LaVine traded to the Kings as part of 3 team deal (Huerter, Tre Jones to Bulls)

[Dominator83]

Someone needs to check on Strat.

IKR?

Honestly, after the last 10 game stretch, happy to see it. I can for the first time root for a different team and between Demarc and Zach I can pretend it's the Bulls.

But seriously, I really wasn't that big a Lavine fan until all the ridiculous hate and silly narratives on here that all started because he has the audacity to be in the trade for Butler, and then just spiraled out of control from there.

Most talented basketball player in Chicago since MJ and Pippen, and a large percentage of Bulls fans hated him for it.

To the tankers, enjoy losing your way to the bottom of the barrel for the next 4 seasons. Now we can watch Coby chuck while he and Pwont make stupid basketball play after stupid basketball play. Then we can watch Giddy throw flashy passes into the hands of the opposition. Matas will be the next Zach as he shows flashes of greatness only to become frustrated by the comedic roster playing alongside him. The gun chewing coach will tell us everyone just needs to try harder and "we have to get better defensively". And that's it... that's what we are starting with. It's going to be so much fun.

As was pointed out a few weeks ago, Zach had reached the same amount of games in a Bulls uniform as Derrick Rose had played. And scored 1700 more points than Rose did.

I still think Butler was our best player post dynasty, because of his elite defense too. Zach the most gifted scorer, but Butler the better all around player. Imagine how fun this would have been had Gea/Pax used that #11 to take Zach instead of Doug McDermott?!

[Andi Obst]

I get that the return for Zach is nothing that gets you excited. Totally understand it. I'm still fine with the trade, though.

You managed to get out of Zach's deal without taking on any long-term deals, you're in full control of all of your future firsts again and you finally have a direction. Vuc and Lonzo have to be next. If there's value for Coby (mid-first maybe?), you take that too. Losing that pick was too much of a threat to risk it. The Hawks are falling apart, the Pistons are a feel good story but they aren't great by any means, the Heat and even the Magic are kind of meh. Instead, you may be able to out-tank the Blazers, Sixers (who are not tanking) and Raptors. That's the real value here.

[League Circles]

Bad, bad trade for the Bulls.

[Ctownbulls]

This is what they should be doing. Trade anyone, except Matas, for short term, poor contracts and picks. They can tank for 1.5 years, hopefully hit on the next two drafts and then have big FA money.

Let's see if that is the actual plan or if they somehow don't do anything else.

Sent from my Pixel 9 using Tapatalk

[PistolP]

I don’t mind the trade in isolation. Getting our pick back is huge. Maybe it wouldn’t have converted this year anyway, but it could easily be the equivalent of a 9-14 pick in 2026/27. Now we can at least look forward to the draft/lottery this year without worrying about slipping to 11. I would have loved to either get our 2025 2nd back or at least one decent young prospect.

When you look at AKs roster moves in total though, it’s still a complete dumpster fire. Just a complete waste of assets over the last several years.

[Onibuh]

Can someone explain to me how the 27 million trade exception works ? How would we use it ?

The exception can be used to trade for a player or multiple players with salaries adding up to that amount without adding to their cap and luxury-tax liabilities.

Can they use it for a Cap Dump and get additional Pick(s) ?

[t-time]

The trade is fine as a salary dump. I thought he has unfairly considered ‘unmovable’ over the past year. Zach is a good player, good to watch and a good guy. I wish him well.

I have no faith in the front office at the moment. I also do not have patience for another rebuild.

[Jeffster81]

IDC about the return, I care that the Bulls no longer has Lavine's contract. If you are not going to compete/contend then you should not have a contract like Zach's on your books. Getting rid of Zach is a win. Move Vuc and Coby and let loose the young guys.

[vxmike]

This is a B-/C+ trade. Not exciting, but I doubt there was a B+ trade out there right now. Feels like waiting for the offseason may have yielded something better, but player value feels weird right now across the league.

The protections on the SA pick made it likely that it would have at least warped our roster building during those years, even if it didn't convey. It's more valuable draft capital than I would have expected to have gotten back for Zach. We got 3 JAG's who should be able to be re-purposed into something else if we want.

I think the TPE is low-key interesting. Seems like we ought to be able use it on an overpaid player to collect assets with.

The TPE might be the best part of the trade if they use it. There’s a lot of teams with Apron problems who would love to ship salary into a large TPE.

[vxmike]

I think it's a decent deal

We clear up future $.
We were one Zach injury away from Lavine being a huge anchor
We get our pick back (the 2nd wasn't ours anyway)
We free up shots for the kids
We have a center to fill in to deal Vuc
We have 2 very tradable contracts this summer/next year
We lose more games now

Vuc to GS and trade Coby too please

Agree. It’s a reasonable outcome considering nobody was going to give significant value for Zach. They get their ‘25 FRP back plus no awful long-term money….that’s an ok deal here.

[Ctownbulls]

This is a B-/C+ trade. Not exciting, but I doubt there was a B+ trade out there right now. Feels like waiting for the offseason may have yielded something better, but player value feels weird right now across the league.

The protections on the SA pick made it likely that it would have at least warped our roster building during those years, even if it didn't convey. It's more valuable draft capital than I would have expected to have gotten back for Zach. We got 3 JAG's who should be able to be re-purposed into something else if we want.

I think the TPE is low-key interesting. Seems like we ought to be able use it on an overpaid player to collect assets with.

The TPE might be the best part of the trade if they use it. There’s a lot of teams with Apron problems who would love to ship salary into a large TPE.

Agreed, but I'd be shocked if they used it. That would signal the biggest shift in philosophy over the past 25 years.

