital in trade returns probably won’t cease to exist; however, the 2026 NBA offseason is proving that the market for trades that return multiple first-round draft picks is perhaps in a recession.
To illustrate the point of leveraging Collins' salary to acquire a more impactful player, imagine the Bulls packaging Collins, with guard Isaac Okoro, and forward Leonard Miller to acquire forward De’Andre Hunter from the Sacramento Kings.
This hypothetical trade would have the Bulls send out $22.7 million in salary to take back Hunter’s $24.9 million salary, according to Spotrac, which would also open a conversation for the Bulls to extract a second-round pick from the Kings for giving them a young player and cap flexibility for Hunter’s expiring contract.
Acquiring Hunter represents an opportunity to audition the forward to figure out if his shooting reputation can rebound from a bleak 2025-26 NBA season in which Hunter shot a career-low 30.5% three-point percentage, to at least his career average of 36.4% or better three-point percentage while providing a lottery-friendly team performance floor.
Worst case, if Hunter doesn’t work out, you simply let him walk during the 2027 NBA offseason.
Overall, Bryson Graham’s front office achieved a subtle roster rebuild flexibility win by structuring Collins new Bulls contract in such a shrewd manner. The Bulls can reap his locker room presence if they choose, or they can immediately canvas the league for better roster value before training camp starts this fall.
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