Getty Coby White #0 of the Chicago Bulls participates in warmups
The price tag on Chicago Bulls trade target, Detroit Pistons forward Jerami Grant, should be right in the Bulls’ comfort zone, says Bleacher Report’s Greg Swartz.
In his piece, “1 Trade Every Playoff Team Wishes It Could Make”, Swartz asserts that Grant is just what the Bulls need for a simple reason.
“Chicago needs immediate help…with DeMar DeRozan set to turn 33 this summer.”
He was not just talking about in general, though. Swartz thinks Grant would have been perfect for the Bulls in their first-round series against the Milwaukee Bucks.
The Bulls fell behind 1-0 in the series following their 93-86 loss to the defending champs in their series opener. Giannis Antetokounmpo had 27 points and 16 rebounds while shooting 52.6% from the floor.
Grant, Swartz says, can help with some of that adding that the Bulls should not have to give up their most-promising piece to get him.
Standing Pat
The Bulls had an interest in Grant at this season’s trade deadline but were reluctant to hand over second-year forward Patrick Williams. Williams teased his tremendous potential with 35 points in the regular-season finale.
That performance did not draw universal praise and his first playoff game is a good example of why.
Williams finished with five points on just three shot attempts in a game where his team’s losing margin was single-digits. Still, Williams’ ceiling is why the Pistons have held out hope that the Bulls would cave and include him in a package for Grant.
That might be asking a lot now as Swartz proposes sending third-year guard Coby White, forward Derrick Jones Jr, and a first-round pick.
“Now down to just one year left on his contract, Detroit should be happy with a return headlined by White and Chicago’s first-round pick for Grant. Asking for Williams would be too much, especially with Grant hitting free agency in 2023.”
JERAMI 🤯 GRANT 🤯
The 2023 offseason is an important one for the Bulls already. Both White and second-round rookie Ayo Dosunmu will be restricted free agents and the latter’s emergence has made the former expendable.
An Eastern Conference executive told Heavy’s Sean Deveney the Bulls had enough to land “Bradley Beal or a player of that caliber” with a package featuring White and embattled big man Nikola Vucevic, who had 24 points, 17 boards, and three assists with two bocks in Game 1 versus Milwaukee.
Giannis Stopper
Grant has a 4-13 record against Antetokounmpo in his career. He won 4-of-5 head-to-head matchups from 2017 to 2019 spanning tenures with the Oklahoma City Thunder and Denver Nuggets.
Antetokounmpo’s Bucks have won the last five matchups in a row.
Wins and losses are team metrics, though, and Swartz provided some individual numbers for context.
“Antetokounmpo is shooting just 4-of-11 overall (36.4 percent) with three turnovers when Grant is the primary defender this season, per NBA.com’s tracking data. While Grant isn’t nearly as strong, he’s got good size at 6’8″ and 210 pounds and moves well enough to help cut off driving lanes and force players like Antetokounmpo into tough shots, something the Bulls need in this series.”
The Bulls kept Antetokounmpo scoreless in the fourth quarter. But he took just one attempt in his seven minutes. He was 10-of-18 from the floor against his top four defenders – Williams (4-for-7), Javonte Green (2-for-2), Nikola Vuceic (2-for-5), and Alex Caruso (2-for-4).
By now, the Bulls’ affinity for Grant is well-documented. But his success when guarding the player aptly named the “Greek Freak” is not discussed as frequently.
White was drafted with the seventh-overall pick in 2019 but that was by a different front office. Arturas Karnisovas, the Bulls’ vice president of basketball operations, has already moved on from all but two players from his predecessor John Paxson‘s tenure — White and Zach LaVine.
The former North Carolina Tar Heel averaged 12.7 points on 56.4% true shooting in the regular season.
Swartz’s take on the cost adds another layer of intrigue.
Big Snag
This proposal from Swartz keeps Williams and Vucevic in town while giving the Bulls a versatile wing the likes of which they don’t currently have as a proven scorer and defender – one that can be a long-term fixture next to free-agent-to-be Zach LaVine.
Grant averaged 19.2 points per game on 55.6% true shooting for Detroit this season.
There is the matter of the first-round pick Swartz mentions. The Bulls cannot trade their first-round pick until 2028 due to the league’s Stepien Rule, per CBS Sports’ Sam Quinn.
“The Bulls are not guaranteed a first-round pick in any season between 2023 and 2028, preventing them from trading any of their own first-round picks in the allowable seven-year period.”
Quinn notes that they can trade the lottery-protected first-round pick from the Portland Trail Blazers. But that will not convey this season and there is no guarantee it will convey next year either as it carries the same lottery protections until 2028.
Portland finished with the sixth-worst record in the NBA, albeit, with Damian Lillard missing 53 games this season.
Chicago could make their selection — which will be 18th overall after they won a tie-breaker drawing — and ship the player off in a trade similar to how they acquired now-Cleveland Cavaliers forward, Lauri Markkanen in the draft-night deal that also brought LaVine to Chicago.
They would also need Jones to agree to a sign-and-trade as he will be an unrestricted free agent this summer. At his current $9.7 million salary, the money would not work meaning the Bulls would have to add in another player to satisfy the NBA’s salary matching rules.
There are still a lot of ways this situation can go, and the Bulls are surely more focused on trying to get a win in Game 2. But the calls for a major Bulls trade are only growing in number and volume.