Sent from my Pixel 9 using Tapatalk

[rosenthall]

This is a B-/C+ trade. Not exciting, but I doubt there was a B+ trade out there right now. Feels like waiting for the offseason may have yielded something better, but player value feels weird right now across the league.

The protections on the SA pick made it likely that it would have at least warped our roster building during those years, even if it didn't convey. It's more valuable draft capital than I would have expected to have gotten back for Zach. We got 3 JAG's who should be able to be re-purposed into something else if we want.

I think the TPE is low-key interesting. Seems like we ought to be able use it on an overpaid player to collect assets with.

The TPE might be the best part of the trade if they use it. There’s a lot of teams with Apron problems who would love to ship salary into a large TPE.

Agreed, but I'd be shocked if they used it. That would signal the biggest shift in philosophy over the past 25 years.

Sent from my Pixel 9 using Tapatalk

Agreed on your agreement.

I'd love it if we could use it to catch some other team's unwanted salary for a year or two and get compensated for it.

You're right that there's no precedent for this happening with the Bulls, but it's a nice thought that AK made the trade with these plans in mind.

[vxmike]

The TPE might be the best part of the trade if they use it. There’s a lot of teams with Apron problems who would love to ship salary into a large TPE.

Agreed, but I'd be shocked if they used it. That would signal the biggest shift in philosophy over the past 25 years.

Sent from my Pixel 9 using Tapatalk

Agreed on your agreement.

I'd love it if we could use it to catch some other team's unwanted salary for a year or two and get compensated for it.

You're right that there's no precedent for this happening with the Bulls, but it's a nice thought that AK made the trade with these plans in mind.

We can hope. This trade was an indication they've committed to a tear-down finally. With so many trades being talked about there will probably be a good opportunity to facilitate something. Also there are very few teams with cap space this coming summer so even if they don't use it right away they can probably use it this summer.

[League Circles]

So we have to release THT plus one other guy now right?

[WesPeace]

Can Zach Collins at least play some post defense? I saw some clips from him years ago, with some blocks.. I wonder if he will be starting C or Smith after we ship out Vooch.

[DASMACKDOWN]

I'm good with it.

I knew we were never going to "win" a trade but the most important piece of the deal is actually getting our pick back.

There is no more worry about giving it to San Antonio this year or next. If gives us a clear direction and allow us to be free.

[Andi Obst]

Maybe you can get something from Tre Jones? He's a solid backup PG. A team like Detroit could use him.

[MisterRoy]

Lonzo is now are biggest cap hit. Looking at our roster now, we are going to be baaaaad.

[coldfish]

The Bulls getting their pick back is more about feelings or anxiety than any statistical value. Worst cast is they gave it up as 9 or 10 but that is unlikely. Either they would have just kept it every year or they would have popped up and made it a pick in the teens, harming its value.

Chicago barely saves any salary as a result of this too. Chicago will be in no position to be a player in free agency, or just sell capspace, for YEARS.

The primary value here is simply being worse for this draft. That could be accomplished in other ways.

This just continues Chicago's doom loop of incompetence. Our only hope is lottery balls and even with them, the odds aren't good.

.......

If the Bulls do get a high lottery pick, I sure hope Michael Reinsdorf asks himself if AKME is really the leadership that he wants to train that player and build around him.

[dougthonus]

The Bulls getting their pick back is more about feelings or anxiety than any statistical value. Worst cast is they gave it up as 9 or 10 but that is unlikely. Either they would have just kept it every year or they would have popped up and made it a pick in the teens, harming its value.

Chicago barely saves any salary as a result of this too. Chicago will be in no position to be a player in free agency, or just sell capspace, for YEARS.

The primary value here is simply being worse for this draft. That could be accomplished in other ways.

This just continues Chicago's doom loop of incompetence. Our only hope is lottery balls and even with them, the odds aren't good.

.......

If the Bulls do get a high lottery pick, I sure hope Michael Reinsdorf asks himself if AKME is really the leadership that he wants to train that player and build around him.

I think with the new lotto odds, there is a pretty good chance they give up 9 or 10 if they don't get the pick back. If you are slotted at 8th, there's a very good probability that someone moves up past you, and the Bulls could trivially rebuild to 8th in the next 2 years.

I also think you are underselling the trade flexibility and salary relief. Collins and Huerter only have one year left each, so you save the full 48M or whatever in Zach's final year, you save 10M next year, so if you envision this as a 2 year dip to rebuild (with this being year 1), you save a ton of money in year 3 when you are rising.

Huerter and Collins are also likely not "bad salary" guys, and could pretty easily rebuild value on this team to possibly fit a need as future trade targets for 2nd rounders possibly. It's also the case that getting much further away from the tax will allow the Bulls (if they choose to, and they should) to save their MLE to take on money at the deadline and be a facilitator much easier and possibly gain asses that way.

Overall, that extra wiggle room gives them a lot more options to do something small too (granted, they may have ended up their anyway based on who they signed and for how much this off season).

I give this trade a C. They clearly canvased the market on Zach for years, and this was the best out there. It might have gotten better this off-season, but it might not have. Zach's an injury or coach blow up away from being negative value again, and you have to believe the Bulls and Zach had some agreement that if he toes the line they'll get him off the roster.

As such, saving 60M on money, getting more flexible, tradeable contracts, while firmly setting a direction and reducing the risk of giving away your pick feels like about as much return out there as possible. It wasn't sexy, but in this case, I truly believe there was no sexy trade out there for Zach. Unlike Caruso, where there were lots of bidders and we had options or DeMar whom we sat on too long, with Zach, this was probably the first real opportunity we had to trade him without attaching something in the last year and so we jumped on it before the teeter totter went back down.