Potential Zach Trade Partners? 24/25 Edition

[coldfish]

I'm not sure the real Bulls feel this way but IMO, the downside risks of keeping him are zero. Worst case is that he refuses to play or throws a fit and makes the team worse . . . helping the tank. If he comes in and plays well, his contract will get shorter as time goes on and his value will go up.

Play him, let him be the alpha when the game is on the line, etc. Its fine.

One of the scenarios I can see happening is for the offense to be fine, lots of players to get numbers and still have the team lose night in and night out due to atrocious defense. That's not the end of the world.

You are probably right on how most of us feel.

What is our tax position if Zach has to play the whole season with us and then start the 25-26 season? We have Josh Giddey pending contract and that could be worth 175-200 mil.

Would we trade Zach for Ben Simmons just to get off the contract?

Lonzo’s expiring deal probably keeps the Bulls safe on the LT barrier.

[FriedRise]

Would be super awkward if Zach stayed once again after the bulls shopped him to the whole league.

There’s plenty of time before the season starts to find a deal, I still think they’ll trade him.

Both sides are just done with each other. I don’t see how they can go back to normal like nothing happened. How would Zach even be motivated to play for the bulls anymore ?

I thought KC reported that Zach didn't actually ask for a trade?

Zach knew that the Bulls have been shopping him (this is nothing new)
Bulls stood pat for the 3rd year in a row and began the season with a miserable 5-19 start
Zach told Bulls, "hey, since this is clearly not working and y'all are shopping me anyway, why don't we work together to find me a new team?" Bulls agreed.
Zach got injured, Bulls played better, no trade options can materialize because he's injured
Zach got cleared and tried to play a handful of games, but ultimately got injured again that led to surgery
Bulls continued to try to move him, but obviously no takers because he's still injured

To me, this is two sides trying to amicably work together to find a solution. Zach is not some locker room cancer that gives a "trade me or else" ultimatum like some of these other stars did. If he's not moved by the start of training camp, I think he's gonna remain professional like he always has.

[MGB8]

Yeah… still think that there is zero interest in Zach and won’t be at least until he proves he is healthy… but that with the new CBA rules, it is likely that the Bulls and Zach are stuck together for the remainder of his contract.

There just isn’t room for bad max contracts anymore, and even when healthy, Zach is not a Max value player - he does not create offense for others like a Lebron, Jokic, Embiid, Luka, SGA, Curry, etc. He is an elite 3 level scorer but that isn’t enough anymore, would at minimum need to also be good in clutch, etc., and really needs to be a guy who you build an offense around, OR if still only a “finishing” scorer - would need to be a very high level defender on top.

Given the size of his deal - yeah, maybe you get two smaller but worse deals (Poole, etc.,)… but even Ben Simmons’ expiring deal likely “worth” more RN. Only for a team where he would be a healthy “finishing piece” (who don’t mind going to and staying above 2nd apron)… and there isn’t one out there right now.

[boundbymusic]

If he proves he's healthy and back to normal there will be partners. The cap is increasing every year. Look at some of these other deals being signed and Zach's money doesn't look AS bad as long as he's pre-injury Zach (and he waives his trade kicker).

[jnrjr79]

If he proves he's healthy and back to normal there will be partners. The cap is increasing every year. Look at some of these other deals being signed and Zach's money doesn't look AS bad as long as he's pre-injury Zach (and he waives his trade kicker).

He doesn't need to waive his trade kicker. It will have nominal to no effect whatsoever, because it can only gap-fill any difference between how much the cap has gone up vs. whether his 8% raises have kept up, which they basically have.

[kodo]

You are probably right on how most of us feel.

What is our tax position if Zach has to play the whole season with us and then start the 25-26 season? We have Josh Giddey pending contract and that could be worth 175-200 mil.

Would we trade Zach for Ben Simmons just to get off the contract?

For 2025 start keeping Lavine and making some assumed moves (keeping Terry, keeping Smith, etc.) we're at $129M + Giddey + roster spots (could be as low as min). Less if we salary dump Jevon. Lux tax line should be around $187M.

That being said, I don't think the lux tax is a magical line anymore. If the Bulls are going to be rebuilding I don't think ownership wants to be even close to lux tax. They would want the team to be cheap as possible, which is 90% of salary cap so around $138M. Even if we're well below lux tax, every dollar saved maximizes the net business.

