Getty DeMar DeRozan looks on prior to a game between the Chicago Bulls and the Golden State Warriors.
Make no mistake — the Chicago Bulls‘ 2022-23 season has been a one-step-forward, two-steps-back proposition through the team’s first 23 games. Despite the absence of Lonzo Ball, the team was able to hover around the .500 mark through the first month of the campaign. And just a couple of weeks ago, Billy Donovan’s crew reeled off back-to-back wins over the East-leading Celtics and Bucks.
Flash forward to now, though, and the Bulls are in the midst of a three-game losing streak and stuck in the No. 12 spot on the conference table. Moreover, the offense that was their better half in 2021-22 is currently the sixth-worst league-wide, scoring just 109.5 points per 100 possessions.
So, it should come as no surprise that disgruntled fans and armchair GMs are already dreaming up ways to break up the team.
In the event that Arturas Karnisovas and Co. did decide to transition into a reboot, one can’t help but wonder who the Bulls’ best trade asset would be in terms of netting a big return. To that end, one team insider’s best guess as to which baller would bring back the best compensation may just surprise you.
Johnson: DeRozan Would Net Biggest Prize
For his latest Bulls mailbag feature for NBC Sports Chicago, longtime team beat writer KC Johnson was probed for his thoughts on the club’s trade possibilities. Where garnering the greatest possible return was concerned, it wasn’t franchise cornerstone Zach LaVine or blue-chipper Patrick Williams that he namechecked as the player to watch.
Rather, it was the mid-range maestro himself, 33-year-old DeMar DeRozan.
Wrote Johnson: “DeRozan would net the most return because if a team is trading for him, they have control for the season after this one, acquire his Bird rights and obviously would be doing so for a title push.”
While he hasn’t quite reached the darkhorse-MVP-candidate level he achieved last season, DeRozan has undeniably been the Bulls’ best player in 2022-23. Over 23 appearances, the five-time All-Star has averaged 25.5 points, 4.7 assists and 4.4 rebounds per contest and connected on 50.2% of his field-goal attempts.
As it happens, DeRozan’s name is already making the rounds on the rumor mill. According to ESPN’s Zach Lowe, the Los Angeles Lakers have “100% for sure” had “internal discussions about that very possibility.”
Who Actually Would/Could Be on the Move, Though?
While Johnson makes a strong case for DeRozan being the guy to bring back the best package in a potential deal, he doesn’t necessarily see the vet being the guy the Bulls would look to deal or the one most likely to be dealt.
In the former category, Johnson went with the no-brainer choice in Nikola Vucevic, who hasn’t quite provided the boost the team was hoping for when it dealt multiple high-level assets to get him back in 2021.
Wrote Johnson: “Under the assumption that the current situation holds and management starts trying to trade assets, I think they start with the expiring salary first, making Vucevic the most likely to move, if anyone.”
Meanwhile, Johnson opined that role-player extraordinaire Alex Caruso would be the easiest player for Chicago to unload.