The Chicago Bulls have made a bunch of big moves over the last year, acquiring Nikola Vucevic, Lonzo Ball, DeMar DeRozan and Alex Caruso, among others, to help out Zach LaVine after four straight losing seasons since the Jimmy Butler trade. There are good vibes surrounding the Bulls as training camp begins, with the team primed to finally contend for a playoff berth again.
However, there are some question marks with this Bulls squad, and some critics think the front office pushed in too many chips for a roster that doesn't have a championship ceiling. The concern is that this core will top out as just a mid-tier playoff team and never make any real noise.
This is certainly a possibility, but given how aggressive this new front office of Arturas Karnisovas and Marc Eversley has been, one has to think they'll have something else up their sleeve with LaVine's free agency approaching next offseason. On the latest episode of Blue Wire's Cash Considerations, co-host Ricky O'Donnell predicts that another big trade is coming:
“I hope there's no trouble convincing the Reinsdorfs to pay the luxury tax, even for a team that doesn't really have a championship ceiling, at least coming into this year. Who knows what they'll look like a year from now. One of my bold predictions for the Bulls is they make another big trade in-season. When you have the extra first-round pick, that was acquired to move. … I think that you could see them add another piece on the interior midway through the season using that pick as a chip.”
The Bulls gave up two first-round picks for Vucevic and another for DeRozan, but they got one back in the Lauri Markkanen sign-and-trade. There's some speculation that a first-round pick could be taken away due to the Lonzo Ball tampering investigation, but nothing is set in stone there. Chicago also has Patrick Williams and Coby White as prime young assets.
While the Bulls don't have a full treasure trove of trade assets because of what they've given up already, they could still cobble together a decent offer for another proven player. We'll see if Chicago stays aggressive in a bid to improve and become a title contender in the near future.
Here's the full Cash Considerations episode:
Cash Considerations: A Chicago Bulls Podcast is part of the Blue Wire Podcast Network. The pod can be found on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts.
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