So yes I think we'll trade Zach for an expiring even if we're not anywhere close to lux tax.

[Red8911]

Would be super awkward if Zach stayed once again after the bulls shopped him to the whole league.

There’s plenty of time before the season starts to find a deal, I still think they’ll trade him.

Both sides are just done with each other. I don’t see how they can go back to normal like nothing happened. How would Zach even be motivated to play for the bulls anymore ?

I thought KC reported that Zach didn't actually ask for a trade?

Zach knew that the Bulls have been shopping him (this is nothing new)
Bulls stood pat for the 3rd year in a row and began the season with a miserable 5-19 start
Zach told Bulls, "hey, since this is clearly not working and y'all are shopping me anyway, why don't we work together to find me a new team?" Bulls agreed.
Zach got injured, Bulls played better, no trade options can materialize because he's injured
Zach got cleared and tried to play a handful of games, but ultimately got injured again that led to surgery
Bulls continued to try to move him, but obviously no takers because he's still injured

To me, this is two sides trying to amicably work together to find a solution. Zach is not some locker room cancer that gives a "trade me or else" ultimatum like some of these other stars did. If he's not moved by the start of training camp, I think he's gonna remain professional like he always has.

Yeah originally I guess he didn’t officially ask for a trade but he clearly wants out. Even last season his body language during games showed us that he doesn’t care anymore.

KC also reported yesterday that both sides are motivated to get him traded. They are basically working together at this point to get it done.

[League Circles]

I have a feeling that AK is going to ruin the good moves so far this summer by trading Zach for bad contracts for reasons of locker room chemistry and "helping" us try to keep our pick next summer.

I think I'm going to be very disappointed when we trade a high level SG in his prime for trash.

[MGB8]

Would be super awkward if Zach stayed once again after the bulls shopped him to the whole league.

There’s plenty of time before the season starts to find a deal, I still think they’ll trade him.

Both sides are just done with each other. I don’t see how they can go back to normal like nothing happened. How would Zach even be motivated to play for the bulls anymore ?

I thought KC reported that Zach didn't actually ask for a trade?

Zach knew that the Bulls have been shopping him (this is nothing new)
Bulls stood pat for the 3rd year in a row and began the season with a miserable 5-19 start
Zach told Bulls, "hey, since this is clearly not working and y'all are shopping me anyway, why don't we work together to find me a new team?" Bulls agreed.
Zach got injured, Bulls played better, no trade options can materialize because he's injured
Zach got cleared and tried to play a handful of games, but ultimately got injured again that led to surgery
Bulls continued to try to move him, but obviously no takers because he's still injured

To me, this is two sides trying to amicably work together to find a solution. Zach is not some locker room cancer that gives a "trade me or else" ultimatum like some of these other stars did. If he's not moved by the start of training camp, I think he's gonna remain professional like he always has.

Yeah originally I guess he didn’t officially ask for a trade but he clearly wants out. Even last season his body language during games showed us that he doesn’t care anymore.

KC also reported yesterday that both sides are motivated to get him traded. They are basically working together at this point to get it done.

They should focus more on Zach reintegrating into the new look Bulls. Then the rest will take care of itself. The Bulls are still to asset poor to be sending out assets just to move off of Zach’s contact.

Does that move help the team at all?

Nope. Bulls won’t be truly competitive for at least 2-3 years, and by that time, LaVine’s contract is either expiring or up. In the interim, losing Zach won’t provide for room for some quality FA or even a move where the Bulls would take on bad salary for an asset (because the Bulls have t shown any interest in doing that, ever).

Moving Zach for assets is one thing - that would help the team. But moving him even for a pure salary dump is unlikely to really have any benefit except to ownership’s wallets a little bit. Maybe an extra couple of losses towards a tank.

This is starting to feel petty and personal, like how things got with Thibs at the end. Not a good look for an org that already has a pretty bad reputation.

[Red8911]

If he proves he's healthy and back to normal there will be partners. The cap is increasing every year. Look at some of these other deals being signed and Zach's money doesn't look AS bad as long as he's pre-injury Zach (and he waives his trade kicker).

