Getty Coby White and Nikola Vucevic react during a game between the Chicago Bulls and the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Over the last three games, Chicago Bulls guard Coby White has finally looked like a player who’s hitting his stride after an up-and-down run to start the campaign. In games against the Wizards, Thunder and Warriors, the former No. 7 overall pick averaged 15.7 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.3 steals with 55-56-100 shooting splits
Along the way, he was also one of only four Bulls players with positive net ratings.
Nevertheless, his future with the club continues to be in doubt. The baller entered the campaign without a contract extension and appears set to enter the summer as a restricted free agent (provided that the Bulls tender a qualifying offer). Nevertheless, ESPN’s NBA front office insider Bobby Marks can envision clubs kicking the tires on White trades ahead of the league’s February 9 deal-making deadline.
“White’s minutes have increased as of late and if the Bulls try and reboot their season, the former lottery pick should be a coveted guard,” Marks wrote in his latest breakdown of the upcoming deadline.
The former exec even went on to propose a trade involving the 22-year-old, as well as a former Bulls guard.
ESPN Trade Proposal Sees Coby White Land With the Phoenix Suns
Marks cited the following trade as the one he’d “like to see” from the Bulls in the aforementioned feature:
- Chicago Bulls receive G Cameron Payne and second-round picks in 2023 and 2025
- Phoenix Suns receive G Coby White
While the veteran Payne was having a strong season before a recent foot injury — starting in 14 of 28 games for Phoenix and averaging 12.1 PPG and 5.3 APG while hitting 37.8% of his triples — this move may be more about future assets and saving money than anything.
Although Payne is technically under contract for 2023-24, only $2 million of his $6.5 million salary is guaranteed. And Chicago could always use more picks after sending the moon and the stars to the Orlando Magic in the Nikola Vucevic deal two years ago.
On the other hand, Payne is a quality backup who could hold down the fort while Lonzo Ball is away — just as he has done at various junctures for Chris Paul in the Valley of the Sun. In any case, Marks doesn’t see much happening at all on the trade front unless it helps the Windy City crew now and later.
“Unless there is a trade that keeps the Bulls competitive and adds significant draft capital, the smart decision is to wait until the offseason before there are wholesale changes made.”
DeMar DeRozan Namechecked as Bulls’ ‘Best Blockbuster Trade Asset’
On Monday, Bleacher Report‘s Dan Favale put out his list of the best blockbuster-level trade assets for every team in the Association. Where the Bulls were concerned, the hoops scribe landed on the team’s go-to option in the clutch, DeMar DeRozan.
Wrote Favale:
It’ll take an incredibly specific trade partner for DeRozan to register as a blockbuster asset. He is someone the Bulls are more likely to move as part of their own selloff. But maybe they can find their own version of the Domantas Sabonis-for-Tyrese Haliburton established-vet-for-youthful-star deal, only on a more extreme level given that DeRozan turns 34 in August.