Bulls Trading Zach LaVine This Season 'More Pipedream Than Reality'

[RealGM Wiretap]

The Chicago Bulls continue to aggressively shop Zach LaVine, but trading him this season is "more pipedream than reality," a source tells Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times. A major injury for another team or a significant shift in the current market would be necessary for a workable trade involving LaVine to materialize.

LaVine signed a five-year, $215 million contract with the Bulls during his free agency in 2022. LaVine has three seasons at nearly $140 million remaining on his contract. LaVine has a player option for 26-27 worth $49 million that he almost certainly will pick up considering his current value around the league. LaVine could have been challenging to trade under the previous CBA, but the new one makes it almost impossible with his current number of years remaining on his contract. 

LaVine is averaging 21.7 points, 4.4 rebounds and 4.2 assists in 33.4 minutes over 23 games this season for the Bulls.

Via Joe Cowley/Chicago Sun-Times

[Pickled Prunes]

30 years ago he would have been traded already. Advanced stats have pretty much blown that up. It's too bad CHI wasn't looking at advanced stats when they offered LaVine that contract.

[kulaz3000]

30 years ago he would have been traded already. Advanced stats have pretty much blown that up. It's too bad CHI wasn't looking at advanced stats when they offered LaVine that contract.

It has nothing to do with advanced stats, or probably more accurately, not so much the advanced stats. He is an efficient scorer, which is what he is paid to do.

The problem is his contract, in conjunction with the more strict rules around trades and the cap, which doesn't allow teams as much flexibility.

[Pickled Prunes]

30 years ago he would have been traded already. Advanced stats have pretty much blown that up. It's too bad CHI wasn't looking at advanced stats when they offered LaVine that contract.

It has nothing to do with advanced stats, or probably more accurately, not so much the advanced stats. He is an efficient scorer, which is what he is paid to do.

The problem is his contract, in conjunction with the more strict rules around trades and the cap, which doesn't allow teams as much flexibility.

Nope. The advanced stats show that he gives back more on D than provides on O. They also show that, while he scores reasonably efficiently, he is not an elite offensive force. His best ORtg (115.6) was back in 20-21. That rating would 139th this season, tied with Kyle Lowry.

[M2J]

30 years ago he would have been traded already. Advanced stats have pretty much blown that up. It's too bad CHI wasn't looking at advanced stats when they offered LaVine that contract.

It has nothing to do with advanced stats, or probably more accurately, not so much the advanced stats. He is an efficient scorer, which is what he is paid to do.

The problem is his contract, in conjunction with the more strict rules around trades and the cap, which doesn't allow teams as much flexibility.

Nope. The advanced stats show that he gives back more on D than provides on O. They also show that, while he scores reasonably efficiently, he is not an elite offensive force. His best ORtg (115.6) was back in 20-21. That rating would 139th this season, tied with Kyle Lowry.

Dude, no one needs advance stats to know that Zach is over paid. Chicago knew he was overpaid when they gave him the deal, he had injury history and never defended. But this new CBA makes overpaid players that much more untouchable

[puja21]

Chicago knew he was overpaid when they gave him the deal, he had injury history and never defended.

Recently, Reinsdorf has [publicly] reversed course on the following (changing to say now "as an owner, I care about winning, not making money")

But for decades he was open about trying to just "make" the playoffs so the fans don't lose hope

e.g.

"Finish in second place every single year because your fans will say 'Wow, we got a shot. We're in it! ' But there's always the carrot left."

"Sports is a business of failure but the fact that you finish second or third or fourth it doesn’t mean you had a bad year."

"I think the important thing to fans is, while they want you to win championships, they want to know that when they get down to the last month of the season you still have a shot. You’re still playing meaningful games. If you can do that consistently you’ll make your fans happy."

The goal when the DeRozan/LaVine Bulls were constructed was a 6-8 seed

[Pickled Prunes]

It has nothing to do with advanced stats, or probably more accurately, not so much the advanced stats. He is an efficient scorer, which is what he is paid to do.

The problem is his contract, in conjunction with the more strict rules around trades and the cap, which doesn't allow teams as much flexibility.

Nope. The advanced stats show that he gives back more on D than provides on O. They also show that, while he scores reasonably efficiently, he is not an elite offensive force. His best ORtg (115.6) was back in 20-21. That rating would 139th this season, tied with Kyle Lowry.

Dude, no one needs advance stats to know that Zach is over paid. Chicago knew he was overpaid when they gave him the deal, he had injury history and never defended. But this new CBA makes overpaid players that much more untouchable

That is clearly not true or we wouldn't be having this conversation. The point of my original post was: 30 years ago rival GM's would look at LaVines scoring stats and shooting% and they would pick up the phone, CBA be damned. They would give little or no attention to how his teammates performed while he was on the court.

Yes, the new CBA makes large contracts harder to trade, but that isn't what's keeping LaVine in CHI. He is still in CHI because people see what he is in a way they couldn't 30 years ago. He isn't just overpaid... he is grossly overpaid.

I'm not saying that he won't be moved. Someone will eventually bite. I'm saying that 30 years ago he would have been moved already.

[M2J]

Nope. The advanced stats show that he gives back more on D than provides on O. They also show that, while he scores reasonably efficiently, he is not an elite offensive force. His best ORtg (115.6) was back in 20-21. That rating would 139th this season, tied with Kyle Lowry.

Dude, no one needs advance stats to know that Zach is over paid. Chicago knew he was overpaid when they gave him the deal, he had injury history and never defended. But this new CBA makes overpaid players that much more untouchable

That is clearly not true or we wouldn't be having this conversation. The point of my original post was: 30 years ago rival GM's would look at LaVines scoring stats and shooting% and they would pick up the phone, CBA be damned. They would give little or no attention to how his teammates performed while he was on the court.

Yes, the new CBA makes large contracts harder to trade, but that isn't what's keeping LaVine in CHI. He is still in CHI because people see what he is in a way they couldn't 30 years ago. He isn't just overpaid... he is grossly overpaid.

I'm not saying that he won't be moved. Someone will eventually bite. I'm saying that 30 years ago he would have been moved already.

Well I'll end with this. This salary structure that we have or even had 10 years ago didn't exist 30 years ago. Players were signing for 6 million and loving it.

[Pickled Prunes]

Dude, no one needs advance stats to know that Zach is over paid. Chicago knew he was overpaid when they gave him the deal, he had injury history and never defended. But this new CBA makes overpaid players that much more untouchable

That is clearly not true or we wouldn't be having this conversation. The point of my original post was: 30 years ago rival GM's would look at LaVines scoring stats and shooting% and they would pick up the phone, CBA be damned. They would give little or no attention to how his teammates performed while he was on the court.

Yes, the new CBA makes large contracts harder to trade, but that isn't what's keeping LaVine in CHI. He is still in CHI because people see what he is in a way they couldn't 30 years ago. He isn't just overpaid... he is grossly overpaid.

I'm not saying that he won't be moved. Someone will eventually bite. I'm saying that 30 years ago he would have been moved already.

Well I'll end with this. This salary structure that we have or even had 10 years ago didn't exist 30 years ago. Players were signing for 6 million and loving it.

Doesn't matter, It's a percentage of BRI. The cap rules have changed gradually over the years, but everyone knew the LaVine contract would be an albatross long before we knew what was going to be in the new CBA. The new rules make all trades difficult for apron teams.