He’s fully healthy right now but doesn’t mean he won’t get hurt again in the future. Proving you’re healthy for a short amount of time doesn’t matter.

Zach’s an injury prone player, whoever (if anyone) decides to trade for him knows this and would have to take a risk.

[WindyCityBorn]

If he proves he's healthy and back to normal there will be partners. The cap is increasing every year. Look at some of these other deals being signed and Zach's money doesn't look AS bad as long as he's pre-injury Zach (and he waives his trade kicker).

He’s fully healthy right now but doesn’t mean he won’t get hurt again in the future. Proving you’re healthy for a short amount of time doesn’t matter.

Zach’s an injury prone player, whoever (if anyone) decides to trade for him knows this and would have to take a risk.

Yeah, but he played awful last season. He needs to show that was because of the injury and not an actual decline in production.

[FriedRise]

If he proves he's healthy and back to normal there will be partners. The cap is increasing every year. Look at some of these other deals being signed and Zach's money doesn't look AS bad as long as he's pre-injury Zach (and he waives his trade kicker).

He’s fully healthy right now but doesn’t mean he won’t get hurt again in the future. Proving you’re healthy for a short amount of time doesn’t matter.

Zach’s an injury prone player, whoever (if anyone) decides to trade for him knows this and would have to take a risk.

I just hate having to sell low on a player whose value we can reasonably expect to bounce back, especially when he's fully healthy right now.

If we wait and play the long game, we can let the market shift a bit. You never know what's gonna happen during the season... some key player on a contender getting injured, or some rising team doing better than expected and deciding to go all-in (like Indiana did with Siakam last year), or maybe Zach works himself back to playing like an all star since he'll have more shots available to him now compared to these last few years. If we move him now, the only guaranteed thing is us losing whatever little draft capital we have - and for what?

If Zach is truly injury prone and gets injured again, then yeah his value is gonna stay about the same as it is now. Nothing will have changed except one year less on his contract, which one might argue could improve his trade value a little bit because he's owed less money.

[SirKaiser]

Read on Twitter

?s=46

This statistic is hard to believe

I believe it. As a fan base I feel like we have short term memory, or selective memory of his play over the last 2-3 years. When he isn't hurt or making bone-headed plays because he's trying to do too much, the dude can ball like few others in the NBA.

Seems insane to me that we are so desperate to part with him that we would even consider attaching picks.

[ChettheJet]

He’s fully healthy right now but doesn’t mean he won’t get hurt again in the future. Proving you’re healthy for a short amount of time doesn’t matter.

Zach’s an injury prone player, whoever (if anyone) decides to trade for him knows this and would have to take a risk.

That's legit. Zach doesn't have the weak ankle that he aggravates every other year and misses games. Any team interested that somehow feels a couple of 2nd round picks eases their concerns is willing to trade for him either way. This prove he's healthy bi, he could be string for 30 games and get injured in #31 it would be pure chance who he is playing for in game #31. When healthy even on Bull's teams with little help he was an all star, with DeRozan he fell into the trap of he got his for three games now I'm going to get mine for a couple so it looks like my team.

That's what Zach needs to eliminate from his game. There's no denying that after a bad start when Zach was injured the Bulls made some kind of of improvements and got out from under that 5-19 start. He had to see that and come to the conclusion if when he returned if he bought into the move the ball, find the open shot and control the iso from Demar there were wins to be found.

Well Demar is gone so if a healthy Lavine can say to himself that if I eliminate the iso and with Giddey as the PG, Coby and Ayo becoming better playmakers, if I am willing to be one of the open shooters to stretch the floor, there will be wins to be had. So if he buys in and let's Billy decide who is in and how much Zach has two options. Get paid a lot to stay and with Coby, Patrick, Ayo, Smith be part of the shooting group, instead of needing to outscore everybody or he looks good and at some point another team thinks he's the scorer they are lacking and a deal appears.

[boundbymusic]

If he proves he's healthy and back to normal there will be partners. The cap is increasing every year. Look at some of these other deals being signed and Zach's money doesn't look AS bad as long as he's pre-injury Zach (and he waives his trade kicker).

He doesn't need to waive his trade kicker. It will have nominal to no effect whatsoever, because it can only gap-fill any difference between how much the cap has gone up vs. whether his 8% raises have kept up, which they basically have.

