Bulls Roster & Starting Lineup vs. Pacers After Justin Holiday Trade

Zach LaVine

Getty Chicago Bulls guard Zach LaVine

The Chicago Bulls had been rumored to be on the verge of trading forward Justin Holiday for the past few weeks. On Thursday, that deal happened as the veteran was sent to the Memphis Grizzlies. The Bulls will now shift their attention to Friday’s game against the Indiana Pacers with a new-look group.

Chicago’s trade which sent Holiday to the Grizzlies brought back guard MarShon Brooks and guard/forward Wayne Selden as well as two second-round picks, per NBA.com. The Bulls also waived guard Cameron Payne, and as Shams Charania of The Athletic revealed, they will now look to potentially trade Brooks.

Let’s take a look at the Bulls roster and starting lineup against the Pacers Friday, which will feature Chandler Hutchinson moving into the first five.


Bulls Roster & Starting Lineup vs. Pacers

*Notates expected starter

C: Wendell Carter*, Robin Lopez, Cristiano Felicio
PF: Lauri Markkanen*, Jabari Parker
SF: Chandler Hutchinson*
SG: Zach LaVine*, Antonio Blakeney, Rawle Alkins
PG: Kris Dunn*, Shaquille Harrison, Ryan Arcidiacono

The Bulls are also without Bobby Portis tonight, who’s dealing with a sprained ankle. In turn, they’re left incredibly thin at the forward positions which could lead to more small-ball lineups. Names like Shaquille Harrison and potentially Antonio Blakeney could see a slight boost in minutes.

Wayne Selden does not seem to be expected to suit up for his new team tonight, so that’ll only add to the open up minutes across the board. Hutchinson specifically could wind up seeing his largest workload of the season.

It’s been tough to gauge how the Bulls could approach their rotation moving forward, but Harrison played 26 minutes in a blowout loss to the Orlando Magic on Wednesday. Of the six games prior, he received 22 or more minutes in all but one, leave him as a solid candidate for an increased workload.


Bulls’ Current Team Outlook

The trade was almost certainly a deal to begin retooling the roster, but Chicago is dealing with various injuries and plenty of drama currently. New coach Jim Boylen has had no problem ruffling feathers and has benched free-agent signing Jabari Parker. At this point, it seems like the Bulls, who sit at 10-28 currently, could very well trade Parker sooner than later.

In what’s been a tough season where the team didn’t have Lauri Markkanen to start the year and Kris Dunn missed extended time, both players are now healthy, but it’s only helped minimally. Portis has battled injuries while Denzel Valentine was ruled out for the year due to ankle surgery.

To make things even worse, Zach LaVine has led the way with 23.3 points per game, but his production outside of scoring has dipped. After filling up the box score with assists and rebounds early in the year, LaVine has failed to top three assists or rebounds in any of the past four games.

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