While the Zach LaVine to Denver rumors aren’t dead, they may be on life support.
After initially being connected to the franchise in mid-December, updates regarding progress in a deal between the Chicago Bulls and Nuggets have been few and far between. The path to making a deal happen has been rather obvious, as Denver could easily make the money work with the combined salaries of Michael Porter Jr. and Zeke Nnaji. This is about the organization’s only option, however, and it sounds like the Bulls aren’t all that intrigued.
According to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype, the chance of a deal happening between the Bulls and Nuggets is waning for more reasons than one:
There’s been growing pessimism that Chicago Bulls two-time All-Star Zach LaVine would be traded to the Denver Nuggets in a package for Michael Porter Jr., league sources told HoopsHype.
Chicago doesn’t want to absorb Zeke Nnaji’s four-year, $32 million contract and would need to offload him to a third team, such as the Detroit Pistons, who have $14 million in cap space going into the trade deadline to be a third party facilitator in trades to acquire future draft capital. Chicago doesn’t want to waste any assets having to flip Nnaji to a third team, and Denver lacks the future draft capital likely needed to make it happen on their end.
On the basketball court, there are also internal questions about whether LaVine and Nuggets guard Jamal Murray would coexist effectively on both sides of the ball.
You can check out Michael Scotto’s complete intel article at HoopsHype here.
Zach LaVine to Nuggets Now Unlikely?
On the one hand, are still over a month away from the NBA trade deadline. season pressure has yet to fully mount, and both teams could find themselves feeling increasingly desperate to get something done in a matter of weeks. Denver sits only one spot out of the Play-In Tournament in a competitive West, while every LaVine-led victory for Chicago has them closer to losing their pick. There could be a very obvious motive for both teams to revisit these talks in earnest.
On the other hand, the Bulls’ front office has been picky about trade returns for years. We don’t have any reason to believe that they will change their mind on accepting Zeke Nnaji’s four-year, $32.0 million deal, which admittedly is an eyesore. Likewise, they are probably wise not to offload one of their own assets to dump Nnaji’s contract to a third team. The whole point of moving LaVine is to jumpstart a rebuild and invest in youth, so why give up draft capital in the process?
© Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn ImagesThis deal has not been a perfect one for both sides from the start. While I think LaVine’s fit next to Nikola Jokic would be seamless, it would be an extremely expensive commitment for the Nuggets, especially when they already have an explosive backcourt scorer in Jamal Murray.
As for Chicago, Michael Porter Jr. isn’t necessarily the most exciting piece to get back in return. The 26-year-old may make more sense in their current timeline, but he’s struggled in his own right to stay healthy. Porter Jr. is also owed $79.0 million over the next two seasons. That’s a tall price to pay for a team that still doesn’t fully know who they are or where they’re headed.
With this in mind, it always felt like the Bulls may try to be patient when it came to getting a deal done. What if someone else came around with a better offer, especially with LaVine putting together one of the most efficient scorer seasons of his career? Well, this wish hasn’t come true yet, but Scotto did mention LaVine’s name alongside another team.
“Golden State has done its due diligence on several notable players on the trade market, including but not limited to Jimmy Butler – whom Warriors general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. played with in Chicago – Brandon Ingram, Cam Johnson, Zach LaVine, Nikola Vucevic, Kyle Kuzma, etc,” Scotto shared on HoopsHype.
Now, does this mean the Warriors should suddenly be viewed as a legitimate suitor for LaVine (or even Nikola Vucevic)? Not particularly. While they are obviously somewhat interested, they are casting an extremely wide net this early in the game. But we have talked numerous times before about how much sense LaVine could make for a star-hungry Warriors team!
This is also a good reminder that LOTS of teams will be doing their “due diligence” over the next handful of weeks. Everyone and their mother knows the Bulls are taking phone calls, so we never quite know where things could lead. I mean, just think about how the initial Nuggets rumor came out of the blue!
Look, it’s totally possible the Bulls fail to find a suitor for LaVine and this whole song and dance goes into the offseason. That would honestly feel on par with how this season is going. But I’m remaining cautiously optimistic with the deadline still some time away. We’ll see.
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