Noted.

It is amazing though, looking at his contract in comparison to others who have signed recently. You start comparing and it doesn't look nearly as bad as the media/twittersphere make it out to seem.

https://www.spotrac.com/nba/contracts/_/sort/average/dir/desc

[jnrjr79]

If he proves he's healthy and back to normal there will be partners. The cap is increasing every year. Look at some of these other deals being signed and Zach's money doesn't look AS bad as long as he's pre-injury Zach (and he waives his trade kicker).

He doesn't need to waive his trade kicker. It will have nominal to no effect whatsoever, because it can only gap-fill any difference between how much the cap has gone up vs. whether his 8% raises have kept up, which they basically have.

Noted.

It is amazing though, looking at his contract in comparison to others who have signed recently. You start comparing and it doesn't look nearly as bad as the media/twittersphere make it out to seem.

https://www.spotrac.com/nba/contracts/_/sort/average/dir/desc

Yeah, it sure seems like the Bulls are ready to move on no matter what, but you have to imagine Zach's market is going to improve if he can play well and stay healthy, because his deal is going to look not so expensive very soon.

[Hangtime84]

Zach deal will look very good to those teams who recently signed these rookies to max deals that underperform

[Chi town]

I have a feeling that AK is going to ruin the good moves so far this summer by trading Zach for bad contracts for reasons of locker room chemistry and "helping" us try to keep our pick next summer.

I think I'm going to be very disappointed when we trade a high level SG in his prime for trash.

… when we don’t need to

[Indomitable]

Zach wants to play on a good team. No good team is even in a position to take on Zach without offloading a huge amount of bad contracts. Chicago isn't going to make a trade that actually makes them worse. It seems that even Klutch understands this.

Overall, Zach and the Bulls are married to each other. Either Zach is going to have to play for the Bulls as is or he is going to have to fake injuries for the next few years. I get the impression that the Bulls are OK with either.

Then why do we keep hearing stupid trades. We are trying to attach assets to take back worst players .

If this is true. I need to become a real Nuggets or Spur fan.

My God does this team really to lack this much business acumen.

[Indomitable]

I thought KC reported that Zach didn't actually ask for a trade?

Zach knew that the Bulls have been shopping him (this is nothing new)
Bulls stood pat for the 3rd year in a row and began the season with a miserable 5-19 start
Zach told Bulls, "hey, since this is clearly not working and y'all are shopping me anyway, why don't we work together to find me a new team?" Bulls agreed.
Zach got injured, Bulls played better, no trade options can materialize because he's injured
Zach got cleared and tried to play a handful of games, but ultimately got injured again that led to surgery
Bulls continued to try to move him, but obviously no takers because he's still injured

To me, this is two sides trying to amicably work together to find a solution. Zach is not some locker room cancer that gives a "trade me or else" ultimatum like some of these other stars did. If he's not moved by the start of training camp, I think he's gonna remain professional like he always has.

Yeah originally I guess he didn’t officially ask for a trade but he clearly wants out. Even last season his body language during games showed us that he doesn’t care anymore.

KC also reported yesterday that both sides are motivated to get him traded. They are basically working together at this point to get it done.

They should focus more on Zach reintegrating into the new look Bulls. Then the rest will take care of itself. The Bulls are still to asset poor to be sending out assets just to move off of Zach’s contact.

Does that move help the team at all?

Nope. Bulls won’t be truly competitive for at least 2-3 years, and by that time, LaVine’s contract is either expiring or up. In the interim, losing Zach won’t provide for room for some quality FA or even a move where the Bulls would take on bad salary for an asset (because the Bulls have t shown any interest in doing that, ever).

Moving Zach for assets is one thing - that would help the team. But moving him even for a pure salary dump is unlikely to really have any benefit except to ownership’s wallets a little bit. Maybe an extra couple of losses towards a tank.

This is starting to feel petty and personal, like how things got with Thibs at the end. Not a good look for an org that already has a pretty bad reputation.

This is petty and childish. Make trades that make you better.

This team poisons every player

Jimmy bad guy
Lauri is not tough
Zach is bad


All these guys seemed liked or at least respected. The organization is a joke.