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As it stands, no one in the Chicago Bulls (25-27) locker room is letting the fast-approaching trade deadline affect their play on the court. This is according to two-time All-Star guard Zach LaVine.
“Nothing new for me,” LaVine said per NBC Sports Chicago Bulls insider K.C. Johnson. “Nine years of dealing with this. Play the next day. Practice. See what happens…Nobody is paying really big attention to it, unless they’re having private discussions they don’t want to share with the team. But I think it’s a little bit more what’s going on outside the locker room and outside the team and the media makes it a bigger deal than it is.”
LaVine – who was traded to the Bulls in 2017 – has brushed aside questions about the Bulls’ roster and the trade deadline in recent weeks. For what it’s worth, the Bulls continue to resist putting the 28-year-old on the block according to ESPN’s Jamal Collier but that does not mean that teams – or rather their respective fans – are not intent on making something happen.
This is nothing new indeed for LaVine or the Bulls who dealt with rampant speculation during what turned out to be an uneventful venture into unrestricted free agency by LaVine in which he never even met with prospective teams.
Still, the Los Angeles Lakers, Portland Trail Blazers, Miami Heat, and even the Dallas Mavericks long before they were in the running for Irving were linked to the two-time Slam Dunk champ.
The calls from Laker Nation continue to be among the loudest.
But, now that they have a void fit for another star next to Kevin Durant, the Nets are looming even larger than they may have previously been.
Brooklyn got former Net Spencer Dinwiddie along with defensive ace forward Dorian Finney-Smith, an unprotected first-round pick in 2029, and a pair of second-rounders (2027-2029).
Outside of that, they have another pair of firsts that they can move, emerging big man Nic Claxton, and at least one intriguing young piece in Cam Thomas. Backup center Day’Ron Sharpe could probably be included in that conversation too in the right situation but, other than that, the Nets’ assets are limited in appeal for what the Bulls would be if they moved LaVine.
After inking the former Minnesota Timberwolves star to a five-year, $215 million max deal this past offseason, moving him so soon would signal quite the reset barring the right return.
The Nets do not currently figure to possess the necessary assets to make that offer.
Zach LaVine’s Resurgence
LaVine has bounced back quite nicely from his slow start to the regular season following offseason knee surgery that he admitted kept him from being at his best. His play certainly shows it.
He averaged 21.8 points on 55.8% true shooting over his first 25 appearances missing four games in the process. Those are fine numbers – especially when adding in his 4.4 rebounds, 4.1 assists, and 1.2 steals – but still far below the expectation created by the bar he has set, particularly over the last two seasons.
“I didn’t feel like I played at an All-Star level at the beginning of the season,” Lavine told Johnson. “That’s coming back off of injury. I started slow and then started picking it up. I am where I’m supposed to be at. I know who I am as a player. I think the league knows that too.”
Since then, LaVine has averaged 25.7 points on 62.3% true shooting with 5.3 boards, 4.3 assists, and 1.0 steals while appearing in every one of the Bulls’ 23 games in that span. His hefty contract and injury history were thought to be severely prohibitive to his trade value. The money was never as bad as some suggested and will look even better if he continues to round into his All-Star-level of production.
But that would likely keep him in Chicago rather than see him shipped out.
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