Getty Alex Caruso #6 of the Chicago Bulls.
The Chicago Bulls have some difficult decisions to make be it free agency or in a trade.
There is more than whether or not they want to re-sign DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine. The Bulls also have to figure out how to flesh out their roster. They had just two players standing taller than 6-foot-8 available in 2023-24.
A potential search for size could see them cross paths with a division rival in a deal that would see the two sides swap former championship contributors.
“From the Bulls’ side of the deal, they need to hit the reset button on this core,” Brew Hoops’ Jackson Gross wrote on June 8. “Outside of a miracle season from Lonzo Ball and Zach Lavine, the Bulls are clearly a team whose ceiling is first-round exit, second-round if they get lucky.”
Gross suggested a trade package for Alex Caruso.
The hypothetical deal would send the Bulls fan favorite to the Milwaukee Bucks for a package featuring Bobby Portis.
Bulls get:
– Bobby Portis
– MarJon Beauchamp
– 2024 first-round pick (No. 23 via NOP)
Bucks get:
– Alex Caruso
“Dealing Caruso for Portis (who they can trade at the deadline for more pieces), a young player who needs a change of scenery in Beauchamp, and another first-rounder they can either use to select a player or trade up is what this team needs to do in order to build an actual contender,” Gross wrote.
Bulls executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas admitted the current roster is not good enough during his season-ending press conference. He vowed to make changes to the roster, though Caruso has long been a favorite of the organization.
This would be a reunion for the Bulls and Portis should he remain in such a scenario.
Bulls ‘Blindsided’ Bobby Portis in 2019
Portis, 29, averaged 13.8 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 1.3 assists while shooting 40.7% from beyond the arc for the Bucks this past season. Like Caruso, he has been a valued contributor off the bench, finishing in the top 10 in Sixth Man of the Year voting three times in four years.
He also answers the bell when called upon to start, averaging 19.5 points, 8.5 rebounds, and 1.8 assists in his four such appearances in 2023-24. He has a 14.3/9.1/1.4 career line as a starter.
Portis was also a key contributor to the Bucks’ championship run in 2020-21.
Portis is heading into the third year of a four-year, $48.6 million contract. He will count for $12.6 million against the salary cap in 2024-25 and has a player option for the 2025-26 season.
That could be the impetus to move him in a subsequent deal even though he could help the Bulls. It is also unclear if he would want to return to the franchise that drafted him. The Bulls selected Portis with the No. 22 overall in the 2015 draft.
They traded him to the Washington Wizards in 2019 after a fight with a teammate Nikola Mirotic.
He told TMZ Sports he was “disappointed” and “blindsided” by the trade in 2019. That was several seasons ago with a different front office. But Portis always plays well against the Bulls.
Beauchamp took a step back last season. The former G League Ignite star averaged 4.4 points and 2.1 rebounds last season after posting 5.1 PPG and 2.2 RPG the season before. He did improve his three-point shooting from 33.1% as a rookie to 40% in his second go-round.
However, his volume went from 2.7 attempts per game in 2022-23 to 1.6 attempts in 2023-24.
Bulls Do Not Want to Trade Caruso
Caruso, 30, won a title with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2019-20. He set career bests with 10.1 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 1.0 blocks last season, adding 3.5 assists and tying a career-best with 1.7 steals. He shot 40.8% on a career-best 7.6 threes per game.
Caruso won the 2023-24 NBA Hustle award. He is also a back-to-back All-Defensive pick. He earned First Team honors in 2023-24 and was voted to the Second Team this past season.
The Bulls also want to extend Caruso, turning down trade inquiries at the deadline.
“Unless a team comes in with an offer the Bulls can’t refuse, Caruso isn’t going anywhere,” the Chicago Sun-Times’ Joe Cowley wrote on February 2. “The hope is the two sides can try working on an extension this summer.”
No one is more deserving of the NBA’s Hustle Award than Alex Caruso 👏
The Bulls are 91-88 with Caruso in the lineup since they signed him in 2021-22. He is heading into the final year of a four-year, $36.9 million contract.
This deal would add roughly $5.4 million to the Bulls’ bottom line.
They have $40 million-plus in space under the first luxury tax apron, per Spotrac. That will change if they re-sign DeRozan and Patrick Williams as expected. They could also continue to struggle to find a taker for LaVine in a trade since he played in just 25 games last season.
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Bulls Pitch Trades Alex Caruso for Package Including $48 Million Fellow Champion