5 Ideal Trade Destinations for Chicago Bulls’ Zach LaVine
The NBA world moves fast, and players can be lost in the background quickly if they’re not dominating news cycles. Perhaps it’s the Chicago Bulls‘ mediocrity or their lack of implosion since losing him, but it feels like Zach LaVine has been cast to the wayside.
Those who don’t follow the Bulls might not even realize that he’s been lost to injury this season, assuming that he’s continued putting up big numbers for a middling squad.
In reality, LaVine was having his worst campaign in recent memory before he underwent season-ending foot surgery and the Bulls have since been marginally better without him. Since he went under the knife, Chicago has gone 14-12 to stay alive in the Play-In race.
The Bulls held onto LaVine through this season’s trade deadline but should be eager to move him soon in order to restock their war chest and make room for White’s continued development. He may have been having a relatively terrible season, but there should be at least a few teams interested in adding a scorer of LaVine’s caliber.
1Los Angeles Lakers
The Lakers are last in 3-pointers attempted per game with 30.9
If the Los Angeles Lakers make a meaningful run in the postseason this year, it’ll be due to their defense, and the star power of LeBron James and Anthony Davis. The fact of the matter is that the Lakers have one of the shakiest offenses in the NBA, especially on the perimeter.
ames has become a much improved deep shooter at this stage in his career, but his bread-and-butter is still attacking the paint. As for Davis, opposing defenses practically celebrate anytime he settles for a jumper. D’Angelo Russell has emerged as the perimeter scoring threat the Lakers have needed lately, but betting on him, a notoriously inconsistent shooter, to remain a steadfast sniper is optimistic, to say the least.
Trading for LaVine, whose stock has severely plummeted this season, would be the kind of high-risk, high-reward move that could give Los Angeles another championship with LeBron. It might even convince him to stick around long-term.
2Oklahoma City Thunder
The Thunder are projected to have over $41 million in cap space this summer
The Oklahoma City Thunder are expected to have money to spend this offseason, and the time to spend it is now before Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren are up for their extensions. They also have a Josh Giddey-sized hole in their starting lineup that could very well be the reason they fall short of winning it all this year.
Replacing Giddey with LaVine would take OKC to the next level, plugging in a dangerous off-ball weapon between Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s relentless rim pressure and Jalen Williams’s well-rounded complementary game. The Thunder also have the defensive talent necessary to cover for LaVine’s lapses on that end of the court.
OKC General Manager Sam Presti has more young prospects and draft picks than he knows what to do with. Sending a few of them to the Bulls in exchange for LaVine feels like it could be placing the final piece into the puzzle.
3Orlando Magic
The Magic are dead-last in 3-pointers made per game with 11.0.
With Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner, the Orlando Magic have one of the best forward combos in the league. Their guard rotation, on the other hand, is solid albeit uninspiring. The Magic have several guards that would make excellent sixth men on contending teams.
Orlando has steadily built a defensive juggernaut, loaded with size and tough-nosed effort across the roster. One of the few pieces that they’re missing is an absolute flamethrower: one that can create his own shot, score from all three levels, and command constant attention from opposing defenses.
Adding a perimeter scorer with LaVine’s stroke and first step would do wonders for the Magic’s spacing, freeing up the lane for Banchero and Wagner to punish defenses inside. Head Coach Jamahl Mosley has done a fantastic job generating offense around a roster hampered by poor outside shooting. Giving him a weapon like LaVine would be a sight to see.
4Miami Heat
The Heat have a 113.5 ORTG, 23rd in the NBA.
After falling short in the Finals for the second time in four seasons, the Miami Heat were desperate to add more self-sufficient scoring.
Damian Lillard saw the void of perimeter offense and demanded a trade to team up with Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo. Despite Lillard’s direct request, the Heat simply didn’t have the assets necessary to convince the Portland Trail Blazers to deal with them.
With their big mid-season acquisition in Terry Rozier struggling and Tyler Herro failing to take the leap, the Heat still have the same weakness they did when they lost to the Denver Nuggets in the Finals. While their trade package wasn’t enough to land Lillard — one of the NBA’s 75 greatest players ever — it should be more than enough for LaVine after a down season.
LaVine is a couple of tiers below Lillard as a scorer and creator, but he’s more than serviceable enough to take Miami over the hump. Playing in the infamous Heat Culture might even turn him into the best version of himself, which could take the Heat from dangerous underdogs to one of the favorites in the East.
5New York Knicks
Since acquiring Anunoby, the Knicks are tied for the best DRTG in the NBA at 108.7.
The New York Knicks might not need Zach LaVine. Since adding OG Anunoby, they’ve seemed unbeatable, as they’ve gone 15-2 with him in the lineup. If they don’t make it out of the East in these playoffs, it’ll likely be because they were outgunned, rather than their defense failing them.
Anunoby has transformed New York’s defense, even with premier rim protector Mitchell Robinson going down for the year. Unfortunately, the former Toronto Raptor just doesn’t have the offensive juice to be the third option on a title team.
Adding LaVine would give the Knicks that tertiary scorer they need behind Jalen Brunson and Julius Randle. Like the Thunder, New York has more than enough defensive grit to balance out LaVine’s weaknesses on that end.
