Chicago Bulls guard Zach LaVine appears set to be off the cards after months of speculation about whether he would be traded to what appears to be a rebuilding franchise. Executive vice president Artūras Karnišovas spoke to reporters Sunday about the vision for the franchise’s future, which will include LaVine.
“We expect Zach to be fully healthy. And he is. I think he can help this group next year. He’s been professional,” Karnišovas said. “Once again, he’s healthy. We expect him to be with us at the start of training camp.”
However, Bulls management made it clear that just because LaVine or anyone else on the roster isn’t in trade talks right now doesn’t mean they’re a long-term solution for the team.
“I don’t think there’s a perfect way to do things in terms of sequence,” Karnišovas said of building the roster. “We prefer certain things to be done first. I think in terms of sequence, it’s very difficult to predict what the market will be like. That’s why I say I don’t know what’s going to happen. After the season, I said everything is on the table. We’re not going to make deals that don’t make us better. We’re going to be patient with it. But I think we’re a long way from a finished product now.”
LaVine, coming off a season in which he played just 25 games due to a foot injury that required surgery, has been in trade talks since last offseason. It’s not necessarily due to a lack of team production. Since joining the Bulls in 2017, LaVine has averaged 24.2 points, 4.7 rebounds and 4.2 assists, and has made two All-Star teams.
The trade talk and general discourse around LaVine as a whole stems from the fact that while he can put up numbers as a scorer, that typically doesn’t translate into wins for his teams. From 2017 to 2024, Chicago has made the postseason just once in 2022. The Bulls lost that series in five games to the Milwaukee Bucks and LaVine was the third-best player on that team behind current Sacramento King DeMar Derozan and Nikola Vucevic.
Yahoo Sports’ Jake Fischer noted that despite offering LaVine on the trade market, there hasn’t been much interest around the league.
The Bulls have been trying to find a new home for LaVine since last offseason, according to league sources, but have yet to develop significant traction on deals outside of talks with Detroit that once included Bojan Bogdanović, who has since been traded to New York, and the Pistons are now under new leadership with president Trajan Langdon.
His overall trade value has become so low that trading him in most scenarios would have required Chicago to attach a first-round pick in addition to LaVine. According to ESPN’s Bobby MarksTypically, trading stars results in getting draft picks in return, not sending them along with the star.
After an offseason in which the Bulls made a lot of moves, including selecting Matas Buzelis with the 11th overall pick in June and re-signing forward Patrick Williams to a five-year, $90 million contract, it appears Chicago is opting to develop its younger players.
The Bulls’ youth movement also brought in guard Josh Giddey via a trade with the Thunder, sending Alex Caruso to Oklahoma City.
While LaVine is certainly not “old” at 29, he still brings experience to the Chicago team. For now, LaVine will return as a veteran presence and likely a primary scorer. But don’t be surprised if his name comes up again in trade talks if the team gets off to a slow start next season.