Ever since Lonzo Ball went down with what would be a season-ending (and more) injury, the Chicago Bulls have been dealing with a massive hole at the point guard position. Coby White has filled that gap to some degree, but not to the point where the Bulls are back in position to make the playoffs.
In turn, most of the trade discourse surrounding Chicago involves the potential return of a point guard to run their offense, which is led by three All-Star-caliber players in Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan, and Nikola Vucevic. And while there’s a chance they blow up the roster this year, adding a point guard could help salvage a season that looks to be on the downslope.
Greg Swartz of Bleacher Report suggested a move that would see the Bulls land a starting-caliber point guard from the Washington Wizards.
Here’s the full outline of the trade Swartz proposed:
Bulls receive: Tyus Jones, Danilo Gallinari
Wizards receive: Lonzo Ball, Dalen Terry, 2024 first-round pick (lottery protected via POR), 2028 second-round pick, 2029 second-round pick
According to Swartz, Jones and Gallinari could help improve a Bulls roster that looks destined for mediocrity:
“Jones, 27, is averaging 13.7 points, 6.7 assists and 1.3 steals while shooting 51.5 percent overall and 43.8 percent from three in his first three games for Washington,” Swartz wrote. “He looks exactly like the kind of stable veteran whom the Memphis Grizzlies relied on the last four years. Trading Jones would only help the Wizards’ tanking efforts as well.
“The Bulls would also add Gallinari as a floor-spacing veteran forward for the offense. The 35-year-old is averaging 8.0 points off the bench while shooting 46.7 percent from the field.”
Should the Bulls be interested in a trade like this? Well, the answer to that question depends on ownership.
If the team decides to sell assets and rebuild, this trade wouldn’t make any sense. Trading picks to improve a team with no shot at winning a championship doesn’t make much sense, especially when the floor is as low as the Bulls’.
That said, this sort of deal would definitely help improve the team’s outlook now, and they wouldn’t actually be moving any of their own picks.
This trade is fine, and it raises the ceiling of Chicago, but it wouldn’t significantly improve their playoff chances.
