Wild Trade Proposal Sees Bulls Land $194 Million Superstar, Move 3 Key Players

DeMar DeRozan, Chicago Bulls

Getty DeMar DeRozan, Chicago Bulls

The Chicago Bulls need to make a drastic change if they want to be seen as genuine championship contenders.

Luckily, Bleacher Report’s Greg Swartz may have the answer, as his recent trade proposal lands the Brooklyn Nets superstar forward Kevin Durant in Chicago – a move that would instantly propel the Bulls towards the top of the Eastern Conference.

Swartz’s trade proposal looks like this:

Chicago Bulls Get: Kevin Durant, Kessler Edwards

Brooklyn Nets Get: DeMar DeRozan, Patrick Williams, Coby White, a 2023 first-round draft picks via the Portland Trail Blazers, a 2027 first-round draft pick, and a 2029 first-round draft pick.

“On paper, eight East teams could be better than the Bulls, especially with Donovan Mitchell joining the Cleveland Cavaliers and Dejounte Murray moving to the Atlanta Hawks. Durant in Chicago would certainly change that. If the 12-time All-Star decides he wants out of Brooklyn again, the Bulls can offer the Nets a collection of win-now talent and future draft picks,” Swartz wrote on September 20.

While the price to acquire Durant would be steep, adding a superstar talent to a core that would still include Lonzo Ball, Zach LaVine, and Nikola Vucevic would surely be the type of groundbreaking trade that Chicago needs in order to compete in an ever-improving conference.

Furthermore, Durant is one of only a handful of players that would be a legitimate upgrade over DeRozan in terms of scoring – especially in the clutch, while his playmaking ability and elite-level defense would also provide a significant boost to a Chicago team that fell far too short last season.


Durant Happy to Remain in Brooklyn

The majority of the 2022 off-season has been dominated by Kevin Durant’s trade request following the Net’s getting swept in the playoffs by the Boston Celtics, and also the situation surrounding superstar point guard Kyrie Irving.

However, on August 23, The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported that Durant and Brooklyn’s ownership team had sat down and decided the best course of action was for Durant to remain with the Nets and re-commit to the project they’re building together.

“Steve Nash, Joe Tsai, and Sean Marks met with Kevin Durant and Rich Kleiman in Los Angeles on Monday and have decided to move forward with the partnership, Nets say,” Charania tweeted.

Durant played in 55 regular-season games for the Nets last season, averaging 29.9 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 6.4 assists per contest while shooting 38.3% from deep and 56.8% from two-point range.


Durant’s Contract Extends Chicago’s Window

One of the biggest issues when constructing a team full of veteran talent is that your window for contention is incredibly short, especially when some of those veteran players don’t have long to run on their current contracts.

Currently, DeRozan has another two years remaining on his $81 million deal, meaning he would become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the 2023-24 NBA season – and while that seems far away, it’s only two seasons, and that places incredible pressure upon the front office to get things right immediately.

Alternatively, Durant has four years left on his $194 Million deal, which would give the Bulls an additional two years of a superstar on their roster, thus increasing the front office’s flexibility to continue building a roster capable of competing for a championship.

So, if Chicago isn’t convinced their current rotation can win a championship, adding both Durant and Edwards could give them the additional firepower they need to push for a deep run this season and then build on that with a championship run in the near future – after all, one Lonzo Ball is healthy, and the Bulls are in full swing, anything is possible.

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