Derrick Rose had interest in coming back to the Chicago Bulls during the summer of 2019. However, the franchise chose to sign Tomas Satoranksy instead and Rose joined the rival Detroit Pistons on a two-year deal.
Before the 2019-20 season was suspended in March, Rose was arguably the best player for the Pistons. He averaged 18.1 points and 5.6 assists while making a $7,317,073 salary.
Meanwhile, Satoranksy put up 9.9 points, 3.9 rebounds and 5.4 assists per game for the Bulls prior to Rudy Gobert's positive COVID-19 test. Chicago was paying him $10 million to put up lesser numbers than Rose.
Since the Bulls need another explosive scorer to take the pressure off shooting guard Zach LaVine, it makes sense for Chicago to attempt to trade for Rose whenever the 2020 offseason period officially begins.
With that said, here are three trades new Bulls executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas can make to bring Rose back home.
1. Bulls send Tomas Satoransky and a first-round pick to the Pistons for Derrick Rose
Chicago signed Satoransky to a three-year, $30 million deal as part of a sign-and-trade deal. The Bulls were paying Satoransky more than Rose in 2019-20 and getting less production.
Health will always be a question mark with Rose since he has undergone four knee surgeries since winning MVP with the Bulls in 2011. However, because the Bulls have Coby White on the roster, Chicago could manage Rose's minutes efficiently, similar to how the Pistons used him in 2019-20.
Rose only averaged 26.0 minutes per game for the Pistons, yet he was still able to put up 18.1 points per contest. His per-36 numbers in 2019-20 (25.1 points, 7.7 assists) were comparable to his MVP season numbers in 2010-11 (25.0 points, 7.7 assists).
Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf loves to see those United Center seats filled, and Rose would definitely bring the Chicago crowd back to the UC since he’s a hometown hero. The Bulls would likely have to add another sweetener or two to a package with Satoransky to make a trade work, but it's worth exploring.
2. Bulls send Otto Porter and Thaddeus Young to the Pistons for Derrick Rose and Blake Griffin
Blake Griffin was a shell of himself in 2019-20 after putting up superstar numbers in 2018-19. The Pistons could be interested in getting off Griffin's contract since he has undergone two knee surgeries following the end of the 2019 playoffs.
Otto Porter, Thaddeus Young and Griffin are each owed a ton of money moving forward. If the Bulls acquired Rose and Griffin, they could potentially have a core of Rose, LaVine, White, Lauri Markkanen, Griffin and Wendell Carter Jr., although Chicago might have to throw in some more players in this deal since the Pistons would be getting the short end of the stick.
Chicago could also look to make other trades to balance out the roster a bit.
3. Bulls sign-and-trade Kris Dunn along with Cristiano Felicio and Chandler Hutchison and Shaquille Harrison to the Pistons for Derrick Rose and Svi Mykhailiuk
Kris Dunn becomes a restricted free agent this offseason once the Bulls offer him his qualifying offer worth $7,091,457. Chicago could potentially sign and trade Dunn and package him with Cristiano Felicio, Shaquille Harrison and Chandler Hutchison to the Pistons for Rose and sharpshooter Svi Mykhailiuk, who developed a solid rapport with Rose in Detroit.
Felicio has one of the worst contracts in the NBA. The Bulls gave the big man a four-year, $32 million deal in the summer of 2017. He's set to make $7,529,020 in 2020-21, the final year of his deal, so the Pistons could be interested in taking him on since he'll come off the books after a year.
Meanwhile, Harrison and Hutchison are two young players who still have a lot of room to grow. The Pistons could get the two youngsters into their system and develop them with Sekou Doumbouya, Luke Kennard, Christian Wood and Bruce Brown.
Bulls fans gave Derrick Rose two standing ovations in 2019-20 when the Pistons came to the United Center. The three-time All-Star figures to be the third-most-popular player in franchise history behind Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen for a while.
It would be neat to see Rose come back and finish his career with the Bulls. Only time will tell if Karnisovas has interest in bringing the Windy City Assassin back to his hometown.
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