NBA rumors: Bulls want 'OG Anunoby-type deal' in potential Alex Caruso trade

The Bulls appear to be asking for quite an expensive return in any trade for Alex Caruso.

The Chicago Bulls will, yet again, be one of the teams to watch with only a few days to go before the trade deadline passes. After all, despite Zach LaVine's season-ending injury that should keep him on the team at least until the end of the season, the Bulls have a plethora of trade assets who could be of use to contending teams, one of the most prominent being Alex Caruso.

Caruso has proven his utility to contending teams back when he played a huge role in the championship-winning 2020 Los Angeles Lakers team, and now, he continues to be one of the best perimeter defenders and dirty work guys in the association. For that, the Bulls are asking for an exorbitant sum in any prospective Caruso trade, if the rumor mill is to be believed.

According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski on The Woj Pod, in any prospective Alex Caruso trade, the Bulls are reportedly asking for a package similar to the one the Toronto Raptors received for OG Anunoby.

Anunoby (along with Precious Achiuwa and Malachi Flynn) netted the Raptors Immanuel Quickley, RJ Barrett, and a second-round pick; this gives the Bulls a template of two quality young players and a little bit of draft compensation in a Caruso deal.

Alas, this may be too ambitious of an ask from the Bulls. For starters, Alex Caruso is three years older than OG Anunoby. Moreover, injury-prone as Anunoby may be, Caruso spends even more time on the mend than he does. Meanwhile, the Knicks forward is also a much more impactful offensive player than the Bulls guard.

Nonetheless, it's never a bad idea for the Bulls to start trade negotiations with a huge asking price. After all, these demands can always be negotiated down. Caruso's body of work on defense, as well as his ability to nail the little things that contribute to winning, makes him an easy fit on any contending team, and a bidding war could cause his value to skyrocket.

Playoff viability is a huge dictator of trade value, and Alex Caruso is as playoff-viable as it gets, and it will be interesting to see where trade talks lead with only three days to go before the deadline.