Getty DeMar DeRozan #11 of the Chicago Bulls.
The Chicago Bulls seemed to be on the verge of making an addition to their beleaguered roster ahead of the February 9 trade deadline.
“The Knicks have also spoken to the Hornets and Bulls in recent days,” writes Sam Amico of Hoops Wire adding, “with [Cam] Reddish and New York draft picks being discussed in both conversations, sources told Hoops Wire.”
Despite registering interest, the Bulls watched as Reddish was traded to the Portland Trail Blazers in exchange for wing Josh Hart.
Reddish was drafted 10th overall in 2019, three picks after the Bulls selected Coby White.
The 23-year-old has seen his career go a bit sideways since showing well in the 2021 postseason for the Atlanta Hawks and, specifically, in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Milwaukee Bucks averaging 12.8 points on 66.8% true shooting with 3.5 rebounds, 1.8 assists, and 1.5 steals while also knocking down 64.3% of his triples.
This season, he has averaged just 8.4 points on 55.8% true shooting adding 1.6 boards and 1.0 assists.
Tuff Bucket! @camreddish
“He’s good,” Knicks head coach – and former Bulls boss from their last playoff contending team – Tom Thibodeau said following Knicks practice on December 6 via the team’s YouTube channel. “He’s in working. And that’s all he can do. Come in, have the right attitude and right approach. Concentrate on improving. Rarely is anything ever permanent. When another opportunity comes, be ready.”
He has recorded 33 consecutive DNPs out of Thibodeau’s rotation.
New York traded a 2024 lottery-protected first-round pick (via the Charlotte Hornets) along with forward Kevin Knox – a former top-10 pick in the 2018 draft cycle – to the Atlanta Hawks for Reddish who had asked to be traded during that postseason run and veteran Solomon Hill. But his tenure in New York was doomed from the start with Marc Berman of the New York Post reporting that Thibodeau was not exactly a fan.
“Word around the league is when Knicks president Leon Rose moved to strike a deal with Atlanta on Jan. 15, the head coach wasn’t all-in on the move.”
It seems to have only devolved from there.
“At one point before that Dec. 4 game, Reddish expressed displeasure to a Knick assistant coach about the way Thibodeau was using him, per people familiar with the matter,” reported Ian Begley of SportsNet New York on February 2. “Reddish has not played since he expressed that displeasure.
“Does that factor in to why Thibodeau has kept Reddish out of the rotation? I don’t know the answer to that question.”
The Knicks, Begley notes, also went on an eight-game winning streak after that so perhaps they just wanted to stick with what was working. Or maybe the old-school coach in Thibodeau – who is notorious for riding his starters to heavy minutes – is to blame.
“[Reddish] has made no impact because Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau won’t find a spot in his tight rotation for the former Duke star,” writes Berman.
According to Begley, New York has also had talks with the Denver Nuggets and Detroit Pistons while Amico adds the Charlotte Hornets have also been involved. But it is the wording of the report that might be the notable aspect beyond the Bulls showing interest in a player they have been linked to for years now.
What Bulls Could Have Traded to Knicks for Cam Reddish
The Bulls are limited in tradeable assets and they are said to still want to contend. With that in mind, there are some dots to connect on who else may or may not be involved from the Bulls’ side, which could be informative for fleshing out the bones of a potential deal.
Reddish is in the final year of his rookie deal earning $5.9 million this season before hitting restricted free agency next summer while his qualifying offer would be $8.1 million, per Spotrac.
Chicago has several contracts in that range that it could move in a deal but not all of them make sense and Amico’s point about the Knicks’ picks being discussed suggest they are either looking to dump salary which Reddish’s deal doesn’t exactly qualify for and the Knicks are set to be $10 million below the luxury tax line next season as it stands.
However, previous reports have the Knicks interested in two Bulls players in particular: Alex Caruso and Zach LaVine each of whom has been on the Knicks’ radar per reports and brings widely different skill sets.
They would also command vastly different trade packages.
Caruso, 28, is in the second year of an economical four-year, $36.9 million deal. He is averaging a modest line with 5.6 points, 3.3 assists, and 3.1 boards. But he is also shooting 39% from deep and leads the team in net efficiency differential, per Cleaning The Glass. If there is a knock, it’s that his offensive output is limited – he has scored double-digit points just 19 times in 87 games (20 points just once) with the Bulls, though his offense is not the reason he is in demand.
But he has also had to have his minutes managed with a lengthy injury history having missed half of last season and has had to sit out of eight contests this season.
Still, his deal was the cleanest fit among the Bulls players they would conceivably trade.
LaVine, also 28, is in Year 1 of a five-year, $215 million deal that made him the highest-paid player in Bulls franchise history. Moving on from him so soon could be viewed as the organization regretting its decision to pay him this summer resulting in another black eye. To this point, there has been no such indication with most reports pointing in the other direction.
Bulls Holding Firm on Theme of Continuity
“With his publicly stated goal of winning a playoff round, a minor “buy” move is more in the cards before Thursday than a major “sell” move,” explains K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago.
And yet trading for LaVine would have been more in line with the Knicks’ perpetual star search and, assuming the deal is right given the assets they possess, could go a long way toward replenishing the Bulls’ coffers.
.@DannyParkins will be “furious” if the #Bulls buy (with the short-term in mind) ahead of the trade deadline Thursday afternoon.
“I don’t see the argument for it,” he says.
Listen to full segment: t.co/nngiZfpjLb
Bulls executive vice president of basketball operations Karnisovas is notoriously tight-lipped with his plans – trades for DeMar DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic both came out of nowhere – so we likely will not know what these talks are about in full until a deal happens — that is if one does at all.