A new dark horse trade suitor has quietly emerged for Zach LaVine of the Chicago Bulls.
So far this season the Bulls are 7-14 after 21 games and reside near the bottom of the Eastern Conference.
Barring something crazy happening, it seems like a virtual certainty that they will be unloading all their tradeable assets in the near future.
At the top of that list is LaVine.
Over the past few weeks LaVine has made it clear that he would like to be moved to one of four teams. In addition, he has acknowledged that there is one squad he doesn’t want to go to.
This week, Bobby Marks appeared on Sirius XM Radio and suggested that the Detroit Pistons could be a legitimate dark horse contender for LaVine’s services.
Multiple reports suggest the Chicago Bulls continue to look for a trade for Zach LaVine.@BobbyMarks42 tells @BGeltzNBA and @SamMitchellNBA the Pistons could be his landing spot. pic.twitter.com/X5SN1511mf
— SiriusXM NBA Radio (@SiriusXMNBA) December 2, 2023
“At 2-17, I would not be surprised if they dip their toe in to see what the trade market is like for Zach Lavine,” Marks said.
This comes on the heels of a separate report from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski suggesting that the market for LaVine isn’t as hot as he and the Bulls hoped it would be.
“There is not a market for Zach LaVine right now.”@wojespn with the latest on LaVine and the Bulls pic.twitter.com/r4stqcKkor
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) December 1, 2023
“There is not a market for Zach LaVine right now in the NBA,” Wojnarowski said.
“That’s not because Chicago has not tried to find it, and aren’t currently trying to find it. It’s a combination of a few reasons: LaVine’s contract — four more years at around a $45-46 million a year average. But his productivity, I think this is a player right now who, certainly he’s out right now with a foot injury. He’s been in and out of the lineup.
“I think the question for teams is, ‘How much does Zach LaVine impact winning?’ Especially at the salary and with a new salary cap, where you’re asking yourself, ‘Are we trading for him to be our best player?’ No. ‘Our second-best player?’ No. So, if he’s our third best player, do we want to pay that kind of money?”
Brittany Mahomes’ Holiday Party Outfit Causes A Stir (Photos): https://t.co/DQGObzreYe
— Game 7 (@game7__) December 3, 2023
Yikes. Not great.
Where will LaVine ultimately end up when the 2023 NBA Trade Deadline comes and goes? Time will tell.
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A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
