Zach LaVine is arguably the biggest name available ahead of next week’s looming NBA Trade Deadline.
Although the Chicago Bulls would reportedly prefer to trade DeMar DeRozan over LaVine, the latter is still on the table.
LaVine hasn’t been shy about expressing his frustration with Chicago over the past few weeks, which in turn has led to multiple organizations believing that he is gettable.
Five in particular seem to be in legitimate contention for his services.
“The [Los Angeles] Lakers, [Miami] Heat, [New York] Knicks and [Dallas] Mavericks have consistently been mentioned by league personnel as holding motivations to land LaVine if the time does arrive,” Jake Fischer of Yahoo! Sports reported this week.
“[The] Portland [Trail Blazers] also showed interest in signing LaVine last offseason, league sources told Yahoo Sports. [The] Atlanta [Hawks] loomed as a potential LaVine destination before the Hawks splurged for Dejounte Murray.”
LaVine himself has made it no secret who he wants to end up with, but time will tell if that ends up materializing.
ESPN NBA insider Zach Lowe recently outlined the Lakers’ path to getting to getting LaVine, through whether Rob Pelinka and Co. will actually be able to pull it off remains to be seen. Especially given that they now seem focused on an entirely different three-team NBA trade.
There have also been some rumblings about DeRozan being the one to go to Los Angeles, but he fails to address the Lakers’ three-point shooting weaknesses in the way LaVine would. Plus, he is six years older.
Dallas is also an interesting team to watch in all this. The Mavs have made it no secret that Christian Wood is likely being traded. His lingering beef with head coach Jason Kidd has made that relationship unsustainable. They could try to make something happen for LaVine.
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Along the same lines, the Knicks offered the sun, moon and stars to the Toronto Raptors for O.G. Anunoby. If they turn around and make the same proposal to the Bulls for LaVine, could something be worked out?
The NBA Trade Deadline promises to get hectic. The next few days will make or break a lot of franchises for many years to come.
Will LaVine be traded ahead of Feb. 9? Time will tell.
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Charles Kruger has been credentialed to cover two Super Bowls, four NBA Finals, and one World Series. A 20-year veteran in the sports world, he has sources spanning the NBA, MLB, NFL, UFC and NASCAR. Currently residing in Los Angeles, Calif., he is Game 7’s go-to source for rumors surrounding the Lakers, Clippers and Dodgers.
