While a report surfaced on Friday morning that said Zach LaVine hopes to ride things out in Chicago, that is not going to stop the rumors.
Arturas Karnisovas ultimately holds all the cards, and the Bulls have made clear in recent weeks that they are open for business. Could this change as the trade deadline approaches? It’s always a possibility with this front office, which has sat out three consecutive trade deadlines. But there seems to finally be a growing sense of urgency to get something done, and ESPN echoed that in their recent intel piece.
Brian Windhorst and Tim Bontemps have reported that multiple rival executives have shared that Chicago is “seeking change.” While that leaves a lot of room for interpretation, the two did go on to reiterate Shams Charania’s report from earlier in the week about the Bulls taking offers on LaVine and Vucevic. More specifically, they said LaVine’s name has come up in conversations regarding the potential mega-deal for Jimmy Butler:
“The Bulls have also made it known they will take offers on both Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic, sources said, with LaVine being linked to various permutations of extremely complicated multiteam Butler trades and Vucevic being linked to the Warriors and others, according to our ESPN colleague Shams Charania,” Windhorst and Bontemps wrote.
For what it’s worth, we speculated that this could happen earlier in the week. Not only might it be in a rebuilding team’s best interest to get in on a deal like this and add future assets, but LaVine’s hefty contract could help make the finances work. Is that to say we should expect him to be a part of this deal if it gets done? Not at all, but it’s not particularly shocking that his name has come up in “various permutations.”
But Wait … There Are More Zach LaVine Rumors!
Whether it be via this mega deal or a separate transaction, the Milwaukee Bucks have become a speculated landing spot for LaVine. The chatter initially started in a lengthy intel piece by The Athletic earlier this week:
“Per league sources, the Bucks’ motives would be two-fold: Cut enough salary from their payroll to get under the second apron — the only way the Bucks can legally complete a trade while aggregating contracts — and also add a talented, highly paid player to play next to Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard, the NBA’s top scoring duo. Whether that would be Beal, or perhaps a star like Chicago’s Zach LaVine, in other potential scenarios remains to be seen,” The Athletic shared.
Sam Vecenie went on to make an even more direct comment about the Bucks’ potential interest in his NBA Trade Board:
“The Bucks are thought to be on the periphery of the Butler trade discussions by other teams and are thought to have interest in at least exploring what deals could look like for Butler, Zach LaVine and Bradley Beal,” Vecenie wrote.
I mean … that’s not nothing! A case can surely be made that LaVine makes the most sense out of those options. He is the cheapest AND youngest of the three. Even more importantly, he is playing by far the best basketball of the three! The only problem is that this could mean he costs the most, and Milwaukee is paper-thin when it comes to tradable assets. They would also have to move on from Khris Middleton in any deal, which (1) may be easier said than done and (2) might not be the easiest pill to swallow for Giannis Antetokounmpo.
The Bucks aren’t the only ones showing a newfound interest in LaVine, however. If the Phoenix Suns can’t land Jimmy Butler, it sounds like they could turn their attention to the sharpshooter.
Here is what Jake Fischer of The Stein Line reported on Friday:
“Sources say Phoenix, to name one example, could emerge with interest in exploring a swap of Bradley Beal for LaVine, sources said, depending on how the rest of the trade landscape develops in the coming weeks.”
You can subscribe to The Stein Line Substack here.
So … I absolutely hate everything about this idea! Why in the world would the Bulls accept a worse and more expensive version of LaVine? Bradley Beal is set to make roughly $111.0 million over the next two seasons. Even if the Bulls are open to eating bad salaries as they embark on a rebuild, they would need SIGNIFICANT compensation for taking Beal’s deal. This is particularly true when we consider he isn’t likely to become someone the Bulls can easily flip down the road and would still possess his no-trade clause.
If the Bulls are landing something like first-round picks in the deal, I’d have to consider it. But, if that isn’t what is on the table, I’d rather have them keep LaVine and look for a better move in the offseason.
Anyhow, this all goes to show how much can change as the trade deadline approaches. We heard for weeks that there was no market for the NBA’s third-leading scorer in 2025, but here we are. No one should be surprised if even more teams emerge as possible suitors over the next handful of days. We’ll keep you updated!