Getty Lonzo Ball #2 of the Chicago Bulls.
The Chicago Bulls are coming off their third loss of the season, a 114-105 defeat at the hands of the short-handed Dallas Mavericks who were missing Kyrie Irving. Their season already began with a players-only meeting after losing the opener.
Time may be running out for the current core to figure it out. The Bulls may want to look into swinging a trade.
“A blowout loss in the home opener that sparked a players-only meeting wasn’t exactly the start to the season that Chicago had in mind,” wrote Greg Swartz of Bleacher Report on November 1. “The Wizards could help bring some peace and harmony to the Bulls, who have a lot of talent if the right floor general can bring it together.”
Swartz suggests targeting Tyus Jones and Danilo Gallinari of the Washington Wizards.
Bulls get:
– Danilo Gallinari
– Tyus Jones
Wizards get:
– Lonzo Ball
– Dalen Terry
– 2024 first-round pick (lottery-protected via POR)
– 2028 second-round pick
– 2029 second-round pick
Tyus Jones a ‘Stable Veteran’
“Jones … looks exactly like the kind of stable veteran whom the Memphis Grizzlies relied on the last four years,” Swartz continued. “Trading Jones would only help the Wizards’ tanking efforts as well.”
The 27-year-old point guard, Jones, is in the final year of a two-year, $29 million contract. He is averaging 11.8 points and shooting 36.8% from beyond the arc with 5.8 assists, 2.3 rebounds, and 1.3 steals this season. Chicago was linked to Jones in trade rumors before last season’s trade deadline. The Wizards ultimately acquired him from the Grizzlies at the deadline in February.
He would be joining an already crowded point guard rotation with starter Coby White and back Jevon Carter, among others, getting minutes there for the Bulls.
“The Bulls would also add Gallinari as a floor-spacing veteran forward,” Swartz wrote.
Gallinari, 35, is averaging 8.0 points and 2.5 rebounds while shooting 40% from three. He is in the final year of a two-year, $13.3 million pact and considered signing with the Bulls ahead of last season before inking a deal with the Boston Celtics.
Bulls Getting Nothing From Lonzo Ball, Dalen Terry Now
Ball, 26, has not played since January 14, 2022, and will miss the entire 2023-24 campaign if not longer. He had the third surgery of his Bulls tenure on his knee in March, a ligament transplant that was done as much for his quality of life as it was to get him back on the basketball court.
He is in the third year of a four-year, $80 million contract and would be salary-filler for the Bulls’ purposes. The Wizards could view him as a lottery ticket while they bottom out.
Terry, the No. 18 overall pick in the 2022 draft, is averaging 1.5 points and 1.0 assists this year.
Despite his draft pedigree, he has yet to make much of an impact on the NBA level. Even in summer league an anonymous team source noted the disappointment that he had not shown any the kind of improvement they had hoped for.
Even trading the first-round pick would be of no true cost to the Bulls. The Portland Trail Blazers are also in the early rebuilding stages. That greatly reduces the likelihood the pick conveys before turning into a second-round pick in